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Long Island Noir
Original stories by: Jules Feiffer, Matthew McGevna, Nick Mamatas, Kaylie Jones, Qanta Ahmed, Charles Salzberg, Reed Farrel Coleman, Tim McLoughlin, Sarah Weinman, JZ Holden, Richie Narvaez, Sheila Kohler, Jane Ciabattari, Steven Wishnia, Kenneth Wishnia, Amani Scipio, and Tim Tomlinson.
Kaylie Jones moved to Sagaponack, New York, in 1975, where her family continued to live for more than thirty years. She is the author of five novels, including A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries and the memoir Lies My Mother Never Told Me. She teaches in the MFA program at Stony Brook Southampton and in the Wilkes University low-residency MFA program in professional writing.
Kaylie Jones moved to Sagaponack, New York, in 1975, where her family continued to live for more than thirty years. She is the author of five novels, including A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries and the memoir Lies My Mother Never Told Me. She teaches in the MFA program at Stony Brook Southampton and in the Wilkes University low-residency MFA program in professional writing.
290 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 30, 2012
20 people are currently reading
238 people want to read
About the author
Kaylie Jones
20 books43 followersKaylie was born in Paris, France and attended French schools until she returned with her family to the U.S. in 1974. Her father was the novelist James Jones.
Kaylie began to study Russian as her third language at age 8, and continued to study the language and literature through her four undergraduate years at Wesleyan University and her two years at Columbia University’s School of the Arts, where she received her MFA in Writing.
Kylie Jones has published six books, the most recent a memoir, Lies My Mother Never Told Me. Her novel A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries was adapted as a Merchant Ivory film in 1998.
Jones has been teaching for more than twenty-five years, and is a faculty member in the Stony Brook Southampton MFA in Creative Writing & Literature program and in Wilkes University’s MFA in Creative Writing program. She is the author of Speak Now and the editor of Long Island Noir. Her newest endeavor is her publishing imprint with Akashic Books, Kaylie Jones Books.
Kaylie began to study Russian as her third language at age 8, and continued to study the language and literature through her four undergraduate years at Wesleyan University and her two years at Columbia University’s School of the Arts, where she received her MFA in Writing.
Kylie Jones has published six books, the most recent a memoir, Lies My Mother Never Told Me. Her novel A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries was adapted as a Merchant Ivory film in 1998.
Jones has been teaching for more than twenty-five years, and is a faculty member in the Stony Brook Southampton MFA in Creative Writing & Literature program and in Wilkes University’s MFA in Creative Writing program. She is the author of Speak Now and the editor of Long Island Noir. Her newest endeavor is her publishing imprint with Akashic Books, Kaylie Jones Books.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
December 8, 2022
Real Rating: 4.75* of five, rounded down
The Publisher Says: Stories covering Long Island's extremes, from the comfortable rich to the horribly poor, and all the darkness between.
Launched with the summer '04 award-winning best seller Brooklyn Noir, Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies. Each book is comprised of all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the geographical area of the book. KAYLIE JONES, JULES FEIFFER, REED FARREL COLEMAN, SHEILA KOHLER, and others reveal how Long Island has always been a playground for the rich and famous—and while it used to be that only a select few could afford it, now everyone wants a piece of the pie.
The McMansions pop up like mushrooms, limiting resources and destroying an already taxed environment. It feels a little like Rome in its last days—a kind of collective amnesia and blindness to the outside world has taken over. Everyone knows this, but no one wants to do anything about it, because big money is being spent—and made. And as the rich grow richer, the poor grow poorer and more disenfranchised; and greed only breeds more greed and violence.
These stories cover the range of Long Island's extremes, from the comfortably rich, to the horribly poor—people pushed to desperate acts in order to protect what they already have, or to try to take what they don't from those who do.
I RECEIVED AN ARC FROM THE PUBLISHER. THANK YOU.
My Review: This series of anthologies is always welcome. It's a darn good series, well edited and clever in its conception and execution. Original stories by an array of people from, or who live(d) on, Long Island, all very talented writers though not always of thriller fiction; that did not work perfectly in this anthology's case but hey, it got a lot of great stuff in front of us.
I'm using the Bryce Method of giving a short assessment of the individual stories so you'll be able to assess the whole as well as the parts. The story-by-story's at the blog.
The Publisher Says: Stories covering Long Island's extremes, from the comfortable rich to the horribly poor, and all the darkness between.
Launched with the summer '04 award-winning best seller Brooklyn Noir, Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies. Each book is comprised of all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the geographical area of the book. KAYLIE JONES, JULES FEIFFER, REED FARREL COLEMAN, SHEILA KOHLER, and others reveal how Long Island has always been a playground for the rich and famous—and while it used to be that only a select few could afford it, now everyone wants a piece of the pie.
The McMansions pop up like mushrooms, limiting resources and destroying an already taxed environment. It feels a little like Rome in its last days—a kind of collective amnesia and blindness to the outside world has taken over. Everyone knows this, but no one wants to do anything about it, because big money is being spent—and made. And as the rich grow richer, the poor grow poorer and more disenfranchised; and greed only breeds more greed and violence.
These stories cover the range of Long Island's extremes, from the comfortably rich, to the horribly poor—people pushed to desperate acts in order to protect what they already have, or to try to take what they don't from those who do.
I RECEIVED AN ARC FROM THE PUBLISHER. THANK YOU.
My Review: This series of anthologies is always welcome. It's a darn good series, well edited and clever in its conception and execution. Original stories by an array of people from, or who live(d) on, Long Island, all very talented writers though not always of thriller fiction; that did not work perfectly in this anthology's case but hey, it got a lot of great stuff in front of us.
I'm using the Bryce Method of giving a short assessment of the individual stories so you'll be able to assess the whole as well as the parts. The story-by-story's at the blog.
November 25, 2019
Akashic Books, an independent publisher based in Brooklyn, is dedicated to publishing urban literary fiction and political nonfiction by authors ignored by the mainstream. Akashic has an excellent reputation and when they release a new book, the quality is guaranteed to be superb. and put out some really good books. Long Island Noir, an anthology of dark fiction set on Long Island, has been in my to-be-read pile for far too long, and now I’m sorry I let it linger there. Most of the stories are quite good, rather unconventional, and present a gritty twist on the "American Dream.” Though not every story is true noir, that off-shoot of pulp fiction epitomized by Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon and James M. Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice, these stories focus on Long Island’s seedy with its loan sharks, hustlers, small- and large-scale mobsters, corrupt actions and pastimes of the wealthy. Kaylie Jones, the editor of this collection, makes the point that the Great Gatsby is really the first Long Island noir story.
Some of these stories are excellent, particularly “The Shiny Car in the Night” by Nick Mamatas. It was selected for The Best American Mystery Stories 2013. Another favorite was Anjali's America. In it, a young Pakistani doctor treats another Pakistani woman whose fate she might have shared, had she not escaped from arranged marriage and completed her medical education. The story rang particularly true to me as, when I lived in Pakistan, I was friends with a woman with a Ph.D. in botany married to an intellectually-challenged rug salesman. In Gateway to the Stars, a young man is prevented from finding his younger, drug-addicted brother by a surly copy who, despite being raised in the same town as the young man, has adopted Long Island attitude.
Long Island Noir is definitely a book to savor, despite the page-turner quality of the stories.
Some of these stories are excellent, particularly “The Shiny Car in the Night” by Nick Mamatas. It was selected for The Best American Mystery Stories 2013. Another favorite was Anjali's America. In it, a young Pakistani doctor treats another Pakistani woman whose fate she might have shared, had she not escaped from arranged marriage and completed her medical education. The story rang particularly true to me as, when I lived in Pakistan, I was friends with a woman with a Ph.D. in botany married to an intellectually-challenged rug salesman. In Gateway to the Stars, a young man is prevented from finding his younger, drug-addicted brother by a surly copy who, despite being raised in the same town as the young man, has adopted Long Island attitude.
Long Island Noir is definitely a book to savor, despite the page-turner quality of the stories.
April 10, 2014
An amazing collection of noir inspired short stories that comprise the strange tapestry of human emotions that is Long Island and it's myriad patchwork pieces. This is a fantastic chance to sample an array of talented authors writing some tasty noir based on a real place we can all love to hate.
Read! Definitely recommended.
Read! Definitely recommended.
June 24, 2025
DNF—Just couldn’t get into this one. One or two stories were alright but not memorable. The book just kept putting me to sleep and I need to stop pretending I’m reading it and let it go. But I do enjoy the Akashic Noir series, I’ll continue to try other books.
May 30, 2012
I love the idea of short story collections that are geographically confined, and I love hardboiled fiction. I don't know why I was so apprehensive about approaching any of these Akashic-published collections that combined both. Aside from a few misses, I think the collection works great.
All of the stories in the collection are set in various communities on Long Island, and most are quite good. All of the stories toy with the pursuit of the "American Dream," and — in great hardboiled fashion — the characters often go for a bigger slice of pie than they realize they can manage.
Some of the best stories cover territory familiar to fans of hardboiled fiction or film noir, yes, but some are fairly unconventional and really snap into place. I also appreciate how some of the better stories balance attention to detail in the various locales, and enough opaqueness to not alienate folks not overly familiar with Long Island.
All of the stories in the collection are set in various communities on Long Island, and most are quite good. All of the stories toy with the pursuit of the "American Dream," and — in great hardboiled fashion — the characters often go for a bigger slice of pie than they realize they can manage.
Some of the best stories cover territory familiar to fans of hardboiled fiction or film noir, yes, but some are fairly unconventional and really snap into place. I also appreciate how some of the better stories balance attention to detail in the various locales, and enough opaqueness to not alienate folks not overly familiar with Long Island.
January 8, 2017
7. Long Island Noir, edited by Kaylie Jones
The editor of this collection points out that the Great Gatsby is really the first noir story of Long Island. The stories are dark and gritty. This is not the Long Island of the Hampton millionaires, but the tract houses, the mobsters, the hustlers, loan sharks, enforcers, and immigrants who thought that they were coming to a better life, whites fleeing from Brooklyn and the Bronx. Most of the characters have a sense of futility. Everyone seems to have a gun. No one in these tales is innocent, but some are less guilty than others. This book is part of a series of noir stories set in various cities all over the world and I am going to try to get Toronto Noir and see what they have done with it. One problem with this series is that all the stories are so good (if you are into noir) that you will want to read more by all of the authors.
The editor of this collection points out that the Great Gatsby is really the first noir story of Long Island. The stories are dark and gritty. This is not the Long Island of the Hampton millionaires, but the tract houses, the mobsters, the hustlers, loan sharks, enforcers, and immigrants who thought that they were coming to a better life, whites fleeing from Brooklyn and the Bronx. Most of the characters have a sense of futility. Everyone seems to have a gun. No one in these tales is innocent, but some are less guilty than others. This book is part of a series of noir stories set in various cities all over the world and I am going to try to get Toronto Noir and see what they have done with it. One problem with this series is that all the stories are so good (if you are into noir) that you will want to read more by all of the authors.
June 2, 2012
This is a wonderful collection of short noir stories set in suburbs of Long Island, New York by different authors centered around family values, love, reaching for the American Dream, disappointments and personal tragedies.
Each author has his and her own voice, lending a freshness to each story told.
Each author has his and her own voice, lending a freshness to each story told.
June 13, 2012
I'm loving the setup of Long Island Noir: the way it reads swiftly, visually, the different authors adding their dynamic prose. I know the Jersey Shore Writers are working on their own noir anthology. We are taking on the challenge. We have lots of 'noir' to share.
November 3, 2015
Disappointed they didn't have a Syosset story. Also the writing quality was variable. Still, this is a great series.
October 10, 2019
Whenever the folks at Akashic Books release a new book as part of their noir series, quality is guaranteed. The real question is just how good the latest tome is. When it comes to Long Island Noir, the answer can be summoned up with one word: superb. Edited by Kaylie Jones, Long Island Noir is grainy, fast, cold and a little dirty. It also accomplishes two things: it repeatedly puts the reader at the mercy of the emotionally gritty stories in its pages and almost every corner of Long Island is exposed.
You can read Gabino's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.
You can read Gabino's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.
May 9, 2024
It could be me, but these collected stories were rather disappointing. Generally, they were bereft of characters who were compelling and/memorable and the plots lacked interest. At times, quirky, but never completely memorable settings left me wondering where the true noir was …
So you see, I was not impressed. I have read other books in the expanding Noir short story genre and been more pleasantly pleased.
Still, try this book. Surely there is at least one bright light to pierce the Noir darkness of this collection of stories.
So you see, I was not impressed. I have read other books in the expanding Noir short story genre and been more pleasantly pleased.
Still, try this book. Surely there is at least one bright light to pierce the Noir darkness of this collection of stories.
January 3, 2021
Top notch crime fiction set on Long Island by writers with a Long Island connection. Great short stories all worth the read. Like holding up a mirror to the island, seeing a ghastly visage and realizing you’re not in the funhouse.
December 27, 2018
What a great collection of dark short stories. Some were more compelling than others- some characters I felt for and others I loathe.
July 26, 2019
Assorted short stories centered all in my locale so that added an extra interesting element to each story. Many were depressing and sad but I enjoyed them. Nonetheless.
May 29, 2021
This book was a nice break from reading longer novels. Most of the stories were short, had a tight format and were good reads for breaks. There were some characteristics of living on Long Island that were familiar and brought back memories. In other cases it seemed as thought there were many changes over the long stretch of time since I left. This is a great travel companion...
August 1, 2021
Tales of the gritty side of Long Island. Well told stories that keep you turning the page.
Read
May 12, 2015Kaylie Jones, Jules Feiffer, Reed Farrel Coleman, Sheila Kohler, and others reveal how Long Island has always been a playground for the rich and famous--and while it used to be that only a select few could afford it, now everyone wants a piece of the pie. The McMansions pop up like mushrooms, limiting resources and destroying an already taxed environment. It feels a little like Rome in its last days--a kind of collective amnesia and blindness to the outside world has taken over. Everyone knows this, but no one wants to do anything about it, because big money is being spent--and made. And as the rich grow richer, the poor grow poorer and more disenfranchised; and greed only breeds more greed and violence. These stories cover the range of Long Island's extremes, from the comfortably rich, to the horribly poor--people pushed to desperate acts in order to protect what they already have, or to try to take what they don't from those who do.
"F. Scott Fitzgerald's mansions of Great Neck and Little Neck are still there, lording imposingly over their lesser neighbors. The American dream of suburban bliss has never died, only grown more desperate, more materialistic, and less romantic as it has shoved its way further east, until now there is literally nowhere left to go. The Hamptons I knew and loved are gone forever . . . These are stories about people who will never feel they have enough, whether they have everything they ever dreamed of, or nothing at all." --From the Introduction by Kaylie Jones.
Kaylie Jones, Jules Feiffer, Reed Farrel Coleman, Sheila Kohler, and others reveal how Long Island has always been a playground for the rich and famous--and while it used to be that only a select few could afford it, now everyone wants a piece of the pie. The McMansions pop up like mushrooms, limiting resources and destroying an already taxed environment. It feels a little like Rome in its last days--a kind of collective amnesia and blindness to the outside world has taken over. Everyone knows this, but no one wants to do anything about it, because big money is being spent--and made. And as the rich grow richer, the poor grow poorer and more disenfranchised; and greed only breeds more greed and violence. These stories cover the range of Long Island's extremes, from the comfortably rich, to the horribly poor--people pushed to desperate acts in order to protect what they already have, or to try to take what they don't from those who do.
"F. Scott Fitzgerald's mansions of Great Neck and Little Neck are still there, lording imposingly over their lesser neighbors. The American dream of suburban bliss has never died, only grown more desperate, more materialistic, and less romantic as it has shoved its way further east, until now there is literally nowhere left to go. The Hamptons I knew and loved are gone forever . . . These are stories about people who will never feel they have enough, whether they have everything they ever dreamed of, or nothing at all." --From the Introduction by Kaylie Jones.
December 14, 2016
Long Island Noir fully fills only the first half of its title; while all of the stories are set on Long Island, quite a few are not noir. Noir is a sort of off-shoot of those pulp fiction hardboiled tales featuring disgraced private eyes encountering the seamy side of life. It focuses on the dark underbelly, and while the characters often inhabit a hard-scrabble world, noir exists equally well in the corrupt actions and pastimes of the wealthy. Long Island Noir often failed in this, with both traditional mystery stories and one that featured neither crime nor struggle. A few needed a little more time, with the slap-dash feeling of an early draft. Still, I found a few of the stories leading me to want to read more by their authors, always a good outcome. Other stories delivered in spades, telling of plans gone awry and lives squandered.
Among the stand-out stories was Anjali's America, in which a young Pakistani doctor encounters a woman whose fate she could have shared, had she not rejected an arranged marriage and completed her education, Gateway to the Stars, where a young man is prevented from finding his younger, drug-addicted brother by an unpleasant cop, and Blood Drive, in which a recently laid-off construction worker finds a new career that is both illegal and morally defensible. The protagonist of this story delivers a monolog that reminded me that appearances can be deceiving.
The disappointments were not terrible, but they didn't deliver. In Terror nothing bad happened. Instead, tragedy visited a browner-skinned, poorer acquaintance of the highly educated, white woman who could afford a summer house in the Hamptons. I found this story both offensive and well written. Past President was a traditional mystery story that could have featured Kinsey Millhone or Rina Lazarus. It was enjoyable and well-crafted, but absolutely not noir. And Semiconscious was certainly dark enough, but it was too angry to be well-written. I was reminded of John Steinbeck throwing away a rough draft and then writing The Grapes of Wrath. This was an early draft of what could eventually become something good.
Among the stand-out stories was Anjali's America, in which a young Pakistani doctor encounters a woman whose fate she could have shared, had she not rejected an arranged marriage and completed her education, Gateway to the Stars, where a young man is prevented from finding his younger, drug-addicted brother by an unpleasant cop, and Blood Drive, in which a recently laid-off construction worker finds a new career that is both illegal and morally defensible. The protagonist of this story delivers a monolog that reminded me that appearances can be deceiving.
The disappointments were not terrible, but they didn't deliver. In Terror nothing bad happened. Instead, tragedy visited a browner-skinned, poorer acquaintance of the highly educated, white woman who could afford a summer house in the Hamptons. I found this story both offensive and well written. Past President was a traditional mystery story that could have featured Kinsey Millhone or Rina Lazarus. It was enjoyable and well-crafted, but absolutely not noir. And Semiconscious was certainly dark enough, but it was too angry to be well-written. I was reminded of John Steinbeck throwing away a rough draft and then writing The Grapes of Wrath. This was an early draft of what could eventually become something good.
July 9, 2012
This collection of short stories- one volume in a series of dark tales set in various locations- illustrates the dark side of Long Island. Usually thought of as boring suburbia, the area proves to be anything but in these tales of people in bad situations. Poverty, alcoholism, drugs, prejudice, spousal abuse, rape, revenge, murder; these are no pretty fantasy stories but grim reminders of what goes on all the time, most of it under the radar.
Editor (and contributor) Jones has done a good job selecting the stories; they represent quite an assortment of ways people’s lives can go out of control. Not all the characters are on a downward slide because of their own actions; many are in their dark situations simply by bad luck. The variety of situations keeps the book interesting- none of the 17 stories is like the others despite being on the same theme. If you like your fiction down to earth and raw, this books for you.
Editor (and contributor) Jones has done a good job selecting the stories; they represent quite an assortment of ways people’s lives can go out of control. Not all the characters are on a downward slide because of their own actions; many are in their dark situations simply by bad luck. The variety of situations keeps the book interesting- none of the 17 stories is like the others despite being on the same theme. If you like your fiction down to earth and raw, this books for you.
September 18, 2012
Long Island is the perfect place to set a collection of noir stories. This is where desperation and dreams collide, and this collection does a haunting job of exploring that tension. There were lots of different voices. As a native Long Islander, I was intrigued to see the way each specific town played off each story. Introduced me to lots of writers I'd like to read more of.
July 18, 2012
This collection was great. There were stories about places I had never heard of and some I had forgotten. I enjoyed many of the stories. I think it should be required reading for students, just kidding. It is a great summer read.
July 5, 2012
Collection of short stories that examines the darker side of life on Long Island.
August 6, 2012
I haven't read a lot of noir, but thoroughly enjoyed this collection.
March 2, 2013
A few stories made this a 4-star, a few made it 3-star, and some, 2-star (it was okay). I went with four stars because of these two: Anali's America, by Qanta Ahmed and Home Invasion by Kaylie Jones.
July 21, 2015
An excellent beach read for those who like to explore the grittier side of the American Dream
November 30, 2017
That's 30 books in the books!
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews