Good Neighbors : A Novel

by Jahn, Ryan David

• ISBN13: 9780143118961
• ISBN10: 014311896X
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-05-31
• Publisher: Penguin Books

Summary

A compulsively readable debut crime novel inspired by the legendary real-life murder of Kitty Genovese. At 4:00 A.M. on March 13, 1964, a young woman returning home from her shift at a local bar is attacked in the courtyard of her Queens apartment building. Her neighbors hear her cries; no one calls for help. Unfolding over the course of two hours, Good Neighborsis the story of the woman's last night. It is also the story of her neighbors, the bystanders who kept to themselves: the anxious Vietnam draftee; the former soldier planning suicide; the woman who thinks she's killed a child and her husband, who will risk everything for her. Revealing a fascinating cross-section of American society in expertly interlocking plotlines, Good Neighborscalls to mind the Oscar-winning movie Crash, and its suspense and profound sense of urban menace rank it with Hitchcock's Rear Windowand the gritty crime novels of Dennis Lehane, Richard Price, and James Ellroy.

Author Biography

Ryan David Jahn grew up in Arizona, Texas, and California. He finished school at sixteen, worked several odd jobs, and spent time in the army before moving to Los Angeles, where he worked in television and film for several years. His first novel, Good Neighbors, won the Crime Writers’ Association John Creasy (New Blood) Dagger Award, and his novel The Dispatcher was longlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award. Translation rights to his books have been sold in twelve languages. Jahn lives in Louisville, Kentucky, with his wife, Jessica, and two daughters, Matilda and Francine.