Redlined: A Novel of Boston

By: Richard W. Wise

Narrated by: Bobby Gaglini

The year is 1974. Boston's Jamaica Plain is a neighborhood under siege skating along the razor's edge of decline. The banks have REDLINED Jamaica Plain, causing the housing market to crash, wiping out local homeowner's lifetime investments and opening the neighborhood to blockbusters and slumlords. Now, someone is systematically torching abandoned buildings and the charred body of Sandy Morgan, a dedicated young neighborhood organizer, has been found among the ashes. Why? Who stands to gain?

Community organizer and Marine combat veteran, Jedidiah Flynt and Alex Jordan, his beautiful Harvard educated researcher are determined to stop the redlining and and bring the arsonists responsible for Sandy Morgan's death to justice. Their search will lead them through a labyrinth of corrupt politicians, Asian gangsters, and bent churchmen.

©2019 Richard W. Wise (P)2020 Richard W. Wise

History & Mystery

Set in 1970s Boston, Redlined is part murder mystery, part historical fiction, and part philosophizing. Jed Flynt is our hero, a neighborhood organizer currently fighting for homeowner rights in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood. The local banks have been redlining the area, an unscrupulous practice that depreciates property values, and since most hard-working people have most of their wealth tied up in their house, it really affects families. The philosophizing part sometimes got a little preachy and didn’t really matter for the mystery. The second of third time the same discussion came around from a different character, I kind of tuned it out.

It’s also a time when women are pushing for more rights and equality. The character Jed is a decent representative of a man who is trying to navigate these changing social norms, without falling into the trap of meeting our current standards. With that said, the story itself still places most women as romantic interests, most needing rescuing at some point, and most being described by their looks first and last and perhaps something about their abilities briefly mentioned in there at some point. I know that this tale is trying to stay true to how things were viewed at the time, but there could be a difference from how Jed views women and how this story treats them, and that was lacking.

Anyhoo, the murder mystery is tied up with the mystery of why so many buildings are catching fire and who is responsible. I did enjoy the twisty path this story took. There’s some crooked church leaders, local muscle, and unexpectedly a Chinese mastermind behind it all. There were a few moments were it felt like some deus ex machina was being employed, like when Alexis (aka Alex) just happens to know someone who wouldn’t mind doing a little B&E in Luxembourg or later when Jed can so quickly dig up some military muscle for the final big rescue. Still, it was fun and the pacing is good with plenty of action and smidge of reflection. 3/5 stars.

The Narration: Bobby Gaglini was a good match for Jed Flynt. His female character voices were sometimes a bit cartoony, but not always. Each was unique enough to keep the ladies straight when in conversation. Towards the end, some of the male voices also sounded a little cartoony here and there. In fact, at some point I did picture everyone as a fuzzy talking animal in human clothes because the voices were a little like puppets. There’s a few accents, mostly regional USA but also Chinese and French, and I felt these were decently done. The pacing was good. I did notice 2 sentences repeated but there were no other tech issues with the recording. 3/5 stars.

Wow ! Great mix of fiction and non !

As a young girl, i lived where the sw corridor is today ! While this is a fictional novel, Mr. Wise has a gift of getting the truth out there of late 60s early 70s with a few twists . I thoroughly enjoyed listening as I also had fun identifying the characters as they appeared with Bob Gaglinis fabulous Boston accents.... it was a terrifying time in Boston’s neighborhoods . Particularly Roxbury and Jamaica Plain and that “ road” that was stopped...left behind a desolate land where families had once thrived... life... was never the same... end of innocence.
I hope Mr. Wise continues this story... there’s so much more !!!!
Doyle’s is closed now... boy if those walls could talk ! Thank goodness for these folks ! They built this city to what it is today! Thank you

Great!

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

This was a fantastic book that had a great pace. There was murder and mystery which kept me hooked from the start. The events were (mostly) real. I didn't feel as though there were any lulls in the book and it was a very steady pace from the start

I liked some of the characters but really didn't find others too engaging. The narration was really good with no hitches or pauses. Then again, I was listening to it on 1.5x speed.

Excellent Historical Fiction...

This is an outstanding book. There are a few tense scenes including violence and murder but I would not label this a thriller. The publisher’s summary gives an excellent accounting of Redlining in Jamaica Plains, a subdivision of Boston, MA. Although the characters are not real the events are. And so was the beginning of the Fair Housing Act.
Bobby Gaglini does a wonderful job narrating.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
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unexpectedly excellent

I didn't know what to expect with this novel but what I got was a far more than a murder mystery.

This novel does an interesting dive into the social, cultural, and political issues and intricacies of Boston in the 1970s, all handled in a way that will make you keep picking this up.

Feminism, political corruption, and where money corrupts organized religion are all here and it's done excellently. This is a book worth reading.

Excellent narration. A true professional.
I was provided this book in exchange for an honest review.

Had promise, but in the end, fell way short

The plot, an attempt to go up against slumlord developers, by rallying the community, was a good idea. However, by the end, I was thoroughly disgusted by the Asian stereotypes, including the slurs of “chink” and “slant eyes” by the “hero” Vietnam vet who helps to defeat the “Chinese thugs.” Yacht