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Good Neighbors
A compulsively readable debut crime novel inspired by the legendary real-life murder of Kitty GenoveseAt 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 Neighbors is the story of the woman's last night. It is also the story of her neighbors, the bystanders who kept to 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 Neighbors calls to mind the Oscar-winning movie Crash , and its suspense and profound sense of urban menace rank it with Hitchcock's Rear Window and the gritty crime novels of Dennis Lehane, Richard Price, and James Ellroy.
280 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
39 people are currently reading
1131 people want to read
About the author
Ryan David Jahn
14 books71 followersRyan David Jahn grew up in Arizona, California, and Texas. He finished school at sixteen, worked several odd jobs, from record store clerk to janitor, and spent time in the army before moving to Los Angeles, where he muddled about in television and film for several years.
He published his first novel, Acts of Violence, which went on to win the Crime Writers' Association John Creasey Dagger, in 2009, and has since published four others: Low Life (2010); The Dispatcher (2011), which was long-listed for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger; The Last Tomorrow (2012); and The Gentle Assassin (2014). Translation rights to his works have been sold in twelve languages.
He now lives in Louisville, Kentucky, with his wife Jessica Alt Jahn and two daughters, Francine and Matilda.
He published his first novel, Acts of Violence, which went on to win the Crime Writers' Association John Creasey Dagger, in 2009, and has since published four others: Low Life (2010); The Dispatcher (2011), which was long-listed for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger; The Last Tomorrow (2012); and The Gentle Assassin (2014). Translation rights to his works have been sold in twelve languages.
He now lives in Louisville, Kentucky, with his wife Jessica Alt Jahn and two daughters, Francine and Matilda.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 235 reviews
August 26, 2021
Ein unheimlich packendes, emotionales, erschütterndes, spannendes Buch. Definitiv sind Triggerwarnungen mehr als angebracht. Ich konnte dieses relativ dünne Buch nicht aus der Hand legen. Manches mag für einige Leser:innen zu überspitzt wirken. Man sollte aber dabei bedenken, dass dieses Buch dem Genre Thriller zugeordnet ist und da wäre ein " realistischeres" Abbild bestimmter geschilderter Erlebnisse, einfach zu platt. Dieses Buch basiert auf einer wahren Begebenheit....allein das verursacht schon Gänsehaut pur. Ich konnte viele Einzelheiten dermaßen vor meinem inneren Auge mitverfolgen, dass ich tatsächlich zwischendurch regelrecht schwer atmen musste. Als hätte ich selbst hinter einem Fenster gestanden und wäre gezwungen wurden, zuschauen zu MÜSSEN.
GROßARTIGE Umsetzung!!!!!
GROßARTIGE Umsetzung!!!!!
February 17, 2020
Eine erschreckende und furchtbare Geschichte,die nachdenklich und betroffen macht.
March 25, 2017
Ein echt heftiges Buch, das einen bleibenden Eindruck hinterlässt. der englische Titel sagt viel aus: Good Neighbors
December 6, 2020
Muy buena historia, donde se puede ver las distintas naturalezas del ser humano.
June 29, 2011
Won this book as a Goodreads First Reads and I am at a loss for words. Wow... I mean wow... This book was so packed with action. It really did recall movies such as Crash, 11:14, and Vantage Point. Ryan David Jahn or RDJ does an amazing job of weaving the very busy characters lives that revolve around the brutal murder of Kat. At first as I started the book and the characters were being introduced I said to myself how is RDJ going to pull off this whole story with so many characters in under 300 pages, but he does and I wouldn't change a thing.
I never thought Katrina Marino would last and fight until the end of the book, at first I thought it would be more of a story of the neighbors seeing the murder and just not saying anything, like everybody saw it but nobody speaks about it; however, the story is so much more deeper and different then that. You got Patrick the kid called into the draft with a ailing mother who is dependent on him, Thomas Marlowe the lonely man who gets lost in a world with a fake family, Officer Alan Kees a dirty cop whose bad deeds catch up with him, Mr. Vacanti, another man whose past transgressions catch up with him after a car accident, David the paramedic who finds him and who was the victim of Vacanti's past life hobbies, Peter the rich, neat married snob who experiments with swinging with another couple, Diane Myers the housewife who loves her husband but discovers he is cheating on her, William the killer who can't control his urges and doesn't understand why nobody stops him, and Frank Riva the hard working black man trying to help his wife out of a jam and winds up at the wrong place at the wrong time. All of these characters and situations unraveling nearby as Kat is being stabbed to death in a courtyard between two apartment complexes, with most of these characters passing windows or looking out thinking, "someone will call the police, we shouldn't tie up the lines."
It is a amazing story that played out like any well scripted crime movie, I can't see why this doesn't become a movie. It's just so sad that it is based off of the real murder of Kitty Genovese, it pains me to think that people would just stand by and watch as a woman is murdered in plain view and just think, somebody else will help, but it does happen all the time, every day. I definitely will look for more books by Ryan David Jahn, this novel opened my eyes to his amazing writing and characterization. This is a must read. Best Goodreads First Read I have won and read yet.
I never thought Katrina Marino would last and fight until the end of the book, at first I thought it would be more of a story of the neighbors seeing the murder and just not saying anything, like everybody saw it but nobody speaks about it; however, the story is so much more deeper and different then that. You got Patrick the kid called into the draft with a ailing mother who is dependent on him, Thomas Marlowe the lonely man who gets lost in a world with a fake family, Officer Alan Kees a dirty cop whose bad deeds catch up with him, Mr. Vacanti, another man whose past transgressions catch up with him after a car accident, David the paramedic who finds him and who was the victim of Vacanti's past life hobbies, Peter the rich, neat married snob who experiments with swinging with another couple, Diane Myers the housewife who loves her husband but discovers he is cheating on her, William the killer who can't control his urges and doesn't understand why nobody stops him, and Frank Riva the hard working black man trying to help his wife out of a jam and winds up at the wrong place at the wrong time. All of these characters and situations unraveling nearby as Kat is being stabbed to death in a courtyard between two apartment complexes, with most of these characters passing windows or looking out thinking, "someone will call the police, we shouldn't tie up the lines."
It is a amazing story that played out like any well scripted crime movie, I can't see why this doesn't become a movie. It's just so sad that it is based off of the real murder of Kitty Genovese, it pains me to think that people would just stand by and watch as a woman is murdered in plain view and just think, somebody else will help, but it does happen all the time, every day. I definitely will look for more books by Ryan David Jahn, this novel opened my eyes to his amazing writing and characterization. This is a must read. Best Goodreads First Read I have won and read yet.
September 7, 2022
Grauenvoll und beängstigend möglich.
November 29, 2011
though loosely based on the famous real-life murder of kitty genovese, this is actually a conceptual novel with a dark conceit at the heart of it... basically, the idea is that everyone is always at their darkest, scariest, most life-defining moment... whether they notice it or not... the book is a tapestry of interwoven stories about different people in this apartment building, all of whom may or may not be partially guilty for the murder that happens in the courtyard below them (which they may or may not see), but are definitely guilty (and also innocent) of the mayhem that's occurring in their own lives. it's a hard book to explain, but easy to read, and very hard for me to understand how it was written... there are so many stories, all occurring at once, but they all seem separate and yet completely connected. it's a page-turner with a terrifyingly sad ending that also manages to somehow impart courage. i read this book a few months ago and still think about it all the time.
January 22, 2016
Ein Akt der Gewalt ist ein Buch das zeigt wie egoistisch, ignorant und anteilnahmslos die Gesellschaft doch sein kann! Und es fragt einen jeden, ohne direkt die Frage zu stellen, wie weit es mit der eigenen Zivilcourage her ist wenn sie letztendlich gefordert wird!
Das Buch beruht auf einer wahren Begebenheit, nämlich dem Mord an Kitty Genovese, der 1964 in New York passiert ist. Und es ist völlig egal das es nun schon 52 Jahre her ist, den was da passiert ist passiert heutzutage leider auch noch tagtäglich und nicht nur in New York! Deshalb ist Ein Akt der Gewalt kein Relikt vergangener Tage sondern aktuell wie die täglichen Nachrichten!
Das Buch beruht auf einer wahren Begebenheit, nämlich dem Mord an Kitty Genovese, der 1964 in New York passiert ist. Und es ist völlig egal das es nun schon 52 Jahre her ist, den was da passiert ist passiert heutzutage leider auch noch tagtäglich und nicht nur in New York! Deshalb ist Ein Akt der Gewalt kein Relikt vergangener Tage sondern aktuell wie die täglichen Nachrichten!
December 17, 2011
Kat Marino was returning to her Queens apartment from her shift at a local bar at 4 AM in the morning, when she was attacked by a man, who was hiding beside a tree nearby. Kat had never met the man before and is completely taken by surprise and shock. A few of her neighbors whose apartment windows face the courtyard, where the action was unveiling, hadn't yet gone to sleep and were watching dazed, having been interrupted from whatever argument or conversation they were preoccupied with at that hour. None of them however make a move to help her. None call the police either. While Kat screams for someone to help, and every observer assumes someone else is making that 911 call, this 280-page short book gives us a brilliant insight into the lives of all the people, whose paths cross Kat's, however marginally, between 4 and 6 am.
This is one of those books I wish I had reviewed right away. I know my head was buzzing with thoughts to share with you but somehow I'm only getting to it now - a good month after reading this book. Even now, I cannot stop thinking about how brilliant this book was and how much I would love to reread it. Good Neighbors is based on a true incident whose details are very much similar to that of this book's. If you don't want to be spoiled by the details of the real crime, skip the rest of this paragraph. New Yorkers will probably be aware of this incident better. 29-year old Kitty Genovese was returning home at 4 am in 1964 when she was attacked by a man thrice, the last time fatally, over the span of a half hour. A lot of the neighbors saw some part of the attack but no one saw the whole thing. Nobody called the police believing that someone else was making that call, though a few claimed to have called. There's a term for it - bystander effect. The New York Times posted an interesting article on this tragedy a few days later. A lot of the facts about this murder are disputed, but it does appear apparent that very few people responded to her calls for help, and although one man did call the police, they didn't turn up. "I didn't want to get involved" was the predominant sentiment.
Good Neighbors is a work of fiction. Although it is based on the Kitty Genovese murder, all the characters in it are fictional. In Good Neighbors, Ryan David Jahn sets an incredible array of characters against this tragedy. On one side, we have Kat making her way home, only to be attacked by a man who then just runs away, leaving Kat shocked and immobile outside. On the other side, we get an inside look into some of the neighbors who see a part of the attack. They are each however plagued by their own problems, so much so that they only feel an odd sense of curiosity over what's happening in the courtyard, before they return to their problems. There is a 19-year old boy who has been ordered to report for the Army's Physical Examination, but he also has an ailing mother he has to look after. Another couple is playing swinger for the first time, until it goes horribly out of control for them, making them question their own relationship. Yet another man is trying to come to terms with his homosexual orientation, but is finding himself reluctant to. Another man, who knows Kat very well, had just left in his car when his wife returned home panicking after hitting a stroller. His own actions form a subplot within this book, opening the pages to more characters - a paramedic, a corrupted cop and his equally corrupted chief, and a paedophile, while they get themselves involved in a car accident just down the road and in an attempted murder.
The huge number of characters is the main asset of this book. While it would have been easy to end up with cardboard cutouts instead of solid characters, Ryan manages to carve out intricate characters, none of whom get 'boring' for the reader. The primary sensation you get is that of the role of fate or chance in life and people's beliefs that they are the center of the world and hence their problems are the most important ones in the world. I found it very interesting to read about all the problems the other characters were having, while a woman was dying outside and calling for help. The last chapter left me thinking a lot - was it worth trying to fix your problems while a woman was losing her hold on life minute by minute? When is it okay to say that "my problem is important, because it affects me and only I can fix it!" Would you be selfish for thinking that or just looking out for yourself? Would you be happier having saved a life, but in return lost everything that meant the world to you? Or would you end up feeling resentful towards life for how things turned out for you? It's fascinating how complex we humans really are. There's plenty of gray in every picture. This book could be an intriguing theater production - I'm sure the questions it raises will be quite humbling. Quite a few of the stories come to some interesting conclusions by the time the clock strikes 6 am. I did feel very curious as to how their stories led from there, because many of the lives did change drastically.
Good Neighbors is one of the best books I've read this year, and I think waiting a while to write this review was a good thing in one respect - in that I know the book has withstood the test of time, wherein sometimes you find you loved a book immediately after reading it, but days or weeks later, your perspective changes a lot, and you start criticizing the book quite a lot, but this book has managed to leave me still impressed a month later. Have any of you watched the movie Crash? The story-telling technique is very similar here - a multitude of protagonists with their own issues, apparently unconnected, but they all have something that ties them together. If you haven't watched the movie, you should. I hope I have convinced you to pick this book right away!
(If you're interested in reading about the real Kitty Genovese, this piece on TruTV is fantastic.)
This is one of those books I wish I had reviewed right away. I know my head was buzzing with thoughts to share with you but somehow I'm only getting to it now - a good month after reading this book. Even now, I cannot stop thinking about how brilliant this book was and how much I would love to reread it. Good Neighbors is based on a true incident whose details are very much similar to that of this book's. If you don't want to be spoiled by the details of the real crime, skip the rest of this paragraph. New Yorkers will probably be aware of this incident better. 29-year old Kitty Genovese was returning home at 4 am in 1964 when she was attacked by a man thrice, the last time fatally, over the span of a half hour. A lot of the neighbors saw some part of the attack but no one saw the whole thing. Nobody called the police believing that someone else was making that call, though a few claimed to have called. There's a term for it - bystander effect. The New York Times posted an interesting article on this tragedy a few days later. A lot of the facts about this murder are disputed, but it does appear apparent that very few people responded to her calls for help, and although one man did call the police, they didn't turn up. "I didn't want to get involved" was the predominant sentiment.
Good Neighbors is a work of fiction. Although it is based on the Kitty Genovese murder, all the characters in it are fictional. In Good Neighbors, Ryan David Jahn sets an incredible array of characters against this tragedy. On one side, we have Kat making her way home, only to be attacked by a man who then just runs away, leaving Kat shocked and immobile outside. On the other side, we get an inside look into some of the neighbors who see a part of the attack. They are each however plagued by their own problems, so much so that they only feel an odd sense of curiosity over what's happening in the courtyard, before they return to their problems. There is a 19-year old boy who has been ordered to report for the Army's Physical Examination, but he also has an ailing mother he has to look after. Another couple is playing swinger for the first time, until it goes horribly out of control for them, making them question their own relationship. Yet another man is trying to come to terms with his homosexual orientation, but is finding himself reluctant to. Another man, who knows Kat very well, had just left in his car when his wife returned home panicking after hitting a stroller. His own actions form a subplot within this book, opening the pages to more characters - a paramedic, a corrupted cop and his equally corrupted chief, and a paedophile, while they get themselves involved in a car accident just down the road and in an attempted murder.
The huge number of characters is the main asset of this book. While it would have been easy to end up with cardboard cutouts instead of solid characters, Ryan manages to carve out intricate characters, none of whom get 'boring' for the reader. The primary sensation you get is that of the role of fate or chance in life and people's beliefs that they are the center of the world and hence their problems are the most important ones in the world. I found it very interesting to read about all the problems the other characters were having, while a woman was dying outside and calling for help. The last chapter left me thinking a lot - was it worth trying to fix your problems while a woman was losing her hold on life minute by minute? When is it okay to say that "my problem is important, because it affects me and only I can fix it!" Would you be selfish for thinking that or just looking out for yourself? Would you be happier having saved a life, but in return lost everything that meant the world to you? Or would you end up feeling resentful towards life for how things turned out for you? It's fascinating how complex we humans really are. There's plenty of gray in every picture. This book could be an intriguing theater production - I'm sure the questions it raises will be quite humbling. Quite a few of the stories come to some interesting conclusions by the time the clock strikes 6 am. I did feel very curious as to how their stories led from there, because many of the lives did change drastically.
Good Neighbors is one of the best books I've read this year, and I think waiting a while to write this review was a good thing in one respect - in that I know the book has withstood the test of time, wherein sometimes you find you loved a book immediately after reading it, but days or weeks later, your perspective changes a lot, and you start criticizing the book quite a lot, but this book has managed to leave me still impressed a month later. Have any of you watched the movie Crash? The story-telling technique is very similar here - a multitude of protagonists with their own issues, apparently unconnected, but they all have something that ties them together. If you haven't watched the movie, you should. I hope I have convinced you to pick this book right away!
(If you're interested in reading about the real Kitty Genovese, this piece on TruTV is fantastic.)
November 7, 2016
Es ist vier Uhr früh, als sich Katrina Marino auf den Heimweg macht. Die Straßen sind menschenleer, trotzdem hat Katrina das Gefühl, beobachtet zu werden. Als sie sich wenig später ihrer Haustür nähert, nimmt sie aus dem Augenwinkel eine Gestalt wahr. Noch bevor sie reagieren kann, ist der Angreifer ��ber ihr und sticht mit einem Messer auf sie ein. Katrina fängt an zu schreien. Katrinas Nachbarn hören ihre Schreie. Alle schauen aus ihren Fenstern, doch wer unternimmt etwas?
Auf dem Heimweg von der Arbeit wird Katrina Marino in den frühen Morgenstunden Opfer eines brutalen Überfalls. Der Angriff findet direkt vor ihrer Haustür statt – und unter den Augen ihrer Nachbarn, die fast ausnahmslos untätig bleiben. Jeder hat mit seinem eigenen kleinen Drama zu kämpfen. Der 19-jährige Patrick etwa, der zur Armee eingezogen werden soll, aber für seine kranke Mutter sorgen muss. Oder Diane, die sich mit ihrem Ehemann streitet, weil dieser sie betrügt. Sie hören Katrinas Schreie und sehen, dass vor ihrer Haustür etwas Schreckliches passiert. Katrina spürt die Betrachter und ihre Blicke und hofft auf Hilfe. Und sie kämpft gegen den Tod. „Ein Akt der Gewalt” basiert auf einer wahren Geschichte, dem Mord an Kitty Genovese, der 1964 weltweit für Schlagzeilen sorgte und dessen Umstände später unter dem Begriff Bystander-Effekt in die Kriminalgeschichte eingingen.
Zum Inhalt ist ohne zu spoilern nicht mehr als das oben beschriebene zu sagen. Beim Lesen habe ich immer wieder Pausen eingelegen müssen. Das die Welt schlecht sein kann, wissen wir, aber hier wird uns das sehr plastisch und grausam vor Augen geführt und diese rohe Gewalt fand ich teilweise doch anstrengend. Der Autor schafft es aber, den Leser total einzunehmen. Es ist spannend von der ersten bis zur letzten Seite. Wüsste ich nicht, dass dieses Buch auf Tatsachen beruht, hätte ich es sicher viel entspannter gelesen. Wer brutale Gewaltbeschreibungen vertragen kann, sollte unbedingt dieses Buch lesen, denn es ist außerordentlich gut geschrieben und hält unserer Gesellschaft schonungslos den Spiegel ins hässliche Gesicht.
Auf dem Heimweg von der Arbeit wird Katrina Marino in den frühen Morgenstunden Opfer eines brutalen Überfalls. Der Angriff findet direkt vor ihrer Haustür statt – und unter den Augen ihrer Nachbarn, die fast ausnahmslos untätig bleiben. Jeder hat mit seinem eigenen kleinen Drama zu kämpfen. Der 19-jährige Patrick etwa, der zur Armee eingezogen werden soll, aber für seine kranke Mutter sorgen muss. Oder Diane, die sich mit ihrem Ehemann streitet, weil dieser sie betrügt. Sie hören Katrinas Schreie und sehen, dass vor ihrer Haustür etwas Schreckliches passiert. Katrina spürt die Betrachter und ihre Blicke und hofft auf Hilfe. Und sie kämpft gegen den Tod. „Ein Akt der Gewalt” basiert auf einer wahren Geschichte, dem Mord an Kitty Genovese, der 1964 weltweit für Schlagzeilen sorgte und dessen Umstände später unter dem Begriff Bystander-Effekt in die Kriminalgeschichte eingingen.
Zum Inhalt ist ohne zu spoilern nicht mehr als das oben beschriebene zu sagen. Beim Lesen habe ich immer wieder Pausen eingelegen müssen. Das die Welt schlecht sein kann, wissen wir, aber hier wird uns das sehr plastisch und grausam vor Augen geführt und diese rohe Gewalt fand ich teilweise doch anstrengend. Der Autor schafft es aber, den Leser total einzunehmen. Es ist spannend von der ersten bis zur letzten Seite. Wüsste ich nicht, dass dieses Buch auf Tatsachen beruht, hätte ich es sicher viel entspannter gelesen. Wer brutale Gewaltbeschreibungen vertragen kann, sollte unbedingt dieses Buch lesen, denn es ist außerordentlich gut geschrieben und hält unserer Gesellschaft schonungslos den Spiegel ins hässliche Gesicht.
March 17, 2013
No where in the book does it mention Kitty Genovese (the woman who was raped, assaulted, and left to die in an alley while her neighbors watched) and the whole time I kept thinking about that amazing story. As a sociology grad student the Kitty Genovese story is widely discussed as a social psychological problem (and the idea that in an emergency it is always best to identify someone, not just ask for help but say "you in the red jacket help me").
And then, I pull up the book here on goodreads and it mentions at the very top that this is a fictional story based on Kitty Genovese. I'm not sure if that blurb came from the back of the book (reading ebooks I don't get those blurbs) or if the publisher pointed it out or if whoever created the book on goodreads did...but I'm glad to see the acknowledgement.
All of that said, it was a well written, captivating story. I loved Jahn's style of jumping from person to person during the course of the book. Each of these people should have called the police (and certainly the free rider-ish problem of assuming someone else will do it is the social psychological explanation), but mostly the reason they don't is that they are distracted by their own lives. The whole book is very Checkovian in that each of them is so self-absorbed with their own drama (all of which are fairly intense) that they simply forget about not only the dying woman but everyone else outside of their current issue.
Besides being entertaining, Jahn has some great quips about selfish human nature: "If you have thirty dollars and rent is eighty, there's no point in saving any of it. Drink till you're drunk and pay for a ride home. You might as well enjoy your trip to the bottom. It's when you've got eighty-seven dollars and the rent's eight that you need to save."
There was another quote here that I've seen before (but don't remember where): "All courageous men are afraid, he told Frank-all of them: if a man isn't afraid of something that normal men are afraid of, that doesn't make him courageous, it makes him an idiot. A courageous man is a man who feels fear but does what he has to do anyway. If you're not afraid, he told Frank, you're not being brave."
Overall, a bit grotesque (but necessarily so); compelling, and an easy page turner.
And then, I pull up the book here on goodreads and it mentions at the very top that this is a fictional story based on Kitty Genovese. I'm not sure if that blurb came from the back of the book (reading ebooks I don't get those blurbs) or if the publisher pointed it out or if whoever created the book on goodreads did...but I'm glad to see the acknowledgement.
All of that said, it was a well written, captivating story. I loved Jahn's style of jumping from person to person during the course of the book. Each of these people should have called the police (and certainly the free rider-ish problem of assuming someone else will do it is the social psychological explanation), but mostly the reason they don't is that they are distracted by their own lives. The whole book is very Checkovian in that each of them is so self-absorbed with their own drama (all of which are fairly intense) that they simply forget about not only the dying woman but everyone else outside of their current issue.
Besides being entertaining, Jahn has some great quips about selfish human nature: "If you have thirty dollars and rent is eighty, there's no point in saving any of it. Drink till you're drunk and pay for a ride home. You might as well enjoy your trip to the bottom. It's when you've got eighty-seven dollars and the rent's eight that you need to save."
There was another quote here that I've seen before (but don't remember where): "All courageous men are afraid, he told Frank-all of them: if a man isn't afraid of something that normal men are afraid of, that doesn't make him courageous, it makes him an idiot. A courageous man is a man who feels fear but does what he has to do anyway. If you're not afraid, he told Frank, you're not being brave."
Overall, a bit grotesque (but necessarily so); compelling, and an easy page turner.
August 5, 2011
It is hard to "like: a book like this one.
The story is so disagreeable.
But the writing was good. A very quick read. But still so sad and unsettling.
The story is so disagreeable.
But the writing was good. A very quick read. But still so sad and unsettling.
November 8, 2009
Queens, New York: 1964. In the small hours, Katrina Marino heads home from her job as night manager of a sports bar. In the courtyard of her apartment, she is attacked and stabbed by a man who has followed her. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of several other apartments in the block are awake. and going through their own personal dramas. Over the course of three hours, relationships are forged, broken, and re-negotiated — but no one comes to Katrina’s aid, even though they heard her screams and saw what was happening. No one even calls the police, assuming that someone else would have already done so. The outcome, of course, is that Katrina dies from her injuries.
Though not a fictionalised account as such, Acts of Violence takes as its inspiration a real-life incident: the murder of Kitty Genovese, to which there were reportedly (the details have been contested), 38 eyewitnesses, none of whom did anything to help. Ryan David Jahn’s forst novel is a portrait of what such a situation might be like.
I use the word ‘portrait’ deliberately there, because I think it’s important to be clear what Acts of Violence is and is not. It’s not about the narrative, not in the usual way; it’s not a question of tension over whether Katrina lives or dies, and no mystery is solved. Rather, this is a snapshot of a few hours in the lives of a number of people, with Katrina’s attack in the background (sometimes literally) of all.
Good characterisation is of course vital in a novel like this, but it’s even more so when the cast is so large (at least eight viewpoint characters). So it’s a pleasure to report that Jahn proves adept at drawing convincing characters in relatively few words. Here, for example, is Diane Myers, studying her reflection in the window while she ruminates on the passage of time:
Or Thomas Marlowe, an ex-soldier with thoughts of suicide:
This is not the only way in which Jahn is a skilled wordsmith. He builds tension efficiently when it’s needed; and not the cheap-thrills kind, but a more real tension. And, though naturally there is violence, and Jahn does not flinch from describing it, his treatment is sensitive, bringing home the brutality without tipping over into gratuitousness.
However, there are flaws in Acts of Violence, and I think they arise primarily because the parameters of the novel limit its possibilities. Perhaps inevitably, some of the story threads feel less well developed than others; for example, there’s one concerning a pair of wife-swapping couples where I feel the background could have done with being sketched in a little more.
Another problem is that Katrina’s murder doesn’t really feel as much like the linchpin of the novel as is presumably intended. In the case of the paramedic David White, who’s faced with the dilemma of being expected to save a patient he’d happily let die (the teacher who sexually abused him as a child), it’s clear to see how Katrina’s dying on his watch affects him. But, for most of the characters, if there are psychological repercussions from Katrina’s murder, we don’t really see them – the timeframe of the novel is too short for us to see them. This makes Acts of Violence less satisfying as a complete piece.
Yet there is much to like and admire here all the same. Jahn gives a good sense of the milieu beyond his immediate focus. I’m not in a position to know how far his depiction of the 1960s reflects reality; but I can well believe that, for example, an interracial couple would have faced the same prejudice and difficulties that Frank and Erin Riva do in the novel. I would hope that the unspeakably corrupt cop Alan Kees and his Captain are not representative of the police at that time; but I’d also hope that a group of witnesses to an attack wouldn’t stand idly by and let it happen. Perhaps the key question is not whether something is likely, but whether it is possible.
As the book’s title may suggest, Jahn also shows some of the many reasons – malevolent or benign, comprehensible or not – people may have for committing violent acts. I do have a sense that the novel doesn’t leave enough room to truly explore all the issues it raises; but, as a portrait – as a début – Acts of Violence is a fine piece of work.
Though not a fictionalised account as such, Acts of Violence takes as its inspiration a real-life incident: the murder of Kitty Genovese, to which there were reportedly (the details have been contested), 38 eyewitnesses, none of whom did anything to help. Ryan David Jahn’s forst novel is a portrait of what such a situation might be like.
I use the word ‘portrait’ deliberately there, because I think it’s important to be clear what Acts of Violence is and is not. It’s not about the narrative, not in the usual way; it’s not a question of tension over whether Katrina lives or dies, and no mystery is solved. Rather, this is a snapshot of a few hours in the lives of a number of people, with Katrina’s attack in the background (sometimes literally) of all.
Good characterisation is of course vital in a novel like this, but it’s even more so when the cast is so large (at least eight viewpoint characters). So it’s a pleasure to report that Jahn proves adept at drawing convincing characters in relatively few words. Here, for example, is Diane Myers, studying her reflection in the window while she ruminates on the passage of time:
Is her ghost happier than she is? Being disembodied but still conscious would have its advantages. Walls and locked doors could no longer stop you. No more back pain or neck aches. No more miscarriages with names.
Or Thomas Marlowe, an ex-soldier with thoughts of suicide:
He pulls the gun away from his head and sets it on the coffee table. He wonders who coffee table coffee table. He gets to his feet and walks into the hallway. He wonders who first called it a hallway. He wonders who first named anything. How did someone look at a dog and decide what to call it? It’s all so random. Everything is so goddam random.
This is not the only way in which Jahn is a skilled wordsmith. He builds tension efficiently when it’s needed; and not the cheap-thrills kind, but a more real tension. And, though naturally there is violence, and Jahn does not flinch from describing it, his treatment is sensitive, bringing home the brutality without tipping over into gratuitousness.
However, there are flaws in Acts of Violence, and I think they arise primarily because the parameters of the novel limit its possibilities. Perhaps inevitably, some of the story threads feel less well developed than others; for example, there’s one concerning a pair of wife-swapping couples where I feel the background could have done with being sketched in a little more.
Another problem is that Katrina’s murder doesn’t really feel as much like the linchpin of the novel as is presumably intended. In the case of the paramedic David White, who’s faced with the dilemma of being expected to save a patient he’d happily let die (the teacher who sexually abused him as a child), it’s clear to see how Katrina’s dying on his watch affects him. But, for most of the characters, if there are psychological repercussions from Katrina’s murder, we don’t really see them – the timeframe of the novel is too short for us to see them. This makes Acts of Violence less satisfying as a complete piece.
Yet there is much to like and admire here all the same. Jahn gives a good sense of the milieu beyond his immediate focus. I’m not in a position to know how far his depiction of the 1960s reflects reality; but I can well believe that, for example, an interracial couple would have faced the same prejudice and difficulties that Frank and Erin Riva do in the novel. I would hope that the unspeakably corrupt cop Alan Kees and his Captain are not representative of the police at that time; but I’d also hope that a group of witnesses to an attack wouldn’t stand idly by and let it happen. Perhaps the key question is not whether something is likely, but whether it is possible.
As the book’s title may suggest, Jahn also shows some of the many reasons – malevolent or benign, comprehensible or not – people may have for committing violent acts. I do have a sense that the novel doesn’t leave enough room to truly explore all the issues it raises; but, as a portrait – as a début – Acts of Violence is a fine piece of work.
December 15, 2018
Une relecture pour le club de lecture de mon village et toujours autant apprécié ce roman. Un polar à la construction peu classique, avec du suspense et beaucoup de questions de société. Les personnages sont aussi bien campés et je me suis immergée dans cette lecture comme si c'était la première fois ... j'en suis ressortie tout aussi convaincue que précédemment ! C'est un livre qui fera partie de mes classiques, de ce que je n'oublie pas.
August 11, 2011
This won a Crime Writer's Association Award, so I was expecting big things. It's based on the Kitty Genovese murder that occurred in the early 1960's. For those who don't know, Kitty Genovese was a young woman who was raped and murdered in the courtyard of her apartment with her neighbors looking on while it happened. The murderer ran and left her still alive, but came back ten minutes later, systematically searched for her, and finished her off. It wasn't until that point that someone called the police. This incident led to a lot of research studying the "bystander effect" and the phenomenon of diffused responsibility.
Sadly, at this point in our history this is awful, but not nearly as shocking as it might have been. The 24-hour news cycle has brought all kinds of horror into our living rooms. Additionally, I've found that for me the definitive work on this is a short story written by Harlan Ellison. It's called "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs" and it's been seared into my brain in the most crystalline form since the first time I read it. It's collected in Deathbird Stories and highly recommended. Harlan Ellison can get under your skin better than just about any writer living or dead.
My primary issue with this book, however, was the interlocking stories. There were too many of them too loosely connected. The book keeps a careful distance from everything in it, including the characters, and while this works as a metaphor for what happened for me it just doesn't work from a storytelling point of view.
Sadly, at this point in our history this is awful, but not nearly as shocking as it might have been. The 24-hour news cycle has brought all kinds of horror into our living rooms. Additionally, I've found that for me the definitive work on this is a short story written by Harlan Ellison. It's called "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs" and it's been seared into my brain in the most crystalline form since the first time I read it. It's collected in Deathbird Stories and highly recommended. Harlan Ellison can get under your skin better than just about any writer living or dead.
My primary issue with this book, however, was the interlocking stories. There were too many of them too loosely connected. The book keeps a careful distance from everything in it, including the characters, and while this works as a metaphor for what happened for me it just doesn't work from a storytelling point of view.
June 26, 2011
I am so glad I had the opportunity to read this book. I won this book from First Reads and it was an awesome read. It is an absolutely riveting tale that weaves a magnificent web. Ryan David Jahn, creatively depicts a tragedy through the lives of the victim and her neighbors. Based on the Kitty Genovese story, Jahn brings to life the emotional causes and profound effects of "Genovese Syndrome." This novel will have you questioning your own personal convictions. "Would you...could you stand by and watch a crime being committed and not call the police?
Amidst the horrifying scenes at an apartment complex, are onlookers with their own tragic stories. Told in omniscient third person, the reader is able to not only see everything that is happening, but the reader is able to hear the personal thoughts of each character as the events play out. This novel goes beyond the attack of Kat, and addresses many other societal ills that include: racism, homophobia,extra-marital affairs, death, and corruption in police departments.
This is truly a phenomenal debut novel!
Amidst the horrifying scenes at an apartment complex, are onlookers with their own tragic stories. Told in omniscient third person, the reader is able to not only see everything that is happening, but the reader is able to hear the personal thoughts of each character as the events play out. This novel goes beyond the attack of Kat, and addresses many other societal ills that include: racism, homophobia,extra-marital affairs, death, and corruption in police departments.
This is truly a phenomenal debut novel!
August 29, 2011
This review of Good Neighbors is of a copy of the Penguin Books 2011 edition, received as a free copy from Goodreads First Reads.
This is an great first novel giving a fictionalized version of the Kitty Genovese murder. It does an excellent job of trying to show what might have happened on that fatal night and explaining the known facts.
The only downside I found was the short chapters and rapid switching of persons and locale made the reading a little choppy. I feel that this is a great device for movies or television to show concurrency of action, but, since it hampers continuity of scene, it leaves something to be desired in a novel.
On the upside, this novel captures the fundamental psychological stresses of the actual event with the author's intense, "you are there" style of prose. It is the strength and power of his writing style that grips and carries the reader through the shifting scenes.
In the end, I found myself feeling, like one of the characters in the book, feeling quite unsettled.
Well done, Ryan David Jahn.
This is an great first novel giving a fictionalized version of the Kitty Genovese murder. It does an excellent job of trying to show what might have happened on that fatal night and explaining the known facts.
The only downside I found was the short chapters and rapid switching of persons and locale made the reading a little choppy. I feel that this is a great device for movies or television to show concurrency of action, but, since it hampers continuity of scene, it leaves something to be desired in a novel.
On the upside, this novel captures the fundamental psychological stresses of the actual event with the author's intense, "you are there" style of prose. It is the strength and power of his writing style that grips and carries the reader through the shifting scenes.
In the end, I found myself feeling, like one of the characters in the book, feeling quite unsettled.
Well done, Ryan David Jahn.
July 7, 2011
I won this book from a Goodreads giveaway. I liked this book and this book showed the truth. When no one would help Kat it showed that people don't usually help each other we just stand around and watch. Some people do help but mostly not. Everyone just stood there watching as someone attacked her and they didn't even call the cops. They just made an excuse that somebody else called the cops already. Everyone has problems they are faceing themselves but it only would have taken a couple minutes to call. The stories everyone else went through were sad and sometimes I wanted to put the book down because of what they were going through. This was a really good book!
November 14, 2010
This is an excellent and unusual thriller. The characters are convincing, and almost all of them are sympathetic in some way. It's based on a real - and shocking - event, and Jahn reminds the reader of something that the more extreme crime novels seem to have forgotten: that being knifed to death is a horrible way to die. You know from the start what the outcome will be, but to the end, you hope you are wrong. A real page turner.
February 12, 2011
Great book. I found the violence very direct and visceral. I have read many books with vivid violent scenes and not been affected as I was with this book. The writing was excellent, the story many layered and apart from the all too easy wrap up of the Frank/bad cop story line (that was the bit that just did not ring true) I thought it was compelling.
September 18, 2011
I literally could not put this one down...very quick read. It's one of those fascinating yet repelling novels. You've carried her groceries or said hello in passing...now she's being murdered. What do you do? The no brainer answer is "Call the police." However...you're sure someone else already has, and then life sets in...
February 3, 2011
Just finished the galley of this one- run out and get it as soon as it publishes (as a paperback original!) it was phenomenal. Read it in two days and could not put it down- the comparison to the movie Crash on the back cover is not amiss.
January 8, 2018
If you want to read a book that makes you angry at every character, angry at the world, sad for the way we treat each other and hopeless for mankind in general, then please go ahead with this book. Otherwise leave it alone.
August 22, 2011
Read it in only 3 hours. Was hard to put down!
June 13, 2011
Holy crud! Best book I've read in a long time.
June 30, 2011
Interesting read with all of the sub plots. Frank and Kat were my favorite characters. Its a sad story because these kinds of things happen all the time.
September 7, 2011
Brutal and graphic and I couldn't put it down.
February 24, 2016
This book is so screwed up with how everyone did NOTHING for poor Kat as she was violently attacked by her own front door!!! I wasn't thrilled with the ending though....
March 13, 2022
I buoni vicini che nessuno vorrebbe mai avere!
Un libro sconvolgente per la sua crudeltà, manifesta e non.
Ci sono episodi di manifesta violenza, come, principalmente, l'aggressione subita da Kat. Aggressione di cui non ci viene risparmiato nulla, proprio per sottolinearne l'efferatezza e le tragiche conseguenze.
Ma c'è anche una cattiveria sottaciuta, che è quella che si cela nell'indifferenza di quanti vedono questa ragazza in difficoltà e semplicemente si voltano dall'altra parte lavandosi la coscienza col pensiero che sicuramente qualcun altro chiamerà i soccorsi. E invece se tutti pensano che tocchi agli altri intervenire succede che nessuno lo fa e vince l'egoismo individuale.
Mi è tornata alla mente quella ricerca psicologica che ha evidenziato come quanti più testimoni vedono una persona in difficoltà, tanto più bassa è la probabilità che qualcuno la soccorra perché si tende a delegare la responsabilità agli altri. Se invece c'è un unico testimone, è molto più probabile che questo intervenga in qualche modo perché si sentirà più responsabile.
Ecco, in questo romanzo si parla proprio di questo e di come l'indifferenza possa letteralmente uccidere. Alla fine tutti si sentono in colpa, ma solo per un attimo, dopodiché la vita riprende a scorrere come se nulla fosse successo e ognuno viene risucchiato nelle proprie faccende. Se ci pensiamo bene è agghiacciante, ma è la direzione verso la quale si muove la nostra società, sempre più carente di empatia e di solidarietà.
Un libro sconvolgente per la sua crudeltà, manifesta e non.
Ci sono episodi di manifesta violenza, come, principalmente, l'aggressione subita da Kat. Aggressione di cui non ci viene risparmiato nulla, proprio per sottolinearne l'efferatezza e le tragiche conseguenze.
Ma c'è anche una cattiveria sottaciuta, che è quella che si cela nell'indifferenza di quanti vedono questa ragazza in difficoltà e semplicemente si voltano dall'altra parte lavandosi la coscienza col pensiero che sicuramente qualcun altro chiamerà i soccorsi. E invece se tutti pensano che tocchi agli altri intervenire succede che nessuno lo fa e vince l'egoismo individuale.
Mi è tornata alla mente quella ricerca psicologica che ha evidenziato come quanti più testimoni vedono una persona in difficoltà, tanto più bassa è la probabilità che qualcuno la soccorra perché si tende a delegare la responsabilità agli altri. Se invece c'è un unico testimone, è molto più probabile che questo intervenga in qualche modo perché si sentirà più responsabile.
Ecco, in questo romanzo si parla proprio di questo e di come l'indifferenza possa letteralmente uccidere. Alla fine tutti si sentono in colpa, ma solo per un attimo, dopodiché la vita riprende a scorrere come se nulla fosse successo e ognuno viene risucchiato nelle proprie faccende. Se ci pensiamo bene è agghiacciante, ma è la direzione verso la quale si muove la nostra società, sempre più carente di empatia e di solidarietà.
March 22, 2021
3.5
Un roman noir, très graphique, basé sur l'histoire vraie de Kitty Genovese. Il prend aux tripes, ce livre, il est plein de pessimisme, de personnages désabusés, de situations terribles et ça colle bien à la période liminaire dans laquelle se situe l'intrigue.
Si, au début, les personnages se jetaient la balle comme une partie de ping-pong bien orchestrée, on se retrouve au final avec trop de personnages et trop d'intrigues qui n'ont pas réellement d'intérêts. L'élan du début est brisé par le récit qui se prolonge et on se serait bien passé de certaines sous intrigues sans réel intérêt, d'autant plus qu'au final certains arc ne sont même pas aboutis.
Un bon roman, dur mais très brouillon.
Un roman noir, très graphique, basé sur l'histoire vraie de Kitty Genovese. Il prend aux tripes, ce livre, il est plein de pessimisme, de personnages désabusés, de situations terribles et ça colle bien à la période liminaire dans laquelle se situe l'intrigue.
Si, au début, les personnages se jetaient la balle comme une partie de ping-pong bien orchestrée, on se retrouve au final avec trop de personnages et trop d'intrigues qui n'ont pas réellement d'intérêts. L'élan du début est brisé par le récit qui se prolonge et on se serait bien passé de certaines sous intrigues sans réel intérêt, d'autant plus qu'au final certains arc ne sont même pas aboutis.
Un bon roman, dur mais très brouillon.
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