Downtown Beirut (start here)

Downtown Beirut is the first of many novellas I’m serializing here.

Downtown Beirut is a crime story on its face, with John ‘Animal’ Angelo as the main character, a street cop who patrols the neighborhood he also lives in, the East Village of NYC. It’s a great place these days, but not so much in 1981 when this story is set.

To say Animal is a conflicted character is an understatement. He’s equal parts hardass, drunk, survivor, and only child. The story kicks off with a violent police raid on a squat, and Animal is in mandated therapy for the role he played in that.

The other main characters are Ryder and Kristen, two teenagers from outside the city who bus in on Greyhound and take up residence in one of the many, many other squats that existed then. Kristen finds work at a dive bar called Downtown Beirut, but Ryder’s a little less focused and only finds trouble.

These two stories intersect. No surprise there, but I hope not in a way you see coming.

Downtown Beirut is serialized over twelve parts.

Start here: Downtown Beirut # 1

Full table of contents:

DB #1
DB #2
DB #3
DB #4
DB #5
DB #6
DB #7
DB #8
DB #9
DB #10
DB #11
DB #12

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