FUNERAL OF LIES

In O’Neill’s novel, a public-relations executive becomes entangled in his uncle’s political campaign and confronts a fraught family history.

Evan O’Brien, a jaded PR professional based in New York City, returns home to Philadelphia for his grandfather’s funeral only to be pulled into his Uncle Michael’s unexpected run for mayor. What begins as a reluctant favor becomes a consuming test of loyalty, ambition, and self-preservation. Michael, who’s compassionate to a fault, believes that he can restore dignity to a city plagued by violence, while Evan, who’s both protective and opportunistic, sees politics as nothing more than theater, in which one survives through manipulation. The secondary cast is also sharply drawn, including Betty, Evan’s embittered mother who blames her son for past tragedies; Jane, Evan’s aunt, who resents his closeness with her husband; Father Murphy, a wily family confidant; and Ellen Van De Meer, the head of the local Republican Party and the ruthless keeper of the city’s political machine. They illustrate how family and politics thrive on secrecy and control, and the campaign itself becomes a crucible. Unresolved betrayals from Evan’s past resurface, involving a violent childhood incident with his stepfather and his grandfather’s favoritism: “My grandfather had picked his real favorite,” notes Evan at one point. “And it wasn’t me.” Tension builds throughout the story by pairing psychological unease with the grind of local politics, and it shows how grief, racism, and ambition collide in a troubled city. Although O’Neill sometimes lingers a bit longer than necessary on backstory, the narrative’s psychological edge is engagingly sharp, as is Evan’s corrosive narration.

A dark, jagged, and compulsively readable story that digs deep into grief, politics, and betrayal.