Long Island Noir

Akashic’s Long Island volume in its regional noir series offers an eclectic and effective mix of seasoned pros (Reed Farrel Coleman, Tim McLoughlin, Sarah Weinman) and new voices (Qanta Ahmed, JZ Holden, Amani Scipio). The 17 contributors portray a wonderful diversity of people driven to extremes, from Pakistani immigrant Anjali Osmaan, sent to “Amreekah” as a bride for an uncaring husband in Ahmed’s moving “Anjali’s America,” to the children of Southern migrants in Scipio’s despairing “Jabo’s.” Coleman’s “Mastermind,” in which a “wannabe” plans a perfect robbery, elicits sympathy for the poor fool. In Jane Ciabattari’s “Contents of House,” the victim of a mean-spirited divorce seeks a very tasty revenge. Steven Wishnia’s “Semiconscious” exposes the destructiveness of ultra–right-wing patriots’ response to immigrants, while in Kenneth Wishnia’s “Blood Drive” a laid-off construction worker finds new use for his work-hardened muscles. Jones’s succinct introduction aptly points to The Great Gatsby “as the first noir novel of Long Island.” (May)