Scream of the Falcon

The new novel by Petr Nemirovskiy is a fiction based on the experience of frontline Emergency Room staff in a New York City hospital living through the first and deadliest blow of the COVID-19 pandemic. The action evolves against the backdrop of the growing contagion—when in addition to multiple healthcare problems, the city grapples with issues of poverty, crime, racism, and political turmoil. The gripping and passionate drama of the main characters intricately weaves throughout the plot, adding to the artistic depth of this multifaceted novel.

The story begins on the eve of the pandemic, when the main character, Ben Horowitz, a recently divorced and overwhelmed psychotherapist who works in the ER of an NYC hospital, visits his estranged father. Ben unexpectedly finds himself attracted to Amy, his father’s strikingly beautiful home healthcare aide, who is African American and has a complicated backstory. Amy’s dream is to write a great novel. Their casual flirting quickly turns into a stormy romance with accompanying scenes of jealousy, alcohol abuse, betrayals, and heroic attempts by the main characters to save each other. Scream of the Falcon reveals the tremendous power of love, which can lead someone’s life into heaven or hell.

The novel also challenges assumptions and highlights how tenacity, fortitude, and the human connections we build help carry us through life’s crises and make us who we were meant to become.

Scream of the Falcon is a masterpiece with a unique synthesis of several genres, including realistic fiction, romantic tension, and mystery.