The Family Hightower

Praise

“A tale dripping with blood and money in a family that’s far more fun to read about than it would be to live with. And one could fill a page with all the novel’s quotable lines; “I love you means I will bleed you dry” tops the list. This is a splendid story filled with betrayal and disaster. Readers prone to schadenfreude will find it doubly delicious.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review 

“There will be blood, Brian Slattery promises early on, and, man, does he deliver. Expertly paced and beautifully detailed, The Family Hightower is a Ukrainian-American Godfather–a time-traveling, globetrotting crime saga spanning the last century, spiriting the reader from Morocco to Zimbabwe to Romania and always back home to strangely exotic Cleveland. Completely satisfying and completely brilliant.” —Stewart O’Nan, author of A Prayer for the Dying and Last Night at the Lobster

“Make no mistake, Brian Francis Slattery has proven innovative and quick in unspooling this tale.  Innovative how?  He introduces Petey’s girlfriend when she’s already a disemboweled corpse, skin all sown up in jagged stitches.  Dare the reader care about this eviscerated entity as the narrative delves into her back-story?  Turns out we can and do root for a dead thing.  In fact, Madalina might be the most noble character in the book, and her story examines the very grim reality of Eastern Europe’s criminal underworld.  This is not the freewheeling, frivolous age of parties financed by Jay Gatsby’s bootleg liquor.  People here are dying for their livers and their eyes.” —Ben East, Ben on Books