Rockaway Blue : A Novel

When terrorists attacked on September 11, 2001, Lieutenant Brian Murphy rescued seven people from the World Trade Center. Even as steel girders buckled and groaned, Brian rushed back up the stairs of the North Tower in search of those in need. He died a hero, one of more than four hundred police officers, firefighters, and other first responders who perished that fateful day. Three years later, Vietnam veteran and retired NYPD detective-sergeant Jimmy Murphy is on a mission to find the truth behind his son's death. Why was Brian in the tower that morning? Had he anticipated the attack? Suspecting a cover-up of a deeper truth, Jimmy must confront his family, friends, and old colleagues in the police department to discover what happened to Brian and who his eldest son really was. Murphy's investigation takes him from his home turf in the Irish American enclave of Rockaway Beach to Muslim Atlantic Avenue and beyond in order to find his own truth about 9/11. Dry-eyed and determined, Murphy battles barstool patriotism, the NYPD blue wall of silence, and a ticking clock—all the while haunted by his own secrets and the raw memory of his difficult relationship with his dead son. Written by author and musician Larry Kirwan, Rockaway Blue is a thrilling and poignant story of a family struggling to pull itself together after an unthinkable trauma.