“Electric, surprising, and tightly plotted . . . A compelling writer to watch.” –Adrienne Westenfeld, Esquire “A gripping, big-hearted thriller . . . whip-smart and surprisingly funny.” –Harlan Coben The Nightworkers is an electrifying debut crime novel from Brian Selfon about a Brooklyn family of money launderers thrown into chaos when a runner ends up dead and a bag of dirty money goes … chaos when a runner ends up dead and a bag of dirty money goes missing.
Shecky Keenan’s family is under fire–or at least it feels that way. Bank accounts have closed unexpectedly, a strange car has been parked near the house at odd hours, and Emil Scott, an enigmatic artist and the family’s new runner, is missing–along with the $250,000 of dirty money he was carrying.
Shecky lives in old Brooklyn with his niece Kerasha and nephew Henry, and while his deepest desire is to keep his little makeshift family safe, that doesn’t stop him from taking advantage of their talents. Shecky moves money for an array of unsavory clients, and Henry, volatile and violent but tenderhearted, is his bagman. Kerasha, the famed former child-thief of Bushwick, is still learning the family trade, but her quick mind and quicker fingers are already being put to use. They love one another, but trust is thin when secrets are the family trade. And someone will be coming for that missing money–soon.
Inspired by a career that has included corruption cases and wiretaps as an investigative analyst for New York law enforcement, Brian Selfon unspools a tale of crime and consequence through shifting perspectives across the streets, alleys, bodegas, and art studios of Brooklyn. The Nightworkers is an evocative blend of genres: a literary crime thriller with a mystery at the center of its big beating heart: What really happened to Emil Scott, and what can the future possibly hold for a family when crime is what keeps them together?
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Brooklyn artist Emil Scott has been supplementing his income running dirty money for a family of money launderers. He’s been enjoying the gig. It’s safer than peddling fentanyl, his former side hustle; his boss is a friend and also an aspiring artist; and the job gets him outside, where he marvels at the vibrant images everywhere around him.
But now Emil has disappeared, along with the $250K in drug money he was carrying. Suspects abound, from drug dealers to police officers, but the book’s primary suspense is how the disappearance will affect the family of money launderers. And what a fascinating family they are!
Even if you have no interest in crime novels, this book is worth reading just to meet Shecky Keenan, head of the family, and his niece and nephew. Shecky is an indelible character — clearly a crook but someone who loves his niece and nephew desperately, painfully, unwisely. Niece Kerasha is recently paroled, a thief and an addict trying to surface the want inside her that drives her to steal and use. And nephew Harry is the bagman, the muscle, who wants something more for himself, who cared blindly about Emil.
I was hoping for more detail about the money laundering and how the family evaded the many controls and restrictions on cleaning cash. (There’s a throwaway comment about seeking out banks that don’t check ID and post offices that rubber-stamp money orders, which seemed like a cop out.) The probable culprit was apparent early on, and some of the plot points and their reveal seemed strained. Though I appreciated the detailed backstory for all the characters, I got tired of people quoting Sophocles and Whitman and mooning about their artistic and acting ambitions.
Still, this is an accomplished and compelling debut novel, and I look forward to the next book by this author.
Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The Nightworkers is a debut novel by Brian Selfon, and I was intrigued as soon as I read the synopsis. It was gritty, dark, and I was oddly addicted to it. I listened to the audiobook which is narrated by Ella Turenne and she was the perfect narrator for this one. She was able to bring across exactly what was needed with her amazing voice and skillful narration, and I didn’t want to stop listening to her. This book touches on all kinds of things – money laundering, human trafficking, art, and the list goes on, but what really shines through are the relationships between all of the characters. Selfon didn’t delve too deeply into telling us how any of the crimes worked in the book, but he did tell us a whole lot about each character and the relationships they had with each other. And even though they were committing crimes, I couldn’t not love Kerasha and Henry. So many of the people in this book are damaged in one way or another and it makes your heart ache for them.
The Nightworkers is a truly stunning debut that grabbed me right away and didn’t let me go. I had a hard time believing I was reading someone’s first book, and thought it was incredibly smart, complex, and moving. I felt such an attachment to these characters and seeing their stories through, and the end completely shocked me. This does have a touch of crime fiction, but to me it felt much more like literary fiction with a tinge of mystery. Either way it was a winner for me, and I will definitely be interested to see what Selfon writes next.
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an advance listening copy of this book. All opinions and thoughts are my own.