photo © John Goodman
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Kevin Pearce—baseball star, honor student, the pride of Brighton—was fifteen when he left town in the back of his uncle’s cab. He and his buddy, Bobby Scales, just committed heinous violence for what they thought were the best of reasons. Kevin didn’t want a pass, but he was getting it anyway. Bobby would stay and face the music; Kevin’s future would remain bright as ever. At least that was the way things were supposed to work, except in Brighton things never work the way they’re supposed to.
Twenty-six years later, Kevin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for the Boston Globe. He’s never been back to his old block, having avoided his family and, especially, Bobby Scales. Then he learns his old friend is the prime suspect in a string of local murders. All of a sudden Kevin’s headed home—to protect a friend and the secret they share. To report this story to the end and protect those he loves, he must navigate not only an elusive, slippery killer, but his own corrupted conscience.
A powerhouse of a thriller, Brighton is a riveting and elegiac exploration of promises broken, debts owed, and old wrongs made right . . . no matter what the cost.
Film rights for Brighton have been optioned by GK Films and Graham King, producer of The Departed and The Town.
PRAISE FOR BRIGHTON
"BRIGHTON, by Michael Harvey: Helluva Boston crime novel. Helluva novel, period. If you liked THE DEPARTED, you'll like this." —Stephen King
"I have enjoyed all of Michael Harvey's books, but his latest, BRIGHTON, is his best. I couldn't stop reading." —John Grisham
“Brighton is a masterpiece of crime fiction, filled with fascinating characters and sparkling dialogue and visceral atmosphere and riveting tensions, plus no shortage of terrific twists.” —Chris Pavone
“Harvey has taken the elements of a classic crime novel and heightened them with race and class tensions, as well as the story of a remarkable friendship and an unforgettable family drama. The result is a novel that crackles with energy and makes you hold on until the final page.” —Ivy Pochoda
“Sharp as the blades used to gut the guilty and innocent alike, Harvey’s fierce stand-alone is a blood-soaked tribute to finding your past and living with the consequences.” —KIRKUS (starred)
"A powerful new voice in crime writing." —Philip Kerr
"This is how every crime novel should feel, like holding your breath until you can’t take it anymore, heart pumping with adrenaline. Michael Harvey is a flat-outbrilliant writer. He makes familiar terrain – the mean streets of Boston and the violent and violated souls that reside there – fresh, shocking and impossible to shake. We were completely won over by Harvey’s two main protagonists, Kevin (the one who got away and made good) and Bobby (the one who didn’t). We raced through BRIGHTON to find out how the former friends’ pasts would finally catch up with them." —iBooks
“Gritty, thrilling, and full of twists, Harvey’s first novel to be set in his hometown of Boston is cause for celebration. Its namesake neighborhood is as richly textured as the characters in this deeply moving crime story about two friends haunted by their shared past of violence. While it will certainly appeal to fans of Dennis Lehane’s Mystic River, Brighton sings with a fresh Bostonian voice that is all its own.” —Thomas Wickersham, Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, MA
“Masterful. . . . With a gritty atmosphere, extraordinary characters, and several stunning twists. . . . Strongly recommended for fans of Dennis Lehane.” —BOOKLIST (starred)
“Riveting. . . . Harvey’s gritty tribute to the working-class neighborhoods of his youth is as authentically captured as the best of Dennis Lehane. Fans of Martin Scorsese’s film The Departed will love the violent twists and turns of the novel’s final chapters.” —Library Journal (starred)
"Despite Thomas Wolfe’s admonition against going home again, Kevin Pearce decides to do just that. He left Boston’s Brighton neighborhood at 15—on the run from a crime he committed with his friend Bobby Scales—and never went back. Twenty-six years later, Bobby, who stayed behind, has become a seasoned criminal. Kevin is a Pulitzer-winning journalist. He decides to revisit Brighton and is drawn into a string of local murders when Bobby is named the prime suspect. What follows is a masterful piece of crime fiction with a gritty atmosphere, extraordinary characters, and several stunning twists. The tension is there at the start, but the action takes a while to get going after an extensive opening narrative about Kevin’s childhood; in fact, the very beginning might have been better placed later in the story. Harvey’s six previous novels were set in Chicago, but Boston is his hometown and he renders it in minute detail. Strongly recommended for fans of Dennis Lehane and readers looking for “something like” Peter May." —Booklist (starred)
"I highly recommend putting this dark, gritty and beautiful novel at the top of your must-read list." —Bookreporter
“A superb crime thriller with all the hallmarks of high-end literary fiction, Michael Harvey’s Brighton employs — and brilliantly handles — the two-timeline structure…This mighty thriller will exhaust you and fool you, astonish you and hold you in its clutches. You may wish you could close your eyes, but they’ll be stuck wide open.” —Washington Independent Review of Books
"An extraordinary thriller gripping, haunting and marvelously told..." —The Marion Star
Chosen as one of the 9 Essential New England Novels By Boston Authors by Ezvid Inc.
"A carefully crafted thriller, this riveting novel is centered on two friends who grow up in Boston and must deal with the consequences of their actions amid multiple murders. Protecting each other and the secrets they have long buried, Kevin and Bobby are in for a dark ride."
