Set in the union halls, taverns, and half built skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan and in the gritty uptown neighborhood of Inwood, The Rackets depicts every shade of New York Irish - as well as Italian mobsters, Russian killers, and a gun-running Gulf War veteran on disability.
Our hero is Jimmy Dolan, who, after putting himself through college by working as a day laborer, goes to work for a smug Republican mayor. When he tries to settle an old dispute with his fists at a Gracie Mansion breakfast meeting, he finds himself out of a job - and sought out by Frankie Keefe, the corrupt union boss he knocked to the carpet. Jimmy's father Mike, a saintly widower, is running for president of the construction worker's union, but when he is brutally murdered, Jimmy has to decide whether to risk his life - and that of his girlfriend Tara, a bold New York City policewoman - in order to defend his father's honor and the interests of the rank and file.
Thomas Kelly worked in construction, graduated from Fordham and Harvard, then served as director of advance for the Mayor of New York. A former Teamster, he writes for Esquire. His first novel, Payback, has been adapted by David Mamet for a feature film.
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