Billy Phelan's greatest game Book

I picked up this novel as part of William Kennedy's 'Albany Cycle', after Willy Vlautin stated that the second in the series, 'Ironweed' is his favourite ever book-high praise indeed, so, having bought the first volume of the cycle, I was very much looking forward to seeing what I made of this first instalment.

Set in 1930s Albany, the narrative follows two main characters-Billy Phelan, small time bookie, pool hustler, card player and bowler, and journalist Martin Daugherty, son to a previously famous and now ageing writer, and someone who still lives in the Irish American community from which he came. Both men get caught up in the fallout from the kidnap of the son of a local corrupt politician by persons unknown.

This all sounds action packed, but the novel isn't a thriller by any means. The kidnap is always in the background, but Kennedy spends the majority of the 250 pages of the book charting the everyday life of the characters inhabiting the underbelly of Albany of the time. Occasionally I found the narrative to be a bit of a drag, and to be honest was a little disappointed with the whole book in general terms. However, the best thing about the narrative for me was when Billy Phelan's estranged father, Francis, was featured-the fact that the Pulitzer Prize winning 'Ironweed' is about him, and that all the books standalone despite being linked by setting and featuring some of the same characters, gives me hope that Vlautin's recommendation won't be too far off the mark.

As for this book, if you get it as part of the first volume of The Albany Cycle like I did, you'll probably want to get your money's worth and read it, but if I was to go back a few days, I'd probably just start in with Ironweed and give this one a miss!