By: Richard Price Publisher: Vintage Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Vintage Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 400 Publication Date: June 08, 2004 Release Date: June 08, 2004
Amazon.com: Like his previous novels Freedomland and Clockers, Richard Price's Samaritan is a crime drama set in the explosive slums of fictional Dempsy, New Jersey. Ray Mitchell, a former TV writer, has returned to his hometown to reunite with his estranged teenage daughter, Ruby. Eager to contribute to his beleaguered community, Ray begins volunteering as a writing teacher at a local high school. When a brutal assault leaves him hospitalized, Nerese Ammons, a nearly retired detective and lost childhood friend of Ray's, investigates. She discovers, however, that while Ray can identify his attacker, he is unwilling to disclose their identity. Anxious to end her career with fireworks, Nerese continues digging, only to find that Ray made several generous donations to poor acquaintances and recently began a romantic relationship with the wife of an established criminal. While the case looks closed, Nerese continues to find evidence of Ray's troubled past and shortsighted altruism, increasing the number of possible assailants and suggesting Ray's complicity in the crime.
Price's narrative, which alternates between Ray's story and Nerese's ongoing investigation, gains momentum as the mystery nears resolution. Samaritan falters, though, in its awkward attempts at timeliness and, more acutely, its underdevelopment. The selfish, people-pleasing Ray is a multifaceted character, but he fails to inspire sympathy, while the savvy Nerese never escapes two-dimensional limbo. Price brings the streets of Dempsy to life, however, with informed, realistic descriptions and inner-city survivors like junkie-turned-independent-social-worker White Tom Potenza, who still "couldn't pass a pay phone without flicking the coin return, still stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of salvageable debris." While the plot will keep readers engaged, it's the world into which they're drawn that makes Samaritan a worthwhile visit. --Ross Doll
Product Description: Ray Mitchell, a former TV writer who has left Hollywood under a cloud, returns to urban Dempsy, New Jersey, hoping to make a difference in the lives of his struggling neighbors. Instead, his very public and emotionally suspect generosity gets him beaten nearly to death. Ray refuses to name his assailant, which makes him intensely interesting to Detective Nerese Ammons, a friend from childhood, who now sets out to unlock the secret of his reticence. Set against the intensely realized backdrop of urban America, the cat and mouse game that unfolds is both morally complex and utterly gripping.
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After a lucrative television writing career comes to an abrupt end, ex-high school teacher Ray Mitchell returns to the New Jersey city of his birth -- to rethink his life, reconnect with his teenage daughter and to spread the wealth on the housing project that reared him. He begins teaching again, embarks on an affair with a married woman from the old neighborhood and becomes a mentor to a former student recently released from jail.
Then, disaster: he is found beaten nearly to death in his own apartment. He knows who did it, but he's not talking, and he refuses to press charges.
It is up to Detective Nerese Ammons -- a childhood acquaintance from the projects -- to get Ray to tell her what happened.
Alternating between investigations of the people in Ray's life most likely to do him harm and listening to his fevered ramblings about their shared past as he slips in and out of consciousness, Nerese is charged not only with uncovering the perpetrator of this assault but with understanding what kind of victim is more afraid of the truth than of his potential murderer.
The Washington Post Book World has hailed Richard Price as having "the best equipment a novelist can have -- that combination of muscularity, insight and compassion we might call heart." Samaritan is an electrifying story of crime and punishment, of character and place, of children and their keepers -- a novel of literary suspense that explores what happens when, caught up in the drama of one's own generosity, too little is given, too little is understood and the results threaten to prove both tragic and deadly.
"A whodunit only in format, Samaritan is that rarity, a novel of race relations written with authority, panache and heart." DAN CRYER, NEWSDAY
"A whodunit with substance and suspense... Price is known for terrific dialogue, and there are moments when you feel as if you are listening to [his characters] speak, not just reading words on a page... It's the most interesting kind of mystery -- one in which the villain is not so easy to spot even when we know who committed the crime." ANNE STEPHENSON, USA TODAY
"A full-to-bursting package held together by a strong, suspenseful plot... Unknowability is the key to Ray Mitchell, the essence of what makes him such a fascinating saint... Ray is preternaturally alert, alive to the mental states of those around him. Price, through Ray's alertness, gives even minor characters a real, if temporary, being. And yet -- and here's the miracle -- because it's Ray's alertness, the novel, though various and populous, feels centered on his character and therefore strong. Price does this in few words. It's not a function of I.Q. It's not articulate. It's more like a prickling of the flesh... A demographic epic filled with little people who command true human feeling..." MARK COSTELLO, THE NEW YORK TIMES
Solid and Engaging Novel I first read Richard Price's "The Wanderers" in the 70's several years before Philip Kaufman's excellent film adaptation. It remains one of my favorite all time books, and none of his works since then have compared to that early novel."The Wanderers" differs from his later work in that the characterizations are less drawn out, but no less interesting, and it is perhaps his most humorous work. Where Price excells is his mastery of creating urban street people . I believe he is a far better writer than George Pellacanos who has a similar reputation with his work. I am planning to read the highly praised "Lush Life" very soon, but decided to catch up on Price by reading this novel first. Other than the aforementioned "Lush Life" and "Freedomland", I have read all his other published work. I am not sure I will ever read "Freedomland" having wasted 2 hours of my life sitting through what had to be one of the 20 worst films adapted from a novel that I have ever seen.
Samaritan is a decent mystery that is enhanced by Price's deep characterizations and gritty dialogue. I personally solved the mystery rather early on, but at the same time I found some of the characters less than totally believable. The protaginist Ray Mitchell was richly drawn, but at the end of the day,I just did not believe in the guy. He was overall a bit too weird. The other main character, a detective named Nerese was far more believable if for no other reason that she embraced a lot more of the typical big city detective close to retirement features that we as readers and film watchers have come to expect. The novel is a bit of a page turner and I read it very quickly. You would not be making a bad choice if you decide to curl up with "Samaritan" for a couple of days, but Price has done better.
This is the third of his - - - - - that I picked up. The first was excellent, the second even better. And, now, I'm only on page 28.... that's all.... and this, I can tell already, is another amazing piece'o'work! So damned BELIEVABLE.... Richard Price is an extraordinary talent. And, now, if you'll pardon me, Ray and Tweetie are there, in the hospital - - - -
Dialogue Rings For my taste, Richard Price writes the best dialogue today. It's his ear, his phrasing, the way he must listen to real people talking. I ask many other writer friends too and we all just shrug our shoulders and say "go figure" because nobody else does it like he does. The dialogue resonates so well that everything else springboards from there -- and the idea of Samaritan, so well described in the other reviews posted here, is terrific. When you stop and think of the instances and times within the book where somebody tries to help somebody else, well, this would be a delicious book group discussion. I loved the ending, too. I thought the structure of the book was brilliant, switching back and forth between the Nerese and Ray. I liked the setting, the way Price works in background and context for the characters, and the interesting question the book poses, right from the get-go.
Poorly written Poorly written book that had me tripping over grammatical errors and awkward transitions. Not worth it.
Tame Sadly this book is forgettable. The author leaves you constantly waiting for the book to begin but it never really does. The buildup is continuous, and when the climax comes it's not worth the wait. The characters tended to be very rigid. Clockers is a much better book.
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