IN THE PALM OF HIS HAND

A businessman who can’t escape his crooked past eventually finds salvation in this novel.

Antonucci aptly captures the book’s theme in his subtitle. But the thing is that Sonny Rocco doesn’t actually exist. Sonny is the creation of the criminally precocious Rocky Geordono, the eldest son of a sketchy father and a religious mother. From a young age, Rocky ponders how Carmen, the father he idolizes, could maintain such a high standard of living in Detroit on a beer deliveryman’s salary. Rocky becomes even more curious when he discovers money and drugs in Carmen’s shiny black Cadillac. Determined to outdo his father, Rocky sets up a chop shop inside his high school auto classroom. But two tragic events accelerate Rocky’s entrance into and departure from a life of crime. After Carmen is mowed down and killed by a garbage truck, Rocky moves his business into a warehouse and expands. But when his younger brother, Tulio, a Marine, is listed as MIA in Vietnam, Rocky grows bored with his enterprise and starts trading stocks. Figuring a change of scenery will help his depressed mother, Rocky cuts all of his ties with his illegal business and they move to Miami, where he gets married and starts a family. But Rocky’s normal life goes awry when he does one last obligatory favor for his criminal pals. In this intriguing hybrid, Antonucci blends his experience in auto repairs and education with his relationship with Jesus. His proselytizing does get heavy-handed at times, as Rocky is peppered with requests to accept God by his family and friends. Since the benefits of a Christian life are one of the pillars of this volume, that’s to be expected. The preaching doesn’t detract much from this nuanced portrait of American cities, first Detroit, then Miami, ranging from the 1960s to the ’90s. The author’s strengths are his detailed descriptions of Italian family life and criminal organizations’ dealings, both early in the work. But his characters are too often one-note, either holy or immoral, which lessens their complexity. Still, readers will enjoy the protagonist’s colorful and tragic life.

Crime catches up with a well-meaning former lawbreaker in this engaging, transformative tale.