Dogfight, A Love Story
Alfredo Batista of Queens wants to welcome his older brother, José, home from a 28-month stretch in prison for a burglary in which Alfredo was supposed to take part. So Alfredo acquires some Ecstasy for his brother (thereby seriously alienating a Russian drug kingpin) and plans a dogfight to mark the occasion. But there’s still the problem of Isabel, the girlfriend of José (who turned Muslim in prison and now calls himself Tariq); she fell in love with Alfredo and is pregnant with their child. Not to mention the fact that Alfredo and his best friend, Winston, are one dog short of participants for their fight. First-novelist Burgess has created full-bodied characters with on-the-mark dialogue, and he evokes his hometown of Queens (which, he notes, has the most efficiently run drug trade of the five boroughs) in a story that is alternately antic and drop-dead serious. Death is always just around the corner, as Alfredo fears, and several characters do die violently, but in the end, it’s life that is celebrated. An impressive debut, bristling with energy, from an author to watch. --Michele Leber