Sandhogs: A Novel

by Thomas Kelly

The New York City underworld in the boomtown 1980 land values are skyrocketing; new buildings are going up on every block; fortunes are being made overnight—and extorted in the morning.

On the streets of Hell’s Kitchen, both the Mafia and the feds are moving in on the construction rackets, for now in Irish hands. In the Irish mob’s intensifying power struggle, an internecine war ignites in the back rooms and broad daylight of the neighborhood. At the center of the struggle are the Adare Paddy, a failed boxer turned mob henchman who never left the streets he grew up on; and Billy, a college graduate briefly working in the tunnels as a sandhog before entering law school to pursue the American dream—brothers divided by everything but their powerful blood-tie.

Now, as their paths converge on familiar streets in a crossfire of greed, treachery, and violence, their loyalties—to family, friends, neighborhood, and, most important, each other—will be put to a brutal test.

284 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2008

About the author

Thomas Kelly (b. 1960) is the author of three novels set in New York City. Born in New York, Kelly spent ten years as a construction worker and sandhog—working in the subway tunnels beneath the city—before attending Fordham University and Harvard University, where he received a master’s degree in public administration. Kelly parlayed his experience in union politics into a job as an advance man for the campaign of New York City mayor David Dinkins, an experience which would form the basis for some of his fiction.

Kelly began writing in the mid-1990s, and published his debut, Payback, in 1997. A gritty look at the overlap between construction and the Mafia, it was critically acclaimed and adapted to film by David Mamet. Kelly’s other works are The Rackets (2001), which was inspired by Kelly’s experience working for City Hall, and Empire Rising (2005), a historical novel about the construction of the Empire State Building.

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is what happens when you buy a book based solely on the fact you and the author share a name.

That said, this book wasn't bad. It had a nice, direct tone to it and didn't take too long to get through. Kelly writes in a declarative, pulpy style where mob bosses are psychotic, labor men are impossible to crack, and family trumps all. It took me a bit to get used to his writing, but once I did, this one was a real page-turner.

[Krista Halpin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Construction in the City of New York in the 80s...right before the end of all the excess. Amazing read. Gritty, raw and I never wanted it to end.

[Chris Estey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great crime and the city novel!

[Charlie Zegers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is like watching a Martin Scorsese movie.