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Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite
The Prophets of Gentilly Terrace by Gordon Peter Wilson is set in New Orleans, where Jerry faces mounting financial trouble and resorts to gambling and misusing client funds. Simultaneously, Glenn forms an alliance with an influential official and engages in property assessment schemes. Lecky is a closeted gay man whose "beard" (wife) is rich, connected, and wildly controlling. Margot, an FBI agent, and Francis, a police officer, are exploring romance. When an opportunity for potential exploitation of a grocery store comes up, it looks like there will be money to be made by Glenn, Jerry, and Burton. Chaos erupts when the plan goes awry after a shooting at the store, which is then compounded by the discovery of bodies, blackmail, questions of loyalty, paranoia, officers down, and a criminal investigation that puts each character within arm's-length of the others.
Gordon Peter Wilson is a master storyteller, and for all the creativity he has in crafting an exceptional plot, it is the character development in The Prophets of Gentilly Terrace that makes it so engrossing. Lecky was a surprising favorite of mine, partly because his situation can be best described as a weird juxtaposition of 'hilariously sad'. His wife is a morbidly obese woman who won't let him drive, and just as it feels like there might be an opportunity for his side hustle to go a little further, they end up in the parking lot, roped into that fateful day at the grocery store. Glenn felt supremely authentic and like a guy that you really, really want to root for no matter what he does. As a person of color myself, the desire to push down those who try to push him down, whether overtly or systemically, and do it with a smile and a white picket fence, made me fist-pump more than once. The writing is excellent, the pacing is comfortable, and the ending is satisfying—but only because Wilson makes getting there equally satisfying. Very highly recommended.
