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Andrew Giobberti #1
Hollowpoint
Brooklyn prosecutor Andrew Giobberti can remember himself as a father, as a husband, and as the chief of the Homicide Bureau in the District Attorney's office in one of a hard city’s hardest precincts.
That was before his car accident which took his daughter's life but left him untouched—except where it really matters, upstairs. That was before his wife walked out. That was before he became mired in blame and regret that, for a year, emptied his life of all meaning and purpose. Everyone wrote him off as too far gone to save.
Then a case crosses Gio’s desk—the murder of a young teenage girl—that may change everything. Through one impossibly hot August, he confronts the fine line that separates the guilty from the innocent, and the killers from those who put them away. As he seeks the girl’s killer, the truth he uncovers may be the final hit. Or it may give him back his life.
Librarian's note: this is one of two volumes in the author's Giobberti series. The characters, settings, etc. have all been done for: 1. Hollowpoint (2001), and 2. Semiautomatic (2004).
That was before his car accident which took his daughter's life but left him untouched—except where it really matters, upstairs. That was before his wife walked out. That was before he became mired in blame and regret that, for a year, emptied his life of all meaning and purpose. Everyone wrote him off as too far gone to save.
Then a case crosses Gio’s desk—the murder of a young teenage girl—that may change everything. Through one impossibly hot August, he confronts the fine line that separates the guilty from the innocent, and the killers from those who put them away. As he seeks the girl’s killer, the truth he uncovers may be the final hit. Or it may give him back his life.
Librarian's note: this is one of two volumes in the author's Giobberti series. The characters, settings, etc. have all been done for: 1. Hollowpoint (2001), and 2. Semiautomatic (2004).
304 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
63 people want to read
About the author
Robert Reuland
7 books14 followers"Rob Reuland writes beautifully—about sadness and cities and injured dreams. He has renewed my faith in the health and future of the urban crime novel." —Dennis Lehane
I am ROBERT REULAND, an American novelist and criminal trial attorney.
I’ve spent more than twenty-five years working in the criminal justice system in Brooklyn, New York, first as an Assistant District Attorney in the homicide bureau. After publication of my first novel HOLLOWPOINT, I was fired by the DA. Now I defend persons accused of murder and other violent crimes. I also work to free persons wrongfully convicted by police and prosecutorial misconduct. I’ve investigated, prosecuted, and defended thousands of alleged felonies and have tried nearly one hundred cases to verdict before a jury.
After publication of my second novel SEMIAUTOMATIC, I took a break from writing to raise my kids and build my legal practice. BROOKLYN SUPREME is my third book. All of my books are set in my working life, and I try to present that world accurately. Because I write "true stories that never happened," I appreciate the novels of Tana French, Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos, and others who write about crime without ever losing sight of the men and women affected by it.
My books have been translated into many languages and HOLLOWPOINT was to be made into a movie by Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella prior to their unfortunate, early deaths.
I have law degrees from Cambridge University and at the Vanderbilt University School of Law. I now divide my time between New York City and New Hampshire.
Drop me a line if you wish: rob@robreuland.com
I am ROBERT REULAND, an American novelist and criminal trial attorney.
I’ve spent more than twenty-five years working in the criminal justice system in Brooklyn, New York, first as an Assistant District Attorney in the homicide bureau. After publication of my first novel HOLLOWPOINT, I was fired by the DA. Now I defend persons accused of murder and other violent crimes. I also work to free persons wrongfully convicted by police and prosecutorial misconduct. I’ve investigated, prosecuted, and defended thousands of alleged felonies and have tried nearly one hundred cases to verdict before a jury.
After publication of my second novel SEMIAUTOMATIC, I took a break from writing to raise my kids and build my legal practice. BROOKLYN SUPREME is my third book. All of my books are set in my working life, and I try to present that world accurately. Because I write "true stories that never happened," I appreciate the novels of Tana French, Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos, and others who write about crime without ever losing sight of the men and women affected by it.
My books have been translated into many languages and HOLLOWPOINT was to be made into a movie by Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella prior to their unfortunate, early deaths.
I have law degrees from Cambridge University and at the Vanderbilt University School of Law. I now divide my time between New York City and New Hampshire.
Drop me a line if you wish: rob@robreuland.com
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
November 9, 2021
Did you notice? I gave this novel -what big shot critics might mistakenly call a “crime thriller” or a “legal thriller”- 5 stars. Maybe it should have gotten 4.5 stars because I almost put this novel down until I clocked something like 65 pages.
This author, Robert (or Bob) Reuland, is a former Brooklyn district attorney. He put people in prison for a living.
Yet he has created a character-also a Brooklyn D.A.- who is suffering for a crime for which he was never arrested. Forget being tried in a court of law.
But this prosecutor has condemned himself for the tragedy that haunts his existence.
Every day he simmers in his own sense of guilt.
This novel contains brilliant writing. Clipped, biting bits of dialogue that are searing… especially if you can work up a bit of empathy for the main character.
I found this novel at a library giveaway deal. All you can fit into a bag or two.
Free books.
The library is relocating & they’re dumping donated books.
This one was a review copy, presumably read and reviewed by some professional critic.
I sure hope they loved it as much as I did.
This author, Robert (or Bob) Reuland, is a former Brooklyn district attorney. He put people in prison for a living.
Yet he has created a character-also a Brooklyn D.A.- who is suffering for a crime for which he was never arrested. Forget being tried in a court of law.
But this prosecutor has condemned himself for the tragedy that haunts his existence.
Every day he simmers in his own sense of guilt.
This novel contains brilliant writing. Clipped, biting bits of dialogue that are searing… especially if you can work up a bit of empathy for the main character.
I found this novel at a library giveaway deal. All you can fit into a bag or two.
Free books.
The library is relocating & they’re dumping donated books.
This one was a review copy, presumably read and reviewed by some professional critic.
I sure hope they loved it as much as I did.
October 5, 2025
3 Stars. The author, Robert Reuland, an Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn, writes with authenticity - overflowing and often sad. It's a scum world he deals with. The pressure to quickly dispense serious and impactful justice is constant. Reuland brings this point-of-view to Hollowpoint. His fictitious ADA, Andrew Giobberti, is in his thirties with his own cross to bear - the tragic death of his daughter, 6-year-old Opal, in a traffic accident a year earlier. Of Gio's making and he can't get over it. Their relationship had been one of love and mutual enjoyment and he's wracked with remorse, almost catatonic. It affected his job performance - he has trouble giving a damn. Yet the cases keep coming and there's so little time for consideration. The death of a 14-year-old girl, already a young mother, comes his way. Who shot Kayla Harris? Too quickly he focuses on charging LL, aka Lamar Lamb. Yet Gio's sometime girlfriend Stacey, a junior associate in the DA's office, keeps prodding him, "Are you sure?" His judgement is clouded and he wastes time thinking of the women at work. It's dark and difficult. But he does get there. (May2021/Oc2025)
March 15, 2015
Nunca lo pude terminar.
May 1, 2013
BEWARE OF SPOILERS. I DON'T HIDE OR PROMOTE MY REVIEWS.
Author Rob Reuland, a senior assistant district attorney in Brooklyn (at least at time of writing this book) writes about a youngish assistant prosecutor in the Brooklyn's D.A. office.
I've read that every novelist puts part of him- or herself into each character. Made me wonder which parts of Reuland surfaced in his protagonist, Andrew Giobberti.
Giobberti is working on a case involving a 14-year-old girl shot dead in her bed. Is it the older boyfriend of whom the mom disapproves, who was in the apartment at the time of death? Or someone else?
Giobberti has to puzzle it out while he's still fresh -- only one year out -- from a death of a young person in his own family. Onlookers may wonder is Gio ... still dazed by the tragedy? cynicized by his job? overly mesmerized by the young women attorneys surrounding him?
The end is satisfying, though I did sense that Reuland went through some contortions to reach the end. (Or, maybe, do all novelists know the end point before they start?)
His descriptions and dialogue are mostly taut and targeted. Sometimes I felt he was a bit too "precieux."
Since this book came out in 2001, I'm wondering if his writing has kept improving. Also wondered whether his Brooklyn co-workers (D.A., police, coroner, etc.) glimpsed pieces of themselves in "Hollowpoint."
Author Rob Reuland, a senior assistant district attorney in Brooklyn (at least at time of writing this book) writes about a youngish assistant prosecutor in the Brooklyn's D.A. office.
I've read that every novelist puts part of him- or herself into each character. Made me wonder which parts of Reuland surfaced in his protagonist, Andrew Giobberti.
Giobberti is working on a case involving a 14-year-old girl shot dead in her bed. Is it the older boyfriend of whom the mom disapproves, who was in the apartment at the time of death? Or someone else?
Giobberti has to puzzle it out while he's still fresh -- only one year out -- from a death of a young person in his own family. Onlookers may wonder is Gio ... still dazed by the tragedy? cynicized by his job? overly mesmerized by the young women attorneys surrounding him?
The end is satisfying, though I did sense that Reuland went through some contortions to reach the end. (Or, maybe, do all novelists know the end point before they start?)
His descriptions and dialogue are mostly taut and targeted. Sometimes I felt he was a bit too "precieux."
Since this book came out in 2001, I'm wondering if his writing has kept improving. Also wondered whether his Brooklyn co-workers (D.A., police, coroner, etc.) glimpsed pieces of themselves in "Hollowpoint."
May 8, 2021
(In the interest of full disclosure Reuland is a friend. ) A great story that transcend the police procedural/legal thriller genre. Reuland's hero/antihero, Andrew Giobberti, a prosecutor in Brooklyn, New York, is barely intact—under assault by terrible personal loss, guilt, and the everyday horrors of the Brooklyn that don’t exist in the Times, in the imagination of the hipsters in Williamsburg, and is simply an unpleasant truth for all those who could no longer afford Manhattan and now call the borough home. But this is the world, a world that can't be redeemed, where Giobberti must find his own redemption.
This is dark tale told very with great feeling, insight, and knowledge. (Reuland is a former DA Homicide, and knows this world intimately.) There's no happy ending here, just the end of another day.
This is dark tale told very with great feeling, insight, and knowledge. (Reuland is a former DA Homicide, and knows this world intimately.) There's no happy ending here, just the end of another day.
August 10, 2008
Discruntled and disenchanted Brooklyn Assistant DA investigates the murder of 14 year old girl from the projects who was shot while her mother and sister were both home; except they didn't see anyone enter or leave the apartment. In the midst of the investigation, the ADA has to deal with his own shortcomings and personal demons.
October 5, 2016
I seem to have a knack lately for picking detective or police novels where the main character is an emotional mess from some personal issue! This was not the best of them, this was not the worst of them!
July 2, 2007
I remember being pretty disappointed. Good if you have nothing else to do and you want a fast read.
Read
December 9, 2012dreadful hero
April 6, 2013
Main character hard to like, dialogue crisp, dark, dark, dark....
November 3, 2015
This book started out bad and never got any better.
June 7, 2019
Typical crime novel with the main character being a drinking, womanizing sad sack. The plot and ending were so-so. However, I liked the writer's style in telling the story.
March 29, 2022
Rueland writes terrific stories, BROOKLYN SUPREME, his latest was remarkable; this is his first novel and frankly it is just as good as his latest. Highly recommend it.
December 20, 2013
Een thriller die geen thriller is. Eerder een verslag van een man die met zichzelf in het reine probeert te komen.
December 23, 2021
Read in 2001. Murder mystery set in Brooklyn.
November 5, 2024
No lo pude terminar de leer. No he conectado con la historia me aburria muchísimo.
August 19, 2025
Muy malo, un verdadero plomazo. Me costó mucho terminarlo. Muy lento, nada de suspenso.
January 17, 2016
Este es uno de esos libros a los que no les veo el punto de escribirlos.No hay nada que me guste de la historia, creo que es un desastre de principio a fin.
Primero, su protagonista no merece ser el protagonista, yo entiendo que tiene depresión,pero es aburrido leer sobre un personaje que no hace nada. Se supone que esta investigando un asesinato,pero como esta en medio de una depresión no hace su trabajo, todo el libro es el quejándose por algo mientras todo los demás personajes hacen el trabajo por el y luego le dan las pistas ya solucionadas.
En serio, creo que en todo el libro lo único que hace es ir a entrevistar a la familia dos veces y eso es todo.
Pero lo peor es su final. Luego que otros resolvieran el caso pero el se quedara con el crédito porque el es el "investigador", usa una excusa que pretende ser moral pero es una mierda para solucionar todo. No, eso no es aceptable. Le armaron todo el caso, to lo que el debía hacer es ejecutarlo y ni eso pudo hacer.
Primero, su protagonista no merece ser el protagonista, yo entiendo que tiene depresión,pero es aburrido leer sobre un personaje que no hace nada. Se supone que esta investigando un asesinato,pero como esta en medio de una depresión no hace su trabajo, todo el libro es el quejándose por algo mientras todo los demás personajes hacen el trabajo por el y luego le dan las pistas ya solucionadas.
En serio, creo que en todo el libro lo único que hace es ir a entrevistar a la familia dos veces y eso es todo.
Pero lo peor es su final. Luego que otros resolvieran el caso pero el se quedara con el crédito porque el es el "investigador", usa una excusa que pretende ser moral pero es una mierda para solucionar todo. No, eso no es aceptable. Le armaron todo el caso, to lo que el debía hacer es ejecutarlo y ni eso pudo hacer.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews