.jpg)
Richard Price has this thing. He doesn't just write about cities; he basically performs an autopsy on them while they’re still breathing. If you’ve seen The Wire or read Clockers, you know the vibe. It’s heavy, it’s loud, and it smells like wet pavement and old coffee. His latest novel, Lazarus Man, hits that same frequency but with a weird, haunting tenderness that caught a lot of people off guard.
The story kicks off in East Harlem, 2008. A five-story tenement building just... collapses.
It’s not a bomb. It’s not some grand conspiracy. It’s just old bricks, bad luck, and the literal vibrations of a subway extension projects gone wrong. In an instant, people are gone. The air turns into a thick, gray soup of pulverized concrete and "necrotic dust." And out of that mess, thirty-six hours later, they pull out Anthony Carter.
He’s alive.
The media, being the media, immediately dubs him the "Lazarus Man." But here’s the thing: Anthony isn’t a saint. He’s a 42-year-old former teacher and recovering coke addict who was already losing his grip on life before the floor dropped out from under him.
🔗 Read more: A Simple Favor Blake Lively: Why Emily Nelson Is Still the Ultimate Screen Mystery
What Really Happened With the Lazarus Man
A lot of readers go into this expecting a thriller. You see "Richard Price" and "building collapse," and you think there’s going to be a massive investigation or a hunt for a saboteur. Honestly? That’s not what this is. Price is much more interested in what happens after the dust settles on the sidewalk.
The book is a tapestry. You’ve got this ensemble cast that feels so real you’d swear you saw them at a bodega on 116th Street.
- Anthony Carter: The survivor. He starts giving these "miracle" speeches at community centers, but he’s terrified he’s just selling "bullshit platitudes" to people who are actually suffering.
- Mary Roe: A veteran NYPD detective who is basically the heart of the book. She’s searching for Christopher Diaz, a man who went missing during the chaos. Her own life is a bit of a wreck—she’s doing this weird "nesting" thing where she and her husband swap apartments every few days so their kids stay in one place.
- Royal Davis: He owns a failing funeral home. His business is so bad he actually sends his son to the collapse site to hand out business cards. It’s morbid, it’s desperate, and it’s peak Price.
- Felix Pearl: A kid from upstate with a camera. He’s the one who captures the moments no one else sees, the "unformed soul" trying to find a purpose in the wreckage.
The "Lazarus Man" himself is the anchor, but the book is really about how a neighborhood breathes. Price lived in Harlem since 2008—the year the book is set—and you can tell. He captures the eye contact, the nods, the specific way people talk when they’ve seen it all.
Why setting it in 2008 matters
Price didn't want to write about the politics of right now. No Trump, no Obama, no hashtags. By setting Lazarus Man in 2008, he catches a version of Harlem that was already disappearing. It’s a snapshot of a community on the edge of gentrification, where the "originals" on the stoop are being crowded out by a world they don't recognize.
💡 You might also like: The A Wrinkle in Time Cast: Why This Massive Star Power Didn't Save the Movie
It feels like a time capsule.
There’s a scene where Mary Roe remembers working the open-air morgue after 9/11. Price uses that memory to ground the Harlem collapse. It’s not just a plot point; it’s a trauma reflex. This is how New Yorkers process disaster—they compare it to the last one.
The Twist Nobody Saw Coming (Or Did They?)
Without spoiling the whole thing, there is a reveal about Anthony’s survival. If you’re a cynical reader, you might guess it early. But the point isn’t the "gotcha" moment. The point is the hope.
People in the neighborhood need Anthony to be a miracle. Even if he’s just a guy who got lucky in a pocket of air, his presence gives them something to hold onto while the city tries to figure out whose fault the collapse was.
📖 Related: Cuba Gooding Jr OJ: Why the Performance Everyone Hated Was Actually Genius
The prose is vintage Price. He’ll give you a sentence that’s two words long. Then he’ll follow it with a sprawling, rhythmic paragraph that feels like a jazz solo. It’s "urban opera," as some critics called it. It’s messy. Life is messy.
Actionable Insights for Readers and Writers
If you’re looking to dive into Richard Price's world or just want to understand why Lazarus Man is sticking in people's heads, here’s how to approach it:
- Read for the "Hang Out" Factor: Don't rush for a resolution. This is a book where you "hang out" with the characters. Enjoy the dialogue; Price is arguably the best in the business at capturing how people actually speak when they aren't performing for a camera.
- Study the Micro-Sociology: Notice how Price describes the funeral home or the way the police file missing persons reports. He does "first-degree research," meaning he actually spends months hanging out with cops and funeral directors. It shows.
- Look for the Humanity in the Grime: The book is gritty, sure. There are "cooked-diaper-smelling stairs" and bodies that aren't pretty. But underneath that, it's a story about grace. It’s about people who are "world-weary" but still willing to give a helping hand.
- Compare it to Lush Life: If you’ve read his previous work, notice the shift. Lazarus Man is kinder. It’s less about the "game" and more about the recovery.
To really get the most out of this, you should check out Price's interviews about his time in Harlem. He talks about how moving five blocks in New York is like moving to a different country. That sense of hyper-local identity is the secret sauce of the novel.
Grab a copy, find a quiet corner, and let the sounds of 2008 Harlem wash over you. It’s a long ride, but it’s worth every block.
Next Steps to Deepen Your Experience:
- Watch 'The Wire' (Season 3): Specifically the episodes Price wrote to see the DNA of his dialogue in action.
- Track Down the Real Event: Look up the 2014 East Harlem gas explosion. While the book is set in 2008, Price has admitted that the 2014 tragedy was the primary spark for the story.
- Compare with 'Deacon King Kong': Read James McBride’s novel alongside this one for a different, but equally powerful, look at the soul of a New York neighborhood.