by Paul W. Papa ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 24, 2020
A companionable mob tale, enjoyably unserious and dramatically immersive.
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A Bostonian relocates to Las Vegas and becomes the prime suspect in the murder of an organized crime boss in this novel.
Massimo “Max” Rossi visits Vegas “for a friend’s bachelor party and wedding” but decides to stay for months, intoxicated by the city’s glamorous bustle and its endless supply of showgirls. Local mobsters take note of Max’s extended stay disapprovingly—his father is a “fixer” in Boston, a man whose job is to “make things go away,” and whose clientele largely comprises members of the Mafia. Insistent on staying put, Max is invited to participate in an exclusive, high-stakes poker game by Frank “Fingers” Abbandandolo, attended by Joe “The Barber” Bilotti, a coarse, angry crime kingpin perpetually on the hunt for conflict. Joe assaults his girlfriend, Jeanie Gardner, a Copa dancer, a stroke of ungentlemanly violence too much for Max to bear. Max knocks out Joe and leaves with a stunned Jeanie. Max expects some kind of fallout—one can’t simply attack a made man—but is astonished the next day when he learns that Joe is dead and Jeanie has disappeared. Papa conjures an enticingly dramatic predicament for Max—he’s now the quarry of both the police and the mob, compelled to find Jeanie in order to clear his name before he’s either arrested or murdered. Max is something of a cliché—a chapeau-donning lover of showgirls and meatballs: “I was Italian after all. I took a pledge to love the church, my mother, and a good meatball; I was a sucker for a good meatball.” Still, the author delivers a lighthearted version of pulp-fiction detective noir: plenty of violent action, suspense, and witty one-liners without the nihilistic moral elements.
A companionable mob tale, enjoyably unserious and dramatically immersive.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73440-573-6
Page Count: 226
Publisher: STACGroup LLC
Review Posted Online: April 2, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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New York Times Bestseller
by Tana French ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2024
An absorbing crime yarn.
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New York Times Bestseller
A divorced American detective tries to blend into rural Ireland in this sequel to The Searcher (2020).
In fictional Ardnakelty, on Ireland’s west coast, lives retired American cop Cal Hooper, who busies himself repairing furniture with 15-year-old Theresa “Trey” Reddy and fervently wishes to be boring. Then into town pops Trey’s long-gone, good-for-nothing dad, Johnny, all smiles and charm. Much to her distaste, he says he wants to reclaim his fatherly role. In fact, he’s on the run from a criminal for a debt he can’t repay, and he has a cockamamie scheme to persuade local townsfolk that there might be gold in the nearby mountain with a vein that might run through some of their properties. (What, no leprechauns?) “It’s not sheep shite you’ll be smelling in a few months’ time, man,” he tells a farmer. “It’s champagne and caviar.” Some people have fun fantasizing about sudden riches, but they know better. Johnny’s pursuer, Cillian Rushborough, comes to town, and Johnny tries to convince him he could get rich by purchasing people’s land. Alas, someone bashes Rushborough’s brains in, and now there’s a murder mystery. The plot is a bit of a stretch, but the characters and their relationships work well. Trey detests Johnny for not being in her life, and now that he’s back, she neither wants nor needs him. She gets on much better with Cal. Still, she’s a testy teenager when she thinks someone is not treating her like an adult. Cal is aware of this, and he’s careful how he talks to her. Johnny, not so much: “I swear to fuck, women are only put on this earth to wreck our fuckin’ heads,” he whines about Trey’s mother, briefly forgetting he’s talking to Trey. The book abounds in local color and lively dialogue.
An absorbing crime yarn.Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9780593493434
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
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SEEN & HEARD
by C.J. Box ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 27, 2024
A tale that’s hard to believe but easy to swallow in a single gulp.
A bear is hunting prey in Wyoming’s Bighorns. And not just any bear.
It’s bad enough that Clay Hutmacher, who manages the Double Diamond Ranch, has lost his son, Clay Jr., to a vicious attack by a grizzly bear. What’s much worse is that Clay Jr.—who’d been about to pop the question to game warden Joe Pickett’s daughter, Sheridan—is only the first of the victims over an exceptionally broad geographical area. Marshal Marvin Bertignolli is clawed and bitten to death over in Hanna. Sgt. Ryan Winner is found bleeding out north of Rawlins. Former Twelve Sleep County prosecutor Dulcie Schalk, one of two survivors of an ambush, doesn’t survive her final encounter. The four experts chosen to kill the grizzly rope Joe into their expedition, but since their quarry keeps turning up far from the last sighting, the most meaningful confrontation the Predator Attack Team has is with a pair of Mama Bears, animal rights activists who demand due process for Tisiphone, as they’ve dubbed the presumed killer. Box, who’s far too canny to leave Tisiphone alone on center stage, follows Joe’s old antagonist Dallas Cates as the ex–rodeo star is released from prison and embarks on his revenge tour, which takes him to Lee Ogburn-Russell, an inventor whose life Dallas saved, and Axel Soledad, a correspondent who shares so many enemies with Dallas that he suggests they go after them together. Franchise fans will appreciate new details about Joe’s complicated family, the obligatory high-country landscapes, and yet another corrupt law enforcer.
A tale that’s hard to believe but easy to swallow in a single gulp.Pub Date: Feb. 27, 2024
ISBN: 9780593331347
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
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