A โraw and fascinatingโ novel based on the authorโs experiences as a New York City paramedic during the crack epidemicโโBurke is a poet of traumaโ (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
Black Flies is the story of paramedic Ollie Cross and his first year on the job in mid-โ90s Harlem. It is a groundโs eye view of life on the streets: the shootouts, the bad cops, the hopeless patients, the dark humor in bizarre circumstances, and one medicโs struggle to maintain his desire to help despite his growing callousness. It is the story of lives that hang in the balance, and of a single job with a misdiagnosed newborn that sends Cross and his partner into a life-changing struggle between good and evil.
โAlthough Black Flies is a novel, it contains more reflections of lived experience than some memoirs. . . . Reading this arresting, confrontational book is like reading Dispatches, Michael Herrโs indelible account of his years as a reporter in Vietnam.โ โThe New York Times Book Review