Brooklyn Motto
Alex R. Johnson
(Author)
Description
"Brooklyn Motto is a stylish, propulsive mystery that beautifully captures late 90s New York City in the convulsions of enormous social and economic change. Alex Johnson combines novelistic texture with cinematic pace to great effect, and narrator Nico Kelly is the perfect guide to this world full of danger, corruption, and also hope." - Sam Lipsyte, author of No One Left to Come Looking for You
"Alex R. Johnson's playful, witty, brooding, and heartfelt Brooklyn Motto is everything readers of classic private detective fiction could want - but placed in the nothing-like-classic East Village and Brooklyn of 1998. Brimming with distinctive characters, clever language, and crisp observations, the book is a thoroughly engaging and deeply satisfying read. I tore through it and had a lot of fun." - Evan Handler, actor; author of Time On Fire: A Comedy of Terrors and It's Only Temporary: The Good News and the Bad News of Being Alive
"[Brooklyn Motto] is an inventive hard-boiled mash-up starring a reluctant GenX PI who accidentally finds himself in way over his head. His backstory and future relies on a complicated extended family and their immigrant Brooklyn culture. A love letter to NYC & detective fiction." - John Doe (X), musician, actor and author of Under the Big Black Sun: A Personal History of L.A. Punk and More Fun in the New World: The Unmaking and Legacy of L.A. Punk
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Fans of Richard Price, Charlie Huston, and Jonathan Lethem will love this coming-of-age New York-centric detective noir debut from esteemed filmmaker and screenwriter Alex R. Johnson.
New York City, 1998. New York is changing around Nico Kelly, and he can feel more coming.
A private investigator and self-proclaimed photographer, Nico is stuck in a loop of city contracts and self loathing. What little middle class there was is disappearing-long-standing factories are moving out and taking their reliable neighborhood jobs with them, and Mayor Rudy Giuliani's police force has the streets in a stranglehold.
Nico spends his days looking for fraudsters while taking photos of municipal employees on disability claims. He spends his nights trying to get rid of the nagging feeling that his day job makes him a professional snitch-traversing dive bars, playing pinball, and fighting through the haze of hungover mornings and blurry evenings.
Pushing thirty years old and feeling split between his American and Latin heritage, between youth and adulthood, Nico finds himself at a precipice-who is he and what should he become?
When Nico witnesses and records a murder during one of his insurance fraud investigations, bodies start to turn up all around him and he's forced into solving a mystery he didn't ask to solve. Humorous, gritty, and real, Nico's search for what it means to be human takes him through the deepest and darkest parts of New York City.
Product Details
| Publisher | Hfi |
| Publish Date | March 11, 2025 |
| Pages | 276 |
| Language | English |
| Type |  Paperback / softback |
| EAN/UPC | 9798218524012 |
| Dimensions | 8.0 X 5.3 X 0.6 inches | 0.6 pounds |
About the Author
Reviews
"Johnson ably gives his story a vivid sense of atmosphere. Nico's world is gritty but cool.... The witty dialogue throughout and underachiever Nico's wry narration ('I sort of got shot') counteract the darkness, ultimately giving readers a cautious sense of hope. An often humorous mystery that winningly portrays a very particular time and place." -Kirkus Reviews
"Brooklyn Motto is Raymond Chandler by way of Lou Reed: street-smart, razor-sharp, humming with menace. Johnson doesn't just capture the city on edge; he drags you down its avenues, one gut-punch line at a time." -Alex Abramovich, author of Bullies: A Friendship
"An impressive work. A rich, almost palpable sense of the city from a unique perspective. (Alex R. Johnson) brings it alive. Wonderfully drawn characters. A great read. More please." - Kim Henkel, filmmaker and screenwriter of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
"Brooklyn Motto is both a love letter to its namesake borough and a microcosm of the American Dream sold short. Nico can pull up a barstool alongside the great PI's of the genre, but they might need to spot him a round. I really dug this." -Craig Clevenger, author of The Contortionist's Handbook, Dermaphoria and Mother Howl
"A thriller that remains clear throughout. Politically bold, a surprisingly tender story. A young PI, half Philip Marlowe and half Holden Caulfield... fights corrupt landlords and cops while drinking in the hippest bars of 90s Brooklyn, and all under the shadow of the worst Mr. Big anyone could imagine: Rudy Giuliani." ⁃ Todd McEwen, author of Arithmetic, Fisher's Hornpipe, Who Sleeps with Katz? and McX.
"A wonderful, sharp and snazzy read that puts the big screws to detective fiction conventions. The real star here, though, is the NYC of 1998, a forgotten, pre-digital New York of payphones, dollar vans, sidewalk eccentrics, East Village dives and shabby one-bedroom walkups that were still affordable." - Jim Knipfel, author of Slackjaw and The Buzzing
"Brooklyn Motto reminds me of the best of Elmore Leonard and Walter Mosley, a murder mystery that keeps peeling back the layers of New York City until the reader - and the novel's hero - can see the city's dark beating heart. Nico Kelly's world-weary, big-hearted voice is unforgettable." - Leland Cheuk, author of No Good Very Bad Asian
"(Alex R. Johnson's) vivid portrayal of late 90s Manhattan provides an authentic backdrop complete with mixtapes, pagers, payphones, and Y2K fears. With its unique cast of complex characters and engaging storyline, Brooklyn Motto is a fresh take on the detective genre." - Fred Beshid, author of Free Nancy Esting
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