Happy Land: A Lover's Revenge

The Nightclub Fire That Shocked a Nation

By: OJ Modjeska

Narrated by: Zane Boyer

The scene was paralyzing. We stood there, numb. No one spoke. There were 69 bodies spread about the 24-by-50-foot area. They all could have been sleeping.

In the small hours of the annual Punta Carnivale celebrations held by Central American communities of the West Bronx, residents witness flames and smoke coming from a popular nightspot known as Happy Land. Fire and rescue personnel arrive at the scene within three minutes, only to find all 87 party-goers trapped inside already dead. The victims have died at an unfathomable speed, succumbing to suffocation and the effects of lethal gases before the flames could even reach them.

Detectives soon realize that the disaster, epic and tragic in proportions, is no accident. The fire has been deliberately lit by an arsonist, the man responsible for what is to be the worst mass murder in American history.

Happy Land: A Lover’s Revenge untangles the shocking story behind one of the worst fires in New York history. Exploring in detail a tragedy little remembered today, but rich with contemporary meaning, the story provides an unnerving snapshot of the possible consequences of societal indifference to violence against women and the plight of the most vulnerable in our communities.

©2020 OJ Modjeska (P)2020 OJ Modjeska

The narrator sounds like AI.

There's no way a professional narrator mispronounced "Exxon," I think it was, never mind " 'Design' to set foot in the building." It's "deign." Pron. "Day-n." " "To do something considered beneath one's dignity." Simple, basic Google search.

Never mind "Sub-SEEE-quent." Huh?? Nooo, "subse-quent." There's another one of those towards the end, too.

Comes off sounding very uneducated and unprofessional. An educated American, born here, vaguely literate, couldn't POSSIBLY make those mistakes.

That's why I'm certain it's AI. It's the only book on the subject anywhere, and even here, they don't bother to name all the victims and their ages. I cannot find it online, either. Which strikes me as just wrong.

Btw, these kids were teens in some cases. WHAT were they doing ANYWHERE at 3am?? That's not to say they deserve to die, but it's not good for adults to be out that late in a lot of cases. Never mind children in what's basically an illegal bar (selling booze).

I thought it was very wrong they wanted to blame the woman who just wanted this controlling nutjob to stay AWAY from her. Psychos like this ALWAYS do that with every partner and they never, ever change.

To be fair, any other obvious fire, the owner or person who set the fire and SHOULD have known better (Dan Biechle, The Station fire 2003), only did 2-2.5 years. Before that, it was Barney Wolanski at the Cocoanut Grove in 1942. He allowed overcrowding, flammable materials and locked/blocked doors. I believe he only did two years, also. Got out from bad health, and died 2 years after.

NOBODY was arrested for the biggest fire in US history (Iroquois theatre, Chicago, 1903) or Beverly Hills Supper Club in 1977, 176 (?) dead.

Fantastic Narration

Such a great book! The narrator was such a lovely voice actor. Kept me listening and intrigued! I listen to a lot of non fiction audiobooks and Zane Boyer does an amazing job at keeping the listener engaged in the text and alert as to what comes next. Highly recommend both the authors books and other books narrated by Boyer.

Author pushes his politics

I couldn’t finish this. The author is too busy pushing his politics to engage with me enough to tell his story. What a turn off!

Below expectations

I was disappointed that this book opened with current politics, opening borders and trump bashing, disguised as the causes or effects of this massacre. I held out about three chapters and couldn’t take it anymore. Maybe because the fire was less about a jilted lover and more about irresponsible management. A good crime story and lessons learned would have been more satisfying.