Samaritan

Somebody brained Ray Mitchel, nearly beat him to death, someone he knows, but when he wakes in the hospital, childhood friend, but now lady cop Nerese Ammons, wants to know who and why, but Ray isn't talking, he seems more afraid of the truth that catching someone who tried to kill him. Ray, a successful writer, has recently returned to his childhood home of Dempsy. Since he's been back he's reunited with his estranged teenage daughter, started a romance with a woman from the projects and is teaching writing to bored high-school kids. However Ray is a needy soul and his judgment is usually pretty bad. He lends money to anyone, deserving or not, and his kind deeds all seem to backfire. Nerese, a black tough-minded single mother and a good detective, is close to retirement, but is determined to crack this case, if only because Ray once did her a kind deed when they were both kids in the projects. SAMARITAN is often somber, deals with serious emotions, is sometimes funny and Price certainly knows how to draw likeable, but flawed characters that are believable and easy to understand. And it's easy to understand why many think that Richard Price is simply one of the best writers writing today. I know that's my belief.

I'll admit it: I was a sucker for detective stories for years. Bring me a Spenser novel, a cup of black coffee and a Barca-lounger, and I'd be happy as a clam. I'll also admit that, as I grew older, the spate of new mystery novels by Parker and Grafton and others began to seem dry, lacking in vitality. Sure, their protagonist heroes spat their share of wisecracks, but no amount of one-liners could hide the fact that most current mystery novels were devoid of substance and feeling. With Samaritan, Richard Price ups the ante fivefold on the detective story. He breathes life into it by giving the story and its characters a remarkable human touch, by going after our hearts as well as our nerves. We meet Ray Mitchell upon his return to his birthplace of Dempsy, NJ, so he can start his life over. There, he begins teaching a creative-writing class at his former high school, reconnects with the residents at the Hopewell housing project where he was raised, and attempts to rekindle a relationship with his thirteen-year-old daughter whom he lost in the aftermath of a divorce. Ray is often generous, which is impressive considering he's had a less-than-perfect past, involving the loss of his daughter, a lowly cab-driving job, a perpetual addiction to cocaine, and finally, a letdown after an ever-so-brief stint as a TV-writer comes to an unexpected close. Just as Ray begins to find his place again in Dempsy, he is found beaten almost to death in his apartment. Enter Nerese Ammons: a cop, a childhood friend of Ray, a former resident of Hopewell, and someone forever indebted to Ray for saving her life when they were just kids. Nerese feels morally obligated to take on Ray's case, but Ray obstinately refuses to identify his attacker and won't press charges. Nerese must now enter the abyss of Ray's past in order to solve the puzzle, while simultaneously working to keep her own life intact in the bleak and unforgiving Dempsy. On the surface, Samaritan is made out to be a whodunit thriller, and it is, but to call it simply that would be doing the book and its author a great injustice. The strength of this book lies in the way it is written, and this is how Price brings his cast of characters to life. He records every nuance, every movement, every thought the characters possess behind their lines of dialogue, turning story characters into living, breathing people. They speak with mellifluous street-savvy, but don't be fooled. They may be hardened but their words simply glow with realistic emotion, at times expressing unrelenting urgency, at others, heartfelt compassion. Price gives all of his important characters vivid back-stories, important details of their lives and psyches, all of which may seem to some readers as unnecessary belaboring, but nonetheless clue us in to exactly what kind of people we are dealing with at certain points in the story. Simply put, Price makes us care about his characters and their various states because everything about them is real, f

Richard Price's Samaritan is an excellent novel, one which explores the moral ambiguities of contemporary life, providing no pat answers, just thought-provoking prose. At the heart of the novel is Ray Mitchell, a man returning home to the fictional New Jersey town of Dempsey. He has had some successes and comes home for various reasons-some admirable, some not. He volunteers to teach a creative writing class at his old high school, and the next thing we know, he is in the hospital after being brutally beaten in his apartment. The novel moves back and forth in time (although all in the space of a few months), shifting perspective between Ray and Nerese Ammons the determined detective investigating the beating. She suspects he knows who beat him, and has various plausible theories. The resolution of the novel is unexpected, but certainly not unbelievable. The characters are terrific, as is the dialogue. Samaritan is an excellent novel-challenging, thought-provoking and completely readable. Enjoy.

The NY Times wrongly disses this book, calling it "hollow" and saying Price gives away the theme in the Epigraph, a Bible quote. I'll spare you the King James; here's a modern English translation of the epigraph:"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. "Safe to say, our hero, Ray, doesn't heed those words and, thus, a fine novel ensues. Price shows us what can go wrong when neediness occurs on both sides of the charitable transaction. For Ray, a simple "thank you" from God in heaven is not enough. He wants it here and now. Despite the Times complaint cited above, I don't think Price spoon-feeds us here. He thrusts us into the middle of what seems an unfair situation (paraphrasing one of the characters here, we may find ourselves wondering, "what'd he do??") and slowly allows us to see the flaws at Ray's core -- flaws in an otherwise good man.

In this masterful novel, former TV writer, cab driver, and drug addict Ray Mitchell moves home to Dempsey, New Jersey , after leaving a successful writing job in LA. Ray was raised in the projects, and now he wants to give back by teaching at his old high school. He also wants to be closer to his daughter, Ruby, who lives in nearby Manhattan. But before much of any of this can happen, Ray is assaulted in his apartment and in the hospital with a crushed skull. What he is not is giving out details to Nerese Ammons, the detective who's on the case. Richard Price takes the story from both Ray and Nerese's point of view and employs a flexible time line. Level after level of past and present are revealed to add depth, power, and real suspense to a completely engrossing and satisfying read. Price has a remarkable ear for dialogue, and knows places like Hopewell Houses in Dempsey inside and out. He is unsentimental about life in the projects. The characters are etched in such sharp relief that you know you`ve seen them somewhere.It is a kind of liberation for readers to be in such capable hands that you know that whatever happens, you will not be disappointed. There are no false steps in "Samaritan," no easy choices, and no plays for sympathy for Ray or anyone else. It's tough, good, and a learning experience about not only about what it means to be a samaritan, but about how a really good novel should be written. Don't miss it.