A newspaper editor, a young reporter, an old columnist, a bitter fired employee, a successful commercial artist, a famous painter, a patron of the arts, an NYPD detective, a disabled Iraq War veteran, and a radical bomber lose in New York City, plus a double homicide are some of the many elements of Pete Hamill’s last novel, Tabloid City.
Hamill, a long-time New York newspaper columnist, novelist, memoirist, screenwriter, raconteur and man about town, knew his city. Pete Hamill died August 5, 2020, at age 85.
This 2011 book gives readers his insider’s view of the 21st century struggle of newspapers to survive in the digital world. All of his experiences and interests, including his love or art, are here in this sprawling book that is also a taught thriller.
Tabloid City is a fast read and well worth the time. Anyone unfamiliar with Hamill should also pick up a copy of A Drinking Life, a memoir of his early years, his Irish-American family living in Brooklyn, and the path that brought him into the newspaper business.
(For more posts on books, head over to Todd Mason’s blog.)
I hopefully have something from Hamill on the PC, if it survived a crash, not this - A Killing for Christ. His first book I think. I'll probably try that first.
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