The Nightworkers

Starred review from August 3, 2020
Selfon’s ambitious, character-driven debut tells the interconnected stories of “a perfectly wonderful, perfectly Brooklyn family of misfits”: Shecky Keenan, a fastidious small-time money launderer; Henry Vek, an aspiring artist and one of Shecky’s couriers; and Kerasha Brown, a poetry-loving, talented thief recently released on probation. These characters, along with a host of minor ones, their marginalized underworld, and the intricacies of money laundering are credibly rendered by Selfon, who spent 15 years working for law enforcement agencies in New York City. The plot focuses on Shecky’s troubled business: banks are no longer honoring his transfer instructions (the final step in turning dirty money into “clear” money), and a bag with $250,000 is lost, and its courier is found murdered. Selfon fully fleshes out the major characters’ backstories, dreams, and disappointments, and even the minor characters get their moment in the sun. Superior prose is a plus (“The rooms smell of burnt coffee and overtime”). Fans of literary crime fiction will be enthralled. Agent: Jenni Ferrari-Adler, Union Literary. (Oct.), Correction: An earlier version of this review misspelled the author’s name.

August 1, 2020
A cobbled-together family of money launderers is in big trouble after their newly hired runner disappears with $250,000. The Brooklyn-based operation is headed by seasoned schemer Shecky Keenan. It includes two orphans: Henry Vek, 21, whom "Uncle Shecky" took in at age 9 after the boy's boozing mother (Shecky's cousin) died in a car crash, and Kerasha Brown, 23, the daughter of another of Shecky's ill-fated cousins. A brilliant thief and break-in artist, Kerasha recently joined the household after having served six years in prison. Though all the members of this makeshift family are "mixed race, Henry and Shecky look white, and Kerasha, black." When the runner, Emil, a talented artist friend of Henry's, goes missing, Shecky must answer to the intimidating client whose money was lost. Meanwhile, Kerasha, who like her late mother is drawn to heroin, becomes obsessed with a contentious, court-appointed psychologist with the power to send her back into custody. Written in a jumpy, time-hopping, and sometimes hallucinatory style, this first novel is loaded with damaged characters. Shecky is haunted by the rape and murder of his sister and a squalid upbringing by three vicious uncles. Zera, a cop on the trail of human traffickers, was herself bought and sold as an orphan child in her native Montenegro. A seasoned legal investigator, Selfon has firsthand knowledge of laundering schemes and the people who devise them. More importantly, he is attuned to questions of identity and belonging. Not all of the characters click, and the book contains more narrative noise than it needs, but the poetry-loving, sharply reflective Kerasha alone makes the book worth reading. She deserves a sequel all her own. A sharp, surprisingly affecting debut.

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October 1, 2020

DEBUT Shecky Keenan's world is imploding. His bank accounts are closing rapidly, his house is being watched by a mysterious man, and his newest runner, Emil Scott, is missing, along with the bag of dirty money he was carrying. Shecky's family money-laundering business includes his nephew Henry, whose intimidating stature hides an artistic heart, and his niece, Kerasha, a girl with sticky fingers and a devastating past. Family means everything to Shecky but when Emil disappears, he learns that even family can keep dark secrets from one another. Selfon's experiences as an investigative analyst for the Brooklyn District Attorney's office bring a realistic element to this debut novel, weaving truth and fantasy seamlessly to create an exciting look into the city's seedy, treacherous back alley world of drugs, money laundering, and murder. VERDICT The shifting perspectives, from Shecky's heartbreaking reminiscences to Kerasha's painful memories of her mother and therapy sessions, provide the desired emotional depth but may leave readers a bit disoriented. Fans of gritty, dark, mysteries with dysfunctional characters will appreciate this one.--Carmen Clark, Elkhart P.L. IN

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