Lazarus man / Richard Price.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

In this electrifying novel, Richard Price, the author of Clockers and a writer on The Wire , gives us razor-sharp anatomy of an ever-changing Harlem.

East Harlem, 2008. In an instant, a five-story tenement collapses into a fuming hill of rubble, pancaking the cars parked in front and coating the street with a thick layer of ash. As the city's rescue services and media outlets respond, the surrounding neighborhood descends into chaos. At day's end, six bodies are recovered, but many of the other tenants are missing.

In Lazarus Man , Richard Price, one of the greatest chroniclers of life in urban America, creates intertwining portraits of a group of compelling and singular characters whose lives are permanently impacted by the disaster.

Anthony Carter--whose miraculous survival, after being buried for days beneath tons of brick and stone, transforms him into a man with a message and a passionate sense of mission.

Felix Pearl--a young transplant to the city, whose photography and film work that day provokes in this previously unformed soul a sharp sense of personal destiny.

Royal Davis--owner of a failing Harlem funeral home, whose desperate trolling of the scene for potential "customers" triggers a quest to find another path in life.

And Mary Roe--a veteran city detective who, driven in part by her own family's brutal history, becomes obsessed with finding Christopher Diaz, one of the building's missing.

Price, the bestselling author of Lush Life and, most recently, The Whites , has created a bravura portrait of a community on the edge of disintegration. Rich with indelible characters and high drama, Lazarus Man is a riveting work of suspense and social vision by one of our major writers.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Academy Award-nominated screenwriter and novelist Price's (I Wanderers) newest novel recounts a story of attempted redemption, distorted truth, and mythmaking. He excels at bringing New York City to life. Readers first meet Anthony Carter, a 42-year-old unemployed teacher, when he's in a New York bar, chatting with a young woman. Separated from his wife and stepdaughter, he's trying to recover from a substance-use disorder. When a building collapses, and he's rescued 36 hours later from the rubble, he's anointed a hero and a sage. Detective Mary Roe tries to locate the building's missing residents while dealing with her failing marriage. Funeral director Royal Davis attempts to hold onto his funeral home in spite of a family dispute and 2008's economic downturn. Meanwhile, Felix, a young photographer and videographer, documents life on the street and the aftermath of the explosion. All these characters--plus many more--intersect in a sociological analysis of an urban community. The novel's one weakness lies in its attempt to tie up all the loose ends in a bow, which sometimes seems strained. VERDICT Price paints a tableau full of activity, compassion, and complexity that expertly demonstrates how messy and difficult life can be.--Jacqueline Snider

Publishers Weekly Review

Price (The Whites, as Harry Brandt) delivers a remarkable excavation of urban angst in this story of a five-story East Harlem tenement building that collapses, killing six of its tenants. The ruin becomes a spectacle, drawing myriad characters including Felix Pearl, a young filmmaker who lives near the building and was roused that morning by the "abrupt harsh clatter and buckshot pop of shattered glass suddenly raining down on the street" followed by a more alarming "absolute silence." Royal Davis, a mortician with a failing business, capitalizes on the accident as a way to solicit new clients, while Mary Roe, an NYPD detective with a complicated home life, puts all her energy into finding out what happened to Christopher Diaz, a tenant who is mysteriously unaccounted for. Price also focuses on survivor Anthony Carter, an unemployed teacher and recovering cocaine addict who was rescued after being buried in the rubble for 36 hours, and who becomes a symbol of hope for a community ravaged by blight and gentrification. As these vivid characters cross paths following the tragedy, they compose a searing snapshot of contemporary Harlem annotated with the author's precise observations ("One of the reasons why the Daily News and the Post were the commuter's choice was that they were easier to manage on a crowded train. Reading the Times on the subway was like trying to spread your arms in a phone booth"). Price once again proves he's the bard of New York City street life. Agent: Lynn Nesbit, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Nov.)

Booklist Review

Anthony Carter was trapped, pinned beneath an unfathomable weight. The air rippled with chaos and confusion, along with clouds of dust and debris and the screams of sirens and of people. The Harlem apartment building in which Anthony resided had collapsed, but he miraculously survived and was finally rescued days later. Acclaimed novelist and screenwriter Price is our peerless dramatizer of the contemporary urban underbelly, reminding us that the beating heart of a city lies within the collective hearts of the denizens shuffling through their demanding lives. Like Mary, a community relations officer tasked with finding a missing resident of the collapsed building while losing herself in her work. Royal is the proprietor of a failing funeral home. The building collapse could mean opportunity as mass casualties are good for business. The good-natured and adrift Felix discovers a passion for photography and instinctively sets out to document the aftermath of the tragedy. A memorable scene in which a woman spins an unnecessarily elaborate tale while begging for money brilliantly illustrates that we are natural storytellers, none better than Richard Price.

Kirkus Book Review

A group portrait of Harlem residents in the aftermath of a five-story tenement collapse in 2008 that mysteriously changes the life of a survivor. Thirty-six hours after the event, workers pull from the rubble 42-year-old Anthony Carter, an unemployed biracial schoolteacher and recovering coke addict. In the days--and daze--that follows, he doesn't find religion as much as it finds him in the form of a female prophet. Targeting him with her "raging aviary of disembodied howls and shouts," she helps transform him into an unlikely motivational speaker and media star. But close observers, including young freelance photographer Felix Pearl, find something a bit off about Carter's inspirational words, like he was "trying and failing to hold on to a rapidly dissolving fragment of a dream." Police detective Mary Roe, who barely survived a calamitous elevator accident and is now obsessed with finding a missing survivor of the tenement collapse, doesn't know what to make of Carter. And postal worker Anne Collins, who is instantly drawn to him after they lock gazes across an outdoor event, flees the relationship just as quickly. Price's first novel sinceThe Whites (2015)--a work of crime fiction written under the pen name Harry Brandt--shows off his usual mastery of urban life, including what a community activist calls "ourDeath-style," embodied in the unforgettable image of a kid who "was eating Chinese right before he was shot and the pellets blew the white rice right out through his back." But the author is mostly in a kinder and gentler mode, affectingly capturing the complicated domestic lives that help people cope in difficult times. For all the darkness in the novel with its 9/11 overtones, there's a sense of transcendence in the Harlem community's shared experience and survivors' spirit. An affecting novel by a literary urbanologist in top form. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.