Set in South Boston (Southie) in the late 1990s, this is a haunting story of the effects on generations of Irish Americans of poverty, gun violence, alcoholism and unfettered pedophilia by members of the Catholic clergy. There are six main characters whose stories come together throughout the book and at the end. The characters include a widow with a troubled teenage son, an elderly priest with disturbing secrets, a shrewd businessman with a history that leads from a hardscrabble life to financial success, the alcoholic writer hired to write his biography, and a 16-year old girl locked into a life of prostitution and on-line pornography. It is dark and disturbing, but a very well-written glimpse into the world of the aptly-named Broken Irish. ( )