Harvard Lawyer Weighs Morals, $500,000 Paycheck in NYC Thriller
"Blind Man's Alley"
Random House via Bloomberg
The cover jacket of the book "Blind Man's Alley." The book is the latest by Justin Peacock who also penned "A Cure for Night."
The cover jacket of the book "Blind Man's Alley." The book is the latest by Justin Peacock who also penned "A Cure for Night." Source: Random House via Bloomberg
Justin Peacock
Jennifer May/Random House via Bloomberg
Author Justin Peacock in Park Slope, Brooklyn. "Blind Man's Alley" is the latest book by Peacock.
Author Justin Peacock in Park Slope, Brooklyn. "Blind Man's Alley" is the latest book by Peacock. Photographer: Jennifer May/Random House via Bloomberg
Three men die in a construction accident at a Manhattan condominium.
From this, Justin Peacock spins “Blind Man’s Alley,” an ambitious thriller that delves into the interlocking worlds of real estate, law, journalism and politics.
There’s a young man who grew up in public housing and now works in the kitchen of a trendy restaurant. There’s a model approaching the end of her years as a marketable commodity. Connecting them all, of course, are sex and money.
And then there’s Duncan Riley, a hotshot associate at the go-getting law firm of Blake and Wolcott, who might be like any other Harvard Law graduate with a sense of entitlement were it not for his unexpected background. Riley grew up in Detroit with a black father who worked for the auto workers’ union and a white social-worker mother.
He’s on track for partner at the firm, where his $500,000 in salary and bonus improves his comfort level.
Most of Riley’s billable hours are spent working for Roth Properties, owner of the Aurora, the condo with the deadly accident. Simon Roth, the patriarch of the family-owned business, is famously tough, but he seems to have made a mistake in letting his wastrel son, Jeremy, run the Aurora project.
Leah Roth, her father’s heir apparent, unsettles Riley by inviting him to her apartment for dinner. Is it a date? A test? A job interview?
Murder Case
More rewarding, if no less complicated, is Riley’s pro bono work for Rafael Nazario and his grandmother, who are being kicked out of their subsidized apartment in a housing project being renovated by Roth Properties.
When Rafael is arrested for the murder of one of Roth’s security guards, Riley is representing two clients with conflicting interests.
Peacock paints a cynical portrait of New York’s powerbrokers. The Roths think nothing of bribing politicians or suing newspapers. Jeremy would do anything to get a wealthy Dubai family to invest in the troubled Aurora, including pimp out his ex-model girlfriend.
Leah matter-of-factly tells Duncan, “Did you know that back in the 1930s the rule of thumb on skyscraper construction was that one worker would die for each floor built?”
“Blind Man’s Alley” reaches into many corners of New York life, swooping from the visiting room at Riker’s Island to Simon Roth’s 70th birthday party at his Upper East Side townhouse.
Surrounded by late-period Picassos and a possible Rembrandt, Roth’s mogul friends preen and jostle for position while his lawyers suck up to him and his son dances around their potential investor. Peacock’s key insight is that the party isn’t much more fun than the jail.
“Blind Man’s Alley” is published by Doubleday (465 pages, $26.95). To buy this book in North America, click here.
(Laurie Muchnick is an editor for Muse, the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.)
To contact the writer on the story: Laurie Muchnick in New York at lmuchnick@bloomberg.net.
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