Men from Boys

What actions must a boy take to become a man? One might use a razor to clear his first growth of beard, while another could employ it as a weapon -- both actions might be a fitting rite of passage.

In these dazzling works of fiction, seventeen masters of crime and suspense explore what it means to be a son, what it means to be a father, what it means to be a man. Spanning continents and decades, the stories are set in interconnected worlds both instantly recognizable and astonishingly believable, from long stretches on a dry Texas highway to a bleak London alley, from the claustrophobic confines of an after-hours backroom poker game to a rundown jazz joint in Manhattan.

Amid card sharks, revolvers, and shallow graves, the characters who inhabit these stories strive to discover what is right, what will give them dignity, what will earn them respect. Whether at the age of ten or thirty-five, all will come face-to-face with a situation that will brutally separate the men from the boys.

John Harvey is the author of the richly praised sequence of ten Charlie Resnick novels, the first of which, Lonely Hearts, was named by The Times (London) as one of the 100 Best Crime Novels of the Century. Flesh and Blood, his first novel featuring Frank Elder, was awarded the Crime Writers Association Silver Dagger for Fiction in 2004. He is also a poet, dramatist, and occasional broadcaster.