In Adam Connell’s Lay Saints two extrasensory crime syndicates vie for influence over an impenetrable Politician's mind and vote.

A mysterious prisoner and powerful remote viewer narrates the story--with occasional interjections-- to a memory wiped cellmate whose identity isn’t revealed until the very end. This unusual method of story-telling was a compelling touch which added an extra layer of mystery.

Calder, a lonely drifter, is conflicted in his want to both flee from and form connections with people who share his unique abilities. He allows himself to be lured into the gang's seedy underbelly and remains unsure of his place in their world of manipulation, murder and double-dealings.

Layered dialogue and action drive the plot in this gritty crime noir/speculative fiction mash-up. Filled with black humor and tough cynical characters, we are treated to a New York that is both stunning and sinister. The story is populated with rough and realistic Pulp fiction like characters, bizarre relationships, humorous banter, and Chinatown like twists.

This captivating and vintage feeling crime novel is a must-read for any fan of these genres.

I got this through LibraryThing Member Giveaways. It was a good read and a good story, though a little longer than it needed to be. This is a tale of criminal telepaths working in levels of a mob-like organization peddling their skills to the highest or most influential bidder.
Into this world is drawn Calder, a telepath who normally uses his talents to help grieving families in hospitals albeit for a profit. He is recruited into one of two 'families' of these mind readers and used to influence a vote.
It took some time to get into this as it is written in it own New York boroughs flavored language which seems to come and go. The narrator is not always reliable nor can we always tell from the writing it is him narrating. The story moves along well enough with some interesting unsavory characters and a decent moral dilemna but doesn't resolve itself satisfactorily in my opinion.
An unusual take on a telepath story. ( )

Connell's LAY SAINTS is a sprawling noir-ish thriller. Set in a contemporary New York and populated with thugs, the element that takes the novel out of "mystery" or "thriller" strictly speaking is that the main characters are telepaths. Connell's emphasis on them is light - their skills are critical (to them as characters and to the plot of the book), but he doesn't go into how they do what they do and he buries their abilities into the world as simply another aspect of a criminal underworld. This is a New York that could be our New York, with the obvious exception of this one paranormal element (unlike, say, Holly Black's White Cat, in which the titular curse workers are known, acknowledged, and integrated into society).

The narrator, an opinionated and imprisoned telepath himself, is less unreliable than he is laden with his own agenda, which is less relevant to the overall plot than it is a bookending device, but he provides the tale with a consistent and acerbic voice. Our main character is Calder, a recent arrival to the city who is immediately adopted by the leader of a gang of telepaths. Although our narrator nominally follows him, he's really telling the story of a particular job that rival gangs are trying to accomplish, tilting a city council vote one way or the other. These men (and most of the gang members here are men), for all their abilities, tend toward the brutal and rough in spite of their abilities - maybe even because of them.

The scale of the story grows steadily out of Calder and into the other characters, belying what the narrator tells us at the beginning. While I found some of the style to be off-putting and some of the storytelling overly drawn out, this is a solid read. You may not like the characters you meet, but you'll understand them.

Excellent well written book. This is my second Adam Connell book. While I did not find it a quick easy read, it was laced with endless possibilities in a word where others can read minds and try and influence others. Lots of low characters from an underworld in New York. I can see this happening.
Another well written book. ( )