Kelly, Thomas 1961–

PERSONAL: Born 1961; son of a freight yard worker. Education: Fordham University, degree; Harvard University, M.A. from Kennedy School of Government.

ADDRESSES: Home—New York, NY, and Ireland. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 19 Union Square W., New York, NY 10003.

CAREER: Writer. Former director of advance for the mayor of New York on Wall Street. Worked in construction for ten years; formerly worked as a cab driver, night watchman, amateur boxer, and literacy teacher.

WRITINGS:

Payback (novel), A. A. Knopf (New York, NY), 1997.

The Rackets (novel), Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (New York, NY), 2001.

Empire Rising (novel), Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (New York, NY), 2005.

Contributor to Esquire.

ADAPTATIONS: The Rackets is being adapted for an ABC television series produced by Sydney Pollack; Payback is being adapted to film by David Mamet.

SIDELIGHTS: Informed by his own experiences in the construction trade and in New York City government, Thomas Kelly created a second career for himself as a novelist. Beginning with his 1997 debut, Payback, Kelly has crafted stories that revolve around working-class heroes and the theme of corruption. Physical labor, unions, organized crime, political machinations, and New York City are other prominent features. Writing for the New York Times, critic Joe Klein said of Kelly's writing, "there is a compelling muscularity to his work—the plots barrel along, the characters are wildly colorful, and there is a dead-on authenticity to the dialogue and the atmospherics."

The various dangers met while working as a sandhog—digging tunnels for roadways or water—are explored in Payback. Two Irish-American brothers, Paddy and Billy Adare, are hard at work in New York City during a building boom. Billy is earning money to pay for law school, while former-boxer Paddy sidelines for the Irish mob. Conditions prove dangerous for both when negotiations between the contractor and labor bosses get ugly. Time reviewer John Skow asserted that the author "knows when to break out the purple ink" and that "a little industrial-strength over-writing never hurt a thriller about mean streets in the big city." "The vivid characterizations, crafty pacing, and authentic milieu," concluded Library Journal contributor Adam Mazmanian, "[make] Payback a very impressive debut."

In The Rackets, a New York City Teamsters election reveals Mafia and government influences in the union. Mob front man Frankie Keefe is challenged in his role as president by the reform-minded Mike Dolan. This puts Dolan and his family in danger: son Jimmy loses his job working for the mayor and Mike becomes an assassination target. With the help of friends, Jimmy discovers that organized crime and an unnamed federal agency are willing to use deadly force to control events. When the son replaces his father as candidate and wins, it only plunges him deeper into a grim underworld. The novel "comes up short" because of stylistic inconsistencies, according to Library Journal writer David Dodd. However, a Publishers Weekly critic remarked, "The suspense holds to the end, and the novel draws readers deep into a gritty, wholly convincing world."

In Empire Rising, Kelly explores New York City in the 1930s. He contrasts the lives of lowly construction workers with those of men who were in power during the transition from the Roaring Twenties to the Great Depression. Inspired by family talk about an uncle who worked on the raising of the Empire State Building, Kelly creates a protagonist with the same name: Michael Briody. An Irish immigrant ironworker and a gun runner for the Irish Republican Army, Briody becomes romantically involved with the mistress of an assistant to mayor Jimmy Walker, a man who helps his boss cash in on the project. The decadent, cutthroat atmosphere is a constant threat to their relationship.

Reviewers of Kelly's novel Empire Rising continued to credit Kelly with a deft portrayal of the building trades and New York City politics. While a Kirkus Reviews critic found some aspects of the novel to be "a little too familiar," the writer also remarked on "Kelly's mastery of narrative drive" and "knowledgeable, vigorously detailed portrayal of big-city political and fiscal skullduggery." A Publishers Weekly reviewer described Empire Rising as "a fascinating tale that captures the cadences and decadence of art deco New York." As critic Katherine Bailey commented in the Philadelphia Enquirer, "Kelly vividly conveys the desperation of the Depression, the violence of labor strikes, the attraction of bloody South Bronx boxing matches, and the sinister glamour of the speakeasies. He captures the unique spirit of the times, which is what historical fiction is all about." Library Journal contributor David Keymer recommended the book as "a superior action novel and a great love story."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, May 1, 2001, Gilbert Taylor, review of The Rackets, p. 1666; December 15, 2004, Brad Hooper, review of Empire Rising, p. 708.

Daily Variety, Josef Adalian, "Pollack Strings 'Rackets,'" p. 1.

Esquire, March, 1997, Julie Baumgold, "Blood in the Sand," p. 152.

Kirkus Reviews, review of Empire Rising, p. 1063.

Library Journal, January, 1997, Adam Mazmanian, review of Payback, p. 147; March 15, 2001, David Dodd, review of The Rackets, p. 105; January 1, 2005, David Keymer, review of Empire Rising, p. 98.

New York Times Book Review, February 13, 2005, Joe Klein, "How the Irish Paved Civilization," review of Empire Rising, p. 12.

Philadelphia Enquirer, March 13, 2005, Katherine Bailey, "Empire Grows, as Does Love," review of Empire Rising.

Publishers Weekly, April 16, 2001, review of The Rackets, p. 42; January 17, 2005, review of Empire Rising, p. 34; February 28, 2005, Dermot McEvoy, "Novelist Rising: Thomas Kelly," p. 37.

Time, March 17, 1997, John Skow, review of Payback, p. 70.

ONLINE

CNN Online, http://www.cnn.com/ (February 17, 2005), Adam Dunn, "The Skyscraper Looming over the World."