SummaryAva O'Neil grew up within the embrace of New York City's
most infamous Irish gang, The Westies. Her father was the
Roofer, named for his penchant for throwing enemies from
the rooftops of Hell's Kitchen tenements. Raised by her
father and two members of his crew, Ava and her brother
witnessed events of violence and torment, as well as
moments of loyalty and dignity.
When journalist Jack Casey comes looking for Ava,
determined to profile her father -- and to uncover the
trail of a cold-case murder -- Ava is equally determined to
keep her family's darkest secrets hidden. But when the
magazine article is published, she is shocked by the impact
of seeing the life she accepted as normal committed to
public scrutiny. Then Hollywood's most famous director of
mob movies decides to base a film on the Roofer's life.
Suddenly gangsters and thugs are interacting with
Hollywood's A-list. Caught up in this world, Ava finds herself in an intense
love affair with the lead actor from the movie. Yet their
relationship, taking them from New York City to Las Vegas
to Los Angeles, is threatened by another murder from the
past, far more twisted than anything on film. Ava knows
that the secrets will either destroy her or free her and,
either way, they will cost her almost everything. The Roofer is an intimate glimpse of a family bound by
murder and the mob, taking readers from Irish wakes and
funerals to family dinners marred by violence. It is an
unflinching and unsparing look at life within the criminal
underbelly of New York, and it is the story of one woman's
journey as she struggles to break free from the only life
she has ever known.
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