RJ Rozan Q&A with Hard Word Book Club

OCTOBER 29TH – HARD WORD BOOK CLUB DISCUSSES RJ ROZAN’S ABSENT FRIENDS WITH CALL IN FROM AUTHOR

One of the things crime fiction conveys better than any genre is loss. A human being’s extinguished existence is what usually sets the plot in motion. Whether a detective questioning those who knew the victim, or a hard boiled hero out for revenge, the protagonist tours through a void, seeking tangible answers to give some sense of meaning. SJ Rozan’s Absent Friends is a prime example of this.

Even though Rozan had proven success with her Lydia Chin/ Bill Smith private eye series, Absent Friends was somewhat ignored in it’s 2004 release, Considered as being “too soon”. It connected an intimate fictional loss with a real national one. It starts in Manhattan, roughly six weeks after 9/11. After writing several articles about heroic firefighter Jimmy McCaffery, who died in the collapse of the north tower, reporter Harry Randall dies of a suspicious suicide. Part of the suspicion comes from his last article reporting a donation from a mob figure to his charity fund. When Randall’s protege and lover, Laura, digs deeper by interviewing a gang of friends Jimmy grew up with, she links them to a murder in 1979.

The book moves back and forth, between the relationships that lead to tragedy in the past to around Halloween of 2001 where lives and secrets unravel, bringing everything gradually into focus; emotion as well as plot. Rozan’s New York is a society making first grasps at comprehending unfathomable tragedy, stumbling out of the wreckage in search of some emotional order. It’s a shadow where our characters can momentarily hide with their personal pain. Smart enough not to wallow in 9/11 tragedy, she sporadically brings up details of the time; soldiers at certain checkpoints that are starting to relax their vigilance, people breaking down, crying in the streets, with passers-by instinctively knowing to comfort or ignore them. She brings epic tragedy to human scale, becoming an emotional question about measuring grief, leaving us with an odd sort of hope, even though we have probably have bigger questions than answers. Much like true loss.

Please join us, 7PM Wednesday October 29th, on the third floor, to discuss a book that truly deserves to be talked about. Miss Rozan will be calling in for a conference call Q&A.

–Scott Montgomery