Reddick, a young, white artist, lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a historically black Brooklyn neighborhood besieged by gentrification. He makes rent as an art handler in Manhattan and spends his free time playing basketball at the local Y. He is also the last person to see Hannah before she disappears.
When Hannah’s fiancé, scion to a wealthy Upper East Side family, refuses to call the police, Reddick sets out to discover what happened to her. The search pulls him through a dramatic cross section of New York, taking him to the heart of a many-layered mystery that, in its unraveling, shakes Reddick’s convictions and lays bare the complex power dynamics of the city.
In lyrical, addictive prose, Wil Medearis asks the question: In a metropolis that prides itself on its diversity and inclusivity, who has the final say over the future? Timely, page-turning and sweeping in vision, Restoration Heights is an exhilarating new entry in the canon of great New York novels.
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“Restoration Heights dramatizes the conflicts, resentments, and hatreds that hipsters provoke when they displace people of color from their communities. Medearis’ honest look at issues of race, money, and class is especially relevant at this moment in history when so much of the world threatens to erupt into flames.”
— Jeffery Renard Allen, author of Song of the Shank
“An atmospheric and poetic noir debut. Wil Medearis paints a vivid portrait of the changing face of New York City while crafting a compelling old-school mystery.”
— Lisa Unger, New York Times bestselling author“An instant New York fiction classic, exuding dark poetry from a lyrical narrative populated by well-defined characters in carefully, or, shall we say, artistically, arranged settings.”
— Booklist (starred review)“Smart and evocative…Medearis’ novel adeptly explores white privilege, racism, the demands of creating art, and how members of all socioeconomic classes close ranks when it comes to protecting their own.”
— Publishers Weekly“A compelling read.”
— Kirkus Reviews“A portrait of contemporary New York that would have Jay McInerney green with envy. New York has a new noir poet in Wil Medearis.”
— Ken Bruen, author of The Guards“A sly, nimble mystery. Real estate is to the Brooklyn of Restoration Heights what water is to the LA of Chinatown: the nexus of public corruption and private perversity.”
— Jake Lamar, author of Rendezvous EighteenthBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Christopher Gebauer is a multifaceted actor who excels in both leading and character roles. He is a graduate of the Stella Adler Studio of Acting through the New York University Tisch School of the Arts.