Date: September 4th 2008

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The History Channel’s new show Sandhogs launches this Sunday, September 7...and advance copies of Thomas Kelly’s Sandhogs are available now from Soft Skull Press.

Sandhogs are the men who labor underground, blasting water and subway tunnels under the streets of New York. The work is backbreaking and dangerous, and the city depends on their efforts. Sandhogs are at great risk, and they band together as they face the threats of collapses, water and gas leaks, equipment malfunctions, explosions, and diseases. What results is a great camaraderie among men who are ethnically diverse (heavily Irish and Afro-Caribbean) and utterly committed—the apotheosis of the blue-collar worker. (More about the show here.)

Sandhogs, the book by Thomas Kelly, is the story of the Adare brothers—one an Irish mob henchman, the other a college grad working in the New York City tunnels—who find themselves pitted against each other as pressure on the Irish mob increases. The New York Times has called it “powerful” and Publishers Weekly, in a starred review, called it “vividly realistic.” E-mail us for a review copy!

The author is available for interviews in which he can discuss, inter alia:

• The history of sandhogs, beginning with the Brooklyn Bridge, now celebrating its 100th anniversary
• Why now is a golden age for sandhogs, especially in New York, with Water Tunnel #3, the 7 train tunnel, LIRR East Side access…
• How sandhogs are emblematic of the true bluecollar worker
• Why America needs jobs like these, and the infrastructure that work like this creates

Click here for a great interview of Tom Kelly by Charlie Rose.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Publication Date: October 8, 2008
Soft Skull Press / Counterpoint


A gritty, working-class Bonfire of the Vanities set in the underworld of Manhattan, featuring two brothers at brutal odds . . .

New York City in the boomtown 1980s: land values are skyrocketing, new buildings are going up on every block, fortunes are being made overnight—and extorted in the morning. On the streets of Hell’s Kitchen, the construction rackets are in the hands of the Irish mob. It’s always been their turf; now it’s their time. And in Sandhogs (Soft Skull Press / Counterpoint; Paperback; October 2008; $14.95; 978-1-59376-236-0) the stakes are higher than ever before—which explains the sudden interest in the Irish on the part of both the Mafia and the feds and the growing struggle for position and profit within the mob itself, an internecine war that finally ignites in the back rooms and broad daylight of the neighborhood.
 
At the heart of the story are the Adare brothers: Paddy, a failed boxer turned mob henchman who's never left the streets he grew up on and who, at thirty-two, is beginning to pay the price for years of living large; and Billy, a college graduate, back home for the summer to work in the tunnels as a sandhog before he enters law school and gets himself out of the old neighborhood and in on the American dream—brothers divided by everything but their powerful blood-tie. Now, as their paths converge on familiar streets in a cross fire of greed, treachery, and violence, their loyalties—to family, friends, neighborhood, and, most important, each other—will be put to a brutal and profoundly telling test.

 
About the Author:
Thomas Kelly is the author of The Rackets and Empire Rising and is a key contributor to the History Channel series SANDHOGS. He worked as a sandhog and construction worker before attending Fordham and Harvard Universities and becoming a political operative for former New York City mayor David Dinkins. He lives in New York.


Praise for Sandhogs (previously released as Payback):
“Powerful . . . a solidly realistic slice of a violent nether world and the seriously outgunned forces resisting it.” —The New York Times

“Stunning . . . A righteous, teeming, hot-blooded novel of betrayal, retribution, and passion.” —James Ellroy
 
“A tough talking tale about two Irish-American brothers. . . . Mobsters, union troubles, and a female FBI agent also play a part in this well-received novel.” —USA Today

“Tom Kelly proves he knows New York like his own skin. He might laugh if you called him a poet but that he is. His prose is hard and heartbreaking and the talk of his characters will echo a long time. It is the talk of men and women who have to keep face and if there is love they’ll utter it with an obscenity. [Sandhogs] is Tom Kelly’s New York, a great book to read more than once.” —Frank McCourt
 
“Be warned that this first novel is brutal in places. . . . The locale is the well-named Hell’s Kitchen, where the menu always includes stiffs.” —Philadelphia Inquirer

“A good, tough guy ending. . . . Kelly knows how the palaver goes in the kind of bar that doesn’t have ferns, the boozy, unchanging gab about sports, women, and the System that defines the deep, edgy pessimism of blue-collar men.” —Time

“Gripping. . . . A noirish crime drama and a startling exploration of the complex ties of family and place.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
 
“This is a richly textured, impressive first thriller with links to everything from Upton Sinclair’s pioneering exposes of brutal working conditions to Mario Puzo’s family-oriented crime novels. Set in the 1980s building boom in New York City, it centers on two brothers: Paddy Adare, a former boxer who works for the Irish mobs that control the construction business in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen, and his younger brother, Billy, who is trying to pay for law school by digging foundations for the new buildings. It’s Italian gangsters fighting Irish ones, workers battling bosses, and brother against brother in a meaty stew of meaningful action.” —Amazon.com
 
“Vividly realistic. . . . The scenes of gruesome mob violence are choreographed with cinematic intensity. Chapter by chapter, the story reaches inside the minds of all the story's key figures. . . . [Kelly’s] dialogue rings true and his characters emerge as convincing individuals battling a whirlwind of forces beyond their control.” —Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)
 
“Gripping. . . . Fast-paced. . . . The language of the men at work, both sandhogs and criminals, is delivered with striking realism and wit.” —Lexington Herald Leader

“Hard-edged.” —Variety

“The vivid characterizations, crafty pacing, and authentic milieu makes [Sandhogs] a very impressive debut.” —Library Journal

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