Under the Eye of God (The Isaac Sidel Novels)

My first review and it's a bad one. After an intriguing several pages of intro, this sad little novel receded into a mockery of old time mystery suspense writing. With obtuse story telling, confusing useless characters, and tired, cliched metaphor, the book droned on to an underwhelming...I guess..'conclusion'.If it's the beginning of a series, I decline the next installment.

A couple days ago I finished reading my second Jerome Charyn novel. After reading The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson last year I expected this novel to be somewhat different than the average thriller and I wasn't wrong. Under the Eye of God by Jerome Charyn is a quirky book: a thriller that doesn't seem overly concerned with the action in the story.This novel is definitely not a run of the mill thriller. It seems to be more of a character study of the main character, Isaac Sidel. The reader spends a lot of time inside Sidel's head discovering what he is thinking and feeling about everything that's happening around him as well as getting a glimpse into his past. The reader gets to know Sidel very well by the end of the story. Some of the tensest action scenes are not played out on the page but are recounted by Sidel as he ponders the events. I didn't find this book an easy read. The plot doesn't unfold in a straightforward manner. I had to keep reading and let Sidel's thoughts and memories spill out, gradually giving me the entire picture. I have to admit I wasn't terribly interested in the actual plot of the book even though, with the US presidential election held last month, it is very topical. There is too much double crossing and scheming going on for the reader to guess who can be trusted and what is likely to happen next - maybe it's more like real life than the average novel. But I found it worth persevering with the story for the chance to slip into the world that Charyn creates. He takes Sidel back in his memories to his childhood in 1940s gangster run New York City. It's a world of violence and opulence with a moral code all its own. Having a good grasp of American modern history will definitely help the reader understand the significance of Charyn's references to various aspects of the social history and politics of that era (the New Deal, Franklin Roosevelt, J Edgar Hoover, Arnold Rothstein and Lindy's Deli) but it's not obligatory. The novel evokes this bygone era of American history vividly and fondly. Despite the brutality of the crime underworld, Charyn depicts 1940s New York as a place of lavish excess and vitality - the place and the people are larger than life. There's the grandeur of hotels like the Waldorf Astoria and the hypnotic effect of dancehall girls on the men they meet in the midst of unmerciful Mafia and police violence. The reader gets lost in the elegant Old World charm of the New York Sidel remembers in the middle of this fast paced thriller. When I began the book I found this juxtaposition hard to fathom but I warmed to it as I continued to read.I think one of Charyn's greatest strengths is the unique voices his characters possess. Each character is complex, motivated by a plethora of values and desires that often war with each other. Although the story is told mainly by Sidel we also get glimpses into the minds of other prominent characters and they are fascinating people. I particularly liked the woman Sidel believes he is in love with: Trudy Winkelman. She is well drawn; Charyn creates a gutsy, conflicted woman, in an impossible situation, who is devoted to her children and smitten by the man she is supposed to ensnare. Charyn's narrative style is unusual and nothing is ever described simply. His prose seems to ramble along with his characters' thoughts and the metaphors he chooses may not be immediately clear to the average reader. But the sometimes ornate language he uses and his characters' unique voices combine to paint almost a 3D image of his characters' world. I'm not sure whether this book will appeal to the average thriller reader. The author's writing style sets it apart from many books in the genre. But it is a great book for readers who want to explore the mind of a conflicted character while they enjoy a dramatic plot. Historical fiction fans will also find the evocation of 1940s New York intriguing. I have to admit that it took me a while to get into this book and I wasn't sure that I wanted to continue reading but after I finished it my head was filled with the voices of some very unusual and beguiling characters and visions of New York as it was in an exciting era before my time. I'm glad I persevered to the end and I can recommend the book to other readers. Enjoy Charyn's and Sidel's New York, past and present.

There were several things I really enjoyed about this book. It had the expectation of one of the old "noir" movies of yesteryear, with the mob, the femme fatale, and our lone (and lonely) hero.The idealism of the protagonist, Isaac Sidel, was refreshing. He was portrayed as a man of principle, though not above using the lower elements outside the law to stand up for what is right. Isaac doesn't spend much time worrying about what the pundits will think of his actions - he does what needs to be done. Even so, he never devolves into a caricature of the proverbial "knight in shining armor". We still have opportunity to see his flaws, which makes him more relatable to the human element we all endure. Too bad we never see a politician like him.The political arena of the book reflects the reality that both sides of the aisle are neither all good nor all evil. This was an element I thought was well portrayed, that it's still politics as usual when it comes to Washington D.C., regardless of which party Isaac attaches to at any given time. Isaac remains true to who he is, not beholden to any particular group or the machinations behind the scenes. Sometimes his idealism gets him into trouble with both sides, but Isaac is first and foremost a man of the law, Old West style. He even totes his gun around with him everywhere he goes, to the chagrin of the Secret Service - funny at times!Another favorite character wasn't a true character at all. The Ansonia (a very real, iconic New York City hotel/apartment building), with its seventeen floors of circular living rooms and windows of etched glass, was a standout. The descriptions of the Ansonia and her occupants, both in her hey-day and the present, were intoxicatingly rich. It made me want to drop everything and fly to New York to take a tour and relive her glory days - "sigh" - I miss New York City! I loved it when the character, David Pearl, says, "Every time I'm on the stairs, with the wrought-iron rails, it's like having my own little piece of Europe."Without having read any of the previous Isaac Sidel novels, however, I felt lost in the constant shuffle of characters. There were so many secondary characters thrown in, with little to no description of their purpose to this particular story, that I was continually frustrated. It left me with the impression throughout that these may have been key people in prior novels in the series, but here they just seemed to get in the way. Most of the time their inclusion spurred actions without any defined motivation or understanding of why they reacted the way they did. Without a clear idea of the characters and their internal motivations, it made the action mindless. Then just as soon as these characters appeared - poof! - they were gone again.Though I love history and reliving certain elements of how actual history ties into this story (especially when it came to the Ansonia), there was too much jumping back and forth between past and present with little transition. Many times the lack of transition made reading jarring, and I'd have to go back to see where I was before the flashback then flash forward to regain my footing.The supposed big fight near the end was anti-climactic, mainly due to yet another previously unknown character being thrown into the mix. We had his introduction, the fight, and then the cleanup within a few paragraphs. It left me dissatisfied, again with the desire for even a basic understanding of internal motivations to make the "fight" have meaning. I just wanted more.Overall, I would recommend this novel only if you take the opportunity to first read the other Isaac Sidel books in the series. Armed with that necessary background, Under the Eye of God might have been a more enjoyable addition.This review was originally provided as part of a blog tour. I was provided a free eBook copy for review purposes and was neither paid nor compensated in any way for my honest assessment.

Heralded as one of the best thrillers in 2013 in a German weekly newspaper, I was looking forward to read the original version already published 10 years ago. Under the Eyes of God is one of a whole series of Isaac Sidel stories and much to my disappointment this one rather reads like an unrealistic, rather fantastic overwrought play. Isaac Sidel is the popular gun-carrying mayor of New York, with good connections to the underworld.The Democrats have nominated him for the vice president ticket together with Michael J. Storm as president. They win or rather Sidel wins, as Storm is not really up for the job.Sidel has his headquarter at the Ansonia a New York landmark frequented in the past by opera stars, Hollywood film stars and naturally famous underworld bosses and the Maf. During the action, Sidel learns that one of his longtime friends – David Pearl, the de facto heir to Arnold Rothstein - has been secretly buying up the Bronx to build a huge military base there. He also learns that the incredible luck of being nominated and then elected vice president and even New York mayor is only due to large scale lobbying and maneuvering of the infamous David Pearl. Moreover, Pearl has been plotting his Bronx renovation plans together with the Pentagon, the FBI and a whole bunch of Texan billionaires. Sidel as a true American hero has to make up his mind either to serve the economic- military-complex or the less privileged city dwellers in the rundown neighborhoods of the American inner cities. Guess how he decides.