I read this book and was utterly engrossed, not because I love a good mystery, but because of Ash's voice. He is lovelorn, trying to get over the death of his ex, Chell, even though it's not totally clear just what kind of ex she was, he is also determined to get revenge for her death. He starts off on a journey that takes him all over New York City, across boroughs and bridges, but also across generations and gentrification. The book weaves from his present, visiting various underworlds with a

I probably liked this book more than I should've. The mystery is standard as best, circular at times. Some parts felt like padding. But what a fantastic, standout job at creating an unreliable narrator. NEW YORKED probably was my favourite unreliable narrator novel since freakin' FIGHT CLUB and I think you know what this novel means to me. Ash McKenna is tormented, self-righetous and even unlikeable at times, but it keeps the entire thing in perspective. He keeps presenting reality in a way that...

Ash McKenna is a mess of a man who wakes up to a voicemail from the girl he loves only to find out soon after that she is dead. So Ash sets out on a quest to find his lady friends killer. On the way we meet Ash's friends and some off kilter crime bosses all told through the eyes of a man born and raised in New York. New Yorked is a neo noir tour through New York City. There's a cavalcade of characters that populate Hart's New York such as the transgender crime boss Ginny, the obnoxious Hipster K...

Fantastic debut novel by Hart, someone whose writing I've been following for years. Ash is a very complex protagonist, and his mix of hardboiled and smartass dialogue makes him endearing (despite his best efforts). The off-kilter cast of characters is one that generally doesn't populate the world of a hardboiled/mystery novel but really works well in this novel and sets it apart from the pack. What sold me on the novel aside from the brisk pacing was Ash's push and pull relationship with Chell.

The way to tell I'm sold on a book is that I finish a reading session, put my thumb in the book, and look to see how many pages I have left. Because I want to finish the book but I don't want it to be over.New Yorked is a great read. To me, it felt like Rob Hart was answering the question, "What does a hard-boiled detective look like in 2015?" And his answer is a good one, and it's a complicated one. It's a dude who has some substance problems. It's a guy who has progressive ideas while still ma...

In between drug- and alcohol-related blackouts, Ash McKenna makes a precarious living doing odd jobs for some shady characters. When his unrequited love is brutally raped and murdered, Ash sets out to find out who did it and why, with an eye towards dealing out some rough justice. Along the way he runs into bizarre characters like a cross dressing crime boss and the Hipster King, who's hell-bent on making New York "authentic" again. If you like your heroes flawed and your settings raw and dirty

Rob Hart absolutely murders it in his debut.- Weaponized umbrellas!- The coolest Drag Queenpin (or only) ever!- Hipster LARPing!I'm not sure what else I need to say if you haven't bought it after that second bulletpoint.

In his debut novel, Rob Hart has captured the soul of a New York that few, if any, tourists -- and many natives, for that matter -- will ever see. His her, Ash McKenna is a private detective of sorts. Working without a license, Ash does whatever he must to pay the rent and his bar bill. When the woman that Ash loves is brutally murdered, no one is going to stop Ash from bringing her killer to justice. It's an intriguing journey filled with fully developed characters and more than a bit of self-d...

I need to start with the good because there’s a lot of goodwill built in this book or else I wouldn’t have been able to stomach it for 20 pages.Rob Hart knows New York City. Knows it. Not in a way a smarmy lifer traipsing through endless aristocratic watering holes knows it. But the way a native does. Favorite bars, corner stores, slice stops…he brings it alive in a real way. I could see and feel the city, one I’m missing right now with everything shut down due to COVID. I read a lot of novels j...

I have been waiting to read this book for what seems like an eternity. Imagine my excitement when I finally had it in my hands, and the absolute sadness I felt when I had to put off reading it right away due to work. Let's get to it.What I loved:My book contains blue tabs that mark my favorite lines and sections. One of the things I loved most was the way the narrative was structured. There were these moments when Ash would directly address Chell (the girl who was murdered). These moments felt e...

A Different Side of New YorkNew Yorked is a modern crime noir that retains some of the sense of a classic PI novel, but has kind of morphed it into something a little different, an ode to loneliness, rootlessness, obsession, and Jameson’s. Ash isn’t exactly a private eye, but he does odd jobs, has a closet behind a bathroom in a bar that is sort of an office, hangs out with hackers, barflies, burlesque dancers, and transvestites, but definitely not hipsters,is haunted by a fleeting love that bec...

“New York is not a city. It is an idea.” — GinnyAshley (Ash) McKenna is a man molded and driven by ideas. As a boy growing up on Staten Island, Ash would sit with his firefighter father in the wee hours of the night listening to the emergency scanner, his dad patiently explaining to him what all the mysterious calls and codes meant.Watching his father go to work, both as scheduled and spontaneously in response to some of those emergency calls, Ash formed strong ideas of duty, honor, and responsi...

New Yorked features a fascinating cast of characters including the city of New York. Each character comes across as complex and a bit broken. In other words, realistically human. Ash, a self proclaimed “blunt instrument,” wakes up from a black-out drunken episode to discover the woman he loves is brutally murdered. He can’t remember what happened the night before. All he knows is that she asked for his help and he failed her. In order to solve her murder, he must confront his inner demons and bu...

I prefer to think of myself as a blunt instrument. Point me at a job—find people, find things, transport stuff, look disagreeable—I get it done, and I accept money upon completion. Sometimes I accept alcohol or drugs because I’m comfortable operating on a barter system. I don’t know what motivated me to put this book on hold, but I did, and the hold came in, so I read it. This seems like reasonably entertaining drivel if I were trapped in an airport, but I’m just not in the mood for that sort

Rob Hart's New Yorked is stunning noir that feels like a hot poker to the ribcage.

I don't even know where to start with this book... It's one of those books that I finished with the unanswered questions:"Seriously?"and"Why did I read this?"I guess I'll start at the beginning. The writing style captivated me from the first page. It was perfectly written for him waking up with a hangover after getting blackout drunk the night before. The sentences were simple but purposeful, and it felt like you were reading from the viewpoint of someone hungover. It was perfect. There wasn't a...

Rob Hart didn't get the memo...Or he disregarded it...At his own greatest peril...Nobody wants to read about a rummy bum...running a fake noir kick in the filthy East Village...Right...This work is authored by a nonsensical and seemingly obvious-minded writer...And paradoxically he is obsessed, desperate...His volume is a wind wasted assemblage of paper fathered by the forests...That ring our odd(ball) author out...Stand away from me, I want to burn and burn...Wrap me up, I am all watery coffin....

Ash McKenna wakes up one morning from a drunken blackout to find a voice mail from his ex-girlfriend, left moments before she was murdered. He sets out on a quest-qua-vendetta to find her killer, and everything unravels from there. New Yorked is part Eight Million Ways to Die, and part Red Harvest meets the Warriors.As a detective novel, New Yorked is good. It hits the expected high notes of the genre while providing enough novelty to keep it the story fresh and interesting. By that standard alo...

In the industry, there’s a term we use called “head authority.” This is when the author is able to convey an idea, a place, or vocation so well via their prose that we, the audience, are sold on them knowing more than we ever could about the subject. This is the term that sticks with me after reading NEW YORKED.Rob Hart knows his city. He knows crime.Hart gives us not the watered down glitzy version so overly commercialized by shows like “Sex and the City,” but something more realistic. Most cri...

This is my first venture into the world of Ash McKenna, who is an unlicensed P.I. in New York, who does 'favours' for friends that need deeds done that they can't do themselves. Deliver a package, put the squeeze on someone or find someone that's gone missing are the usual jobs that Ash does but when the love of his life Chell turns up dead it gets personal and Ash goes on a quest with the ultimate aim of extracting revenge. Ash is normally fuelled up on alcohol and cocaine but vows to stay sobe...