Greetings from Asbury Park

Turtel’s convoluted debut revolves around three half-siblings whose lives intersect following the death of their wealthy despotic father, Joseph Larkin. Firstborn heir apparent Davey, 25, is flatly portrayed as a self-centered skirt-chaser who is addicted to pills and alcohol. Then there’s the illegitimate younger son Casey, a lost soul and the primary narrator, who, after being abandoned by his mother as an adolescent, moved in with Davey in Asbury Park, N.J. The third sibling, a surprise to both young men, is jazz singer Gabriella, 18, whose mother was the Larkin maid. The half-brothers’ friendship is tested when Gabriella enters the picture and begins a romantic relationship with Casey, and things get worse after Davey has a tryst with an underage girl from the neighboring Orthodox Syrian Jewish community, which prompts a revenge plot. Turtel tacks a lot of hot-button topics against the backdrop of a Jersey Shore town struggling to rebuild in the years after Superstorm Sandy, mixes stream-of-consciousness riffs with violent set pieces, and makes confusing switches between first- and third-person narration—but, to what end, is unclear. In the end, it’s too much of a jumble. (Apr.)