Absent Friends

by S.J. Rozan

The secrets of a group of childhood friends unravel in this haunting thriller by Edgar Award winner S. J. Rozan. Set in New York in the unforgettable aftermath of September 11, Absent Friends brilliantly captures a time and place unlike any other, as it winds through the wounded streets of New York and Staten Island...and into a maze of old crimes, damaged lives, and heartbreaking revelations. The result is not only an electrifying mystery and a riveting piece of storytelling but an elegiac novel that powerfully explores a world changed forever on a clear September morning.

In a novel that will catch you off guard at every turn, and one that is guaranteed to become a classic, S. J. Rozan masterfully ratchets up the tension one revelation at a time as she dares you to ponder the bonds of friendship, the meaning of truth, and the stuff of heroism.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Suspense, Womens, Friendship, Detective

365 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

SJ Rozan, a native New Yorker, is the author of the Bill Smith and Lydia Chin detective series as well as several stand-alone novels. She has won the the Edgar, Nero, Macavity, Shamus and Anthony awards for Best Novel and the Edgar award for Best Short Story. She is a former Mystery Writers of America National Board member, a current Sisters in Crime National Board member, and President of the Private Eye Writers of America. In January 2003 she was an invited speaker at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. In February 2005 she will be Guest of Honor at the Left Coast Crime convention in El Paso, Texas. A former architect in a practice that focussed on police stations, firehouses, and zoos, SJ Rozan was born and raised in the Bronx. She currently lives in Greenwich Village, New York. (from the author's website)"
S.J. Rozan has a B.A. from Oberlin College and M.Arch from SUNY/Buffalo

Reviews

[Una Tiers · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book didn't live up to Rozan's ability. The writing was clear. The vignettes about a group of friends focused around 9/11 staggered and never fell together.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a couple of chapters to get used to the set up of the book-but once I got used to it, I tore through this engrossing story.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a real page-turner. Five stars. Set against the backdrop of 9/11, it's the story of seven childhood friends and an event that changes all their lives - the death of one of them at the hand of another of them. But it's not who the book leads us to believe it is.
Since this is on the spoiler board, I'll say I figured it wasn't Jimmy all along. It didn't fit his personality. And not owning up to it didn't fit his personality.
He always took care of Markie. He never would have let Markie take responsibility for what he did.
My mind swirled around one of the women, or perhaps baby Kevin in some weird accident.
Near the end of the story, I thought we'd find out Tom had Markie killed. Apparently not. I didn't see a good reason for Tom not owning up to what he did. I liked Tom but he didn't emerge as a positive character for me.
I'm not surprised that Harry did kill himself. He would have had a really hard time disentangling that mess, plus so many other people would have been hurt by the truth, by that point.
My big regret was that Kevin was killed. That didn't have to happen.

[Teresa mcgaha · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was not a joy to read. I felt with the title Absent Friends and the setting post 9-11 in NYC. It would be a story that focused on the aftermath of that day and how people picked up the pieces and moved on in their lives. Instead Jimmy a NYFD is killed in the towers and we flash back and forth between 2001 and 1979. It seems a childhood friend was killed and the one who did the shooting is in jail and tradegy happens again. We then spend over 300 pages trying to make sense of a muddled mess. Harry the reporter and his actions are not necesary. Many of the relationships seem disconnected and there is little to reflect on 9/11 in this book. I would of been happy if the ending if Jimmy just walked away from it all on that day and started a new life. That would of been a better story. I enjoy her series with Bill and Lydia and will keep reading these. Not sure if I will give In this Rain a try or not.

[Daphne Atkeson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, set around Sept. 11, got rave reviews from top thriller/suspense writers like it was the Second Coming. Multiple POVs of childhood friends, a murder caused by one or more of them, a scandal regarding possible mob money from fallen firefighter hero, suicide/murder of a reporter. Chapter changes insanely frequent, dragged out revelations until you didn't care any more who did what, cliched backstory childhood incidents, overwrought sentimentality.

Evocative writing, gifted stylist, but one of those "single conversation could solve the whole problem" kinds of stories. I think the 9/11 aspect, which was well handled, must account for all the acclaim. They mystery itself was ho-hum and if I could have flipped ahead to solve it, I would have. Trouble was, it was buried in several POVs.

I want to give it 3.5 because of the good writing, but the more I write, the more irritated I become, so I'm sticking with 3.

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was given to me by another SJ Rozan fan that couldn't get into it. It's not written in her usual style. The book is about a group of childhood friends who grew up around New York City area, now adults, and how they experience 9/11 as well as a digging into a long kept secret among them. It's a book that still leaves me feeling at a loss for words of how describe and review it, but in the same instance that reveals the brilliance of SJ Rozan. The impression of the book, and how she weaves her story, brilliantly captures the emotions, disbelief and tragedy of 9/11. If you don't start the book expecting one of her usual crime mysteries, I think you'll get into it faster and be happy to finish it.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading Absent Friends the title reverberated in my mind with the intensity of the deeper meanings of the title. This book is a masterpiece. The intertwining of the lives of seven young boys and girls who grew up together in Pleasant Hills, Staten Island, New York; their childhood, the terrible tragedy of the events of September 11, 2001; and the aftermath in Manhattan and on Staten Island just a few short weeks later told in multiple perspectives bring the memories back, remind us of what was lost and what true heroes look like. I will not forget this book. Like the ripple effect of a stone dropped into water, the feelings evoked by this book will continue to grow

[Joanne · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am surprised that I read this book to the end. It got good reviews from significant sources, so I kept at it.
It was very tedious through the first half of the book. Then I began to keep the characters straight and it became more interesting,, and the individuals became important to me. I kept reading to find out what happens to them all.
It was a very sad story, set against a backdrop of 9/11, and at the end I felt angry with the author, feeling "what was the point?"
I won't be reading any more of her books.

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absent Friends is the kind of read that just gets better and better as it goes along. The characters are many, and at times it was a bit confusing. The author did, however, do a spectacular job of jumping back and forth from the past to the present. In this way the author successfully created her characters from youth to adults. This is a novel about secrets and decisions. About heros and villans. And it is mostly about friends and just what each of us will do for the sake of our relationships. Goodread.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

haunting novel about 9/11. I think with time 9/11 has really receded into my memory banks and this book made it seem like it happened yesterday. Those of us in the rest of the country can never imagine what it must have been like during that time. I also found it interesting, in this novel at least, that there was not any love lost between the police and fire forces in NY. It just seems like they should work well together but in this book they seemed more like adversaries.

[Karen Hazzah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a fan of Rozan's Lydia Chin / Bill Smith series, but it took me a while to get into this standalone. I initially found it hard to keep track of the many characters and changing point-of-view. But I persevered, and I'm glad I did. Good story of buried secrets, old friends, and moving on. Interesting setting -- New York City right after 9/11 -- added a layer of interest.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling story of an apparent suicide by a journalist in the aftermath of 9/11. Set in the two months after, it traces several high school friends from Staten Island, their coming of age and why a hero was (or was not) a hero.

[Gylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely and aching.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this literary myst

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much better than average. I enjoyed the development of the characters through time.

[Belita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back story to 9/11

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started out slow, but became a very good read.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have never read anything written by this author. This was very good.

[Joni · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review from Ann here on Goodreads, is exactly what I felt about the book:
"After reading Absent Friends the title reverberated in my mind with the intensity of the deeper meanings of the title. This book is a masterpiece. The intertwining of the lives of seven young boys and girls who grew up together in Pleasant Hills, Staten Island, New York; their childhood, the terrible tragedy of the events of September 11, 2001; and the aftermath in Manhattan and on Staten Island just a few short weeks later told in multiple perspectives bring the memories back, remind us of what was lost and what true heroes look like. I will not forget this book. Like the ripple effect of a stone dropped into water, the feelings evoked by this book will continue to grow."

...my apologies to "Ann" for using her review without permission. I thank her for her succinct review which I was unable to express any better.

[Joe Nicholl · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had high expectations and I was really looking forward to reading Absent Friends:A Novel by S.J. Rozan (2004) but unfortunately it fell flat rather quickly for me and I bagged it at a 100 pages. The book won an Edgar and the plot of a murder mystery centered around 9/11 grabbed me but it just wasn't coming together and the writing was once again, flat. Too many chapters, and different pov for each chapter...anyways, no need to go on. Time to grab the next book off the top of my pile...hope I like it better...1.0 outta 5.0....

[Marianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I am not at all a fan of this new thing authors seem to have taken up of flipping around to different characters and times; this was masterfully done. I almost put it down, not intending to finish it, but I stuck to it. Thankfully. Very thought provoking theme. Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.
Skillfully woven with the tragedy of 9/11.

[Ris · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tried 3x to start, may have been my mood, but cannot get into this one.

[Paschalis]

elibrary

[Mary Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audio Way, way, too long. Setting NYC just after Sept 11. What happens to friends after the attack, most interesting was how it effected daily life, no phone service, small business etc.

[Geoff Wooldridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story covers two distinct periods of time.

Firstly, in a battered post 9/11 New York, around 6 weeks after the collapse of the World Trade Centre Towers, as the city mourns, deals with the shock and life slowly regains a degree of normality.

Secondly, in the suburban environment of Pleasant Hills on Staten Island in the late 1970s, where a group of friends, 4 men, three women, are growing up, forming relationships and, for some at least, finding trouble.

A firemen, Jimmy McCaffery, with a reputation for heroic acts, is killed in the maelstrom of 9/11. A memorial fund is his name is established, administered by old friend and lover, Marian.

An ageing journalist, Harry, pursuing a back story to Jimmy's death, suspects that events of 1978, when Jimmy's friend Jack, is shot and killed by another friend, Markie, who subsequently dies in a prison fight, might not be all that it first seems.

When Harry apparently suicides by jumping from the Verrazano Narrows Bridge while still working on the story, his colleague and now younger lover, Laura, who suspects Harry's death may not be suicide, takes up the story in pursuit of the truth. What really did happen in 1978, involving Jimmy, Markie, Jack and his brother Tom, and what is the true source of payments made to Markie's widow Sally ever since that time?

The story alternates between these time periods, telling elements of the story from the various perspectives of key characters, until the truth is eventually revealed.

This is a tale of deep friendships and affections, honour and deceit, heroism and sacrifice, crime and corruption, linked to Irish and Italian crime families and a bent police system.

Rozan has done a competent job in revealing the story, managing a complex structure and multiple voices, and maintaining a degree of dramatic tension for as long as possible.

The prose is often clunky and mundane, much of the dialogue unconvincing, but she has managed to capture the atmosphere of immediate post-9/11 new York with a sense of authenticity. In that aspect, she is occasionally poetically eloquent.

Overall, competent and engaging, but never reaching any great heights. It was a solid 3 star novel, probably 3.5, but short of a 4 star rating from me.

[Melissa (Semi Hiatus Until After the Holidays) · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the shadows of September 11, a hero emerged. James McCafferty, a NYC firefighter known to his co-workers as 'Superman' died while rescuing people from the World Trade Center. But a month later, after two newspaper articles laud McCafferty's heroics, a third article raises questions about his integrity.

Reporter Harry Randall insinuates that McCafferty was dirty, with ties to organized crime. Then Randall dies in an apparent suicide, which raises the eyebrows of Laura Stone, Randall's lover and a fellow journalist. Laura, who knows in her heart that Harry did not kill himself, makes it her mission to discover who murdered him and why. 'Jimmy' McCafferty's childhood friends remain close because of a tragedy that took place when they were young adults. A secret they have been keeping threatens to come to the surface due to Randall's article. Is there any evidence that Harry's death is murder? Will those Jimmy left behind discover a way to begin their lives again?

Much more than a mystery, this is a novel about September 11 and how it changed the people of America. The majority of the story takes place at the end of October in 2001, after the initial shock has worn off and New Yorkers are trying to figure out the direction of their lives. Jimmy only enters the story in flashbacks, yet his presence is felt throughout the entire book. He is one of the 'absent friends'. The contrast between Jimmy's friends and their quest to protect his memory (as well as their own secret) and Laura, who is single-mindedly pursuing Harry's murderer, is striking and fits perfectly into the confusion of Fall, 2001.

The sheer number of characters makes the first few chapters of the novel confusing - it's difficult to sort out who's who. The ultimate solution to the mystery and revelation of the secret is satisfying and ties up the story in a way I didn't anticipate. Readers seeking a thoughtful story will come away with a new understanding of their own reactions to the events of September 11. In Absent Friends, S. J. Rozan has written a stand alone novel that is worth taking quality time to read and ponder.

[Richard Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very different structurally and thematically from most of Rozan's novels. Not part of the Chin/Smith series.

The story revolves around the lives of seven friends — three girls and four boys — who grew up together in the community of Pleasant Hills (think Pleasantville as in the movie) on Staten Island. We switch back and forth from their lives and relationships in the late 60's and into the 70's and the "present day" which is the period immediately after 911. One of the boys from the Pleasant Hills group became a firefighter and a much decorated hero of very years, and his status as a hero is confirmed when he dies in the collapse of the North Tower while rescuing people trapped in the building. However, a reporter who has been given the job of profiling some of the 911 heroes suspects that there is a darker story lurking in Jimmy McCaffery's past.

With this book we have read either on our own or as read-alouds in Rozan collection (this since March of this year). Hopefully, she has another one in the pipeline...

(The two local radio stations in the building on Third Avenue. An airplane crashes into the building and it collapses.)

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not going to review the story as many reviewers have already done so. I will say it is a confusing book. This is the first story I've read by SJ Rozan and had no clue as to what it was about; I had read a review of the author and thought I would try her book. It took quite a few chapters before I grasped what the book was about. The author takes us back and forth between 1979 and Sept. 12, 2001 but I had to ask myself why? Just as I was learning about a character, time shifted. It wasn't until I was deeper into the story that the relevance between their lives in the late '70s and the characters' personalities and achievements in 2001 began to make sense. After reading the book I felt like I walked through a maze trying to find my way out...and did. In hindsight, knowing the ending and how we got there, it was an ok book. I understand why the author chose to piecemeal out information to us; but it still resulted in a stop-n-go flow of the story. I'll probably read another of her books as other reviewers have stated they did not disappoint.

[LJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

ABSENT FRIENDS (Novel-NY-Cont) – G+
S.J. Rozen – Standalone
Delacorte Press, 2004 – Hardcover
James McCaffery, a NYFD captain, is one of the fallen heroes of 9/11. But reporter Harry Randell seems to believe James may not have always been so heroic and was involved with a known mobster. When Harry dies of an apparent suicide, a fellow reporter picks up Harry’s leads.
*** Not as much a mystery as a character study, it vacillates between multiple characters and two time periods, which I found tiring and a bit confusing. Rozen’s depiction of 9/11 and its aftermath are remarkable and sad, and the characters are a reflection of that. However, I found the end very unsatisfying. Parts of the book are very well done and, as Ms. Rosen is a resident of NYC, I certainly understand its impetus. But personally, I’ll admit I am anxious for the return of Bill and Lydia.

[Kirsty Darbyshire · Rating 2 out of 5]

This tale concerns a group of friends who grew up on Staten Island in the 1970s and mostly takes place in late 2001 in New York just after the attacks on the World Trade Center. I was looking forward to reading it but in the end felt disappointed.

Despite the fact that I've loved and adored Rozan's other books I never really got into the swing of this one and the plot always felt a little clunky and culminated in an ending that seemed very so-so to me. Just didn't seem to be as well written as I'd hoped. And though I found some of the sections dealing with life in Manhattan after September 11th interesting I didn't find them as emotionally involving as I thought I should and it started to feel voyeuristic reading the book.

I guess I'd just hoped for better.