Motherless Brooklyn

Lionel Essrog, a thirty-something aspiring detective living in Brooklyn, introduces himself to the reader first by explaining his affliction, Tourette’s syndrome: “[W]ords rush out of the cornucopia of my brain to course over the surface of the world, tickling reality like fingers on piano keys” (1). Lionel, along with Gilbert Coney, is on a stakeout for Frank Minna, a charismatic smalltime hood who, more than 20 years earlier, recruited Lionel, Gilbert, and two other boys from an orphanage to do odd jobs. In that time, Frank became a surrogate father to the four boys, known collectively as the “Minna Men.” He employs them through his company, L&L, ostensibly a moving service and later a car service, although the businesses are likely fronts for less savory enterprises.

The stakeout is not in the familiar environs of Brooklyn. Frank directed Lionel and Gilbert to watch a building in Yorkville in the swanky Upper East Side of Manhattan. The building serves as a Buddhist meditation center, or Zendo. Neither Gilbert nor Lionel has any clue why Frank wants the building cased. As the two munch through a bag of White Castle sliders, however, Frank himself taps the car window. He wants Gilbert to stand watch at the front door of the Zendo and equips Lionel with a headset. Frank himself will wear a wire. He says he is meeting someone in the Zendo and wants back-up should something (Lionel is not clear what) go wrong. Lionel listens intently while Frank enters the building. The reception is spotty. Lionel notes the fragments of conversation he hears, but the arrival of a young girl with short cut black hair and glasses momentarily distracts him as she enters the Zendo.

Frank suddenly comes out accompanied by a tall man Lionel does not recognize. Lionel surmises that Frank has a gun against his back as the giant shoves Frank into a waiting car. The ensuing chase is comically executed—first the two cars get snarled in heavy traffic, and then Lionel and Gilbert are stopped at a toll gate going through the Midtown Tunnel (while the kidnappers have EZ Pass). The cars separate, but Frank relays clues about where the car is going: a sheet metal company in Queens. The two rush there. 

Lionel and Gilbert park and begin scouring for the car. Lionel spies Frank’s wire tossed on the sidewalk and, in quick order, finds Frank, beaten and bloodied, in a dumpster. They pull Frank out and head to the nearest hospital. On the way, Frank refuses to explain what happened and instead directs Lionel to tell a joke. Frank is unconscious by the time they arrive. After tense minutes, a doctor comes out and confirms that Frank has died. Shocked, Lionel and Gilbert decide not to linger, fearing the arrival of cops.