Killing Williamsburg - Bradley Spinelli

 

This is yet another book that I have no idea where I first heard about it, but thought the premise was interesting - a up'n'coming (i.e. gentrified) neighborhood in NYC in the late 90's has an alarming number of unexplained suicides. Of course, it starts slow and no one initially notices the pattern, but then it becomes undeniable and the protagonists have to decide how they are going to handle the bizarre situation.

The narrator is an aimless, hedonistic partier, with no plans for his life and only occasional, part-time employment and, frankly, seems a bit boorish, and is extremely insensitive to the suicides at first, even when they start to effect people within his social circle. He handles it as you would expect any selfish hedonist to - he ignores it, gets high and has random sex (which, all too often, turns into a bad idea as the new partners do themselves in, as well).

There is a little bit that is disconcerting in the narrative when it switches from first person to third person for the first (only?) time for a couple of pages with no explanation. The gratuitous, continuous sex scenes do tend to bore after a bit, as well - we get the idea - he's a hedonist. 

But, of course, the epidemic brings out the best in him, and he organizes other survivors who stick around (those who leave are derisively described as “Deserters”) and they do their best to bring some sanity to an insane world.

Again, an interesting premise but there was something about the style of the writing,  or maybe it was the personality of the narrator, that rubbed me the wrong way a bit. Certainly not bad, but not sure that I could recommend it.