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August 1845 in New York; enter the dark, unforgiving city underworld of the legendary Five Points…
After a fire decimates a swathe of lower Manhattan, and following years of passionate political dispute, New York City at long last forms an official Police Department. That same summer, the great potato famine hits Ireland. These events will change the city of New York for ever.
Timothy Wilde hadn’t wanted to be a copper star. On the night of August 21st, on his way home from the Tombs defeated and disgusted, he is plotting his resignation, when a young girl who has escaped from a nearby brothel, crashes into him; she wears only a nightdress and is covered from head to toe in blood. Searching out the truth in the child’s wild stories, Timothy soon finds himself on the trail of a brutal killer, seemingly hell bent on fanning the flames of anti-Irish immigrant sentiment and threatening chaos in a city already in the midst of social upheaval. But his fight for justice could cost him the woman he loves, his brother and ultimately his life…
After a fire decimates a swathe of lower Manhattan, and following years of passionate political dispute, New York City at long last forms an official Police Department. That same summer, the great potato famine hits Ireland. These events will change the city of New York for ever.
Timothy Wilde hadn’t wanted to be a copper star. On the night of August 21st, on his way home from the Tombs defeated and disgusted, he is plotting his resignation, when a young girl who has escaped from a nearby brothel, crashes into him; she wears only a nightdress and is covered from head to toe in blood. Searching out the truth in the child’s wild stories, Timothy soon finds himself on the trail of a brutal killer, seemingly hell bent on fanning the flames of anti-Irish immigrant sentiment and threatening chaos in a city already in the midst of social upheaval. But his fight for justice could cost him the woman he loves, his brother and ultimately his life…
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Reviews
The launch of a brilliant new mystery series, set in 1845 New York City: Irish Potato Famine, the birth of the police force, brothels and bedlam
A wonderful book. Lyndsay Faye's command of historical detail is remarkable and her knowledge of human character even more so. I bought into this world and never once had the desire to leave
Reading The Gods of Gotham is like being magically transported to another time. You'll be overwhelmed with the sights, sounds, smells and chaos of New York in the 1840s while never losing sight of the fact that this is a first-rate crime novel for any era. I can't wait to see what Lyndsay Faye will conjure next
'Penetrating psychological study, flawless social history, beautifully crafted thriller... The Gods of Gotham is all these things, and a crackling great yarn to boot. Old New York has never been so blazingly alive. Lyndsay Faye is a writer to watch - and keep watching...'
'Intriguingly complex yet deliciously smooth, The Gods of Gotham is, in a word, stunning. The vivid characters and deft use of the historical setting read like the work of an established writer at the top of her (or indeed, his) career - that Faye is a newcomer is cause for an exuberance of fireworks, at the mere thought of so many superb novels yet to come'
'The Gods of Gotham blew me away. Unflinching and bold, creative and dazzling cinematic, nineteenth century New York is still alive'
[An] excellent historical about NYC in the 1840s and the establishment of the NYPD
'Reading The Gods of Gotham is like being magically transported to another time. You'll be overwhelmed with the sights, sounds, smells and chaos of New York in the 1840s while never losing sight of the fact that this is a first-rate crime novel for any era. I can't wait to see what Lyndsay Faye will conjure next'
Executed with brio and packed with pungent historical detail...this is a cracking yarn
The Gods of Gotham' is a wonderful book. Lyndsay Faye's command of historical detail is remarkable and her knowledge of human character even more so. I bought into this world in the opening pages and never once had the desire to leave. It's a great read!
Intriguingly complex yet deliciously smooth, The Gods of Gotham is, in a word, stunning. The vivid characters and deft use of the historical setting read like the work of an established writer at the top of her (or indeed, his) career - that Faye is a newcomer is cause for an exuberance of fireworks, at the mere thought of so many superb novels yet to come
'The Gods of Gotham' is a wonderful book. Lyndsay Faye's command of historical detail is remarkable and her knowledge of human character even more so. I bought into this world in the opening pages and never once had the desire to leave. It's a great read!'
'Lyndsay Faye is a superstar caliber writer. She confidently and exquisitely recreates the past while her characters live on with you in the present, the elusive gold standard for a historical novel. The Gods of Gotham is a gift to the genre that readers will surely reslish while we wait for Faye's next one'
Lyndsay Faye's exquisite new novel, The Gods of Gotham, plunges us into the teeming, sordid streets of Old New York...a raucous underworld of criminals and chiselers, the infamous Five Points, where thieves speak their own argot... In this vivid and impeccably crafted adventure, newly minted 'copper star' Timothy Wilde is the only man who can solve a series of gruesome murders. Faye's prose crackles with historical authenticity so cunningly rendered that readers will lose themselves from the very first turn of the page
Lyndsay Faye is a superstar caliber writer. She confidently and exquisitely recreates the past while her characters live on with you in the present, the elusive gold standard for a historical novel. The Gods of Gotham is a gift to the genre that readers will surely reslish while we wait for Faye's next one
Penetrating psychological study, flawless social history, beautifully crafted thriller... The Gods of Gotham is all these things, and a crackling great yarn to boot. Old New York has never been so blazingly alive. Lyndsay Faye is a writer to watch - and keep watching...
The Gods of Gotham blew me away. Unflinching and bold, creative and dazzling cinematic, nineteenth century New York is still alive
'Lyndsay Faye's exquisite new novel, The Gods of Gotham, plunges us into the teeming, sordid streets of Old New York...a raucous underworld of criminals and chiselers, the infamous Five Points, where thieves speak their own argot... In this vivid and impeccably crafted adventure, newly minted 'copper star' Timothy Wilde is the only man who can solve a series of gruesome murders. Faye's prose crackles with historical authenticity so cunningly rendered that readers will lose themselves from the very first turn of the page'