The story is that of an everyday guy who is torn between being a reluctant hero, or chucking it all and walking away from a dangerous situation. It’s his loyalty to his fellow workers that motivates him to put himself in a leadership position after the death of his boss to work with an investigating detective. One of those fellow workers is the woman he’s been falling in love with over time, Gabby D’Angelo. The criminals who perpetrated the crime are patrons of the restaurant, and conspired with the previous manager to use the restaurant to launder money from their illegal activities.
The setting is inner-city. The scenes can be gritty, and some of the characters are unsavory. Frankie is an honest, hard-working guy who rises to the occasion to fight his criminal antagonists. The mood is serious, as Frankie is constantly undergoing inner conflict over his decisions to (a) become the new restaurant manager, and (b) becoming part of Detective Matt Klimecki’s investigation. (Pub Date: Aug 04, 2020)
A crime investigation novel showing you the three sides, the cop, the mafia and the not-so-innocent bystander.
3.5 rounded up to 4.
Frankie just wanted enough money to fun his Law School when he gets witnesses a little too much of whom may have been the perpetrator of a horrible quadruple homicide. Little after, the restaurant he works for is victim of a drive-by and his life changes. To get the reigns back, he must cooperate with the police but very carefully or he could endanger not only his future but the lives of those he loves.
I should have started with the disclaimer that this is not my piece of cake. I expected more of a suspense, but this is really about cops, bad guys and guns. Still, the storytelling is done in a way even I got ultra curious and couldn't stop reading until I found out what the heck had Frankie gotten himself into. In fact, none of the three main characters really know the full picture or even more than a piece of it, so I can say it's at the minimum interesting to see it develop.
I think this book is really good in delivering plot twists in a non-ambitious way. It keeps feeding you with information that actually changes a lot of what you'd interpreted so far, and you barely notice it. I appreciated that. I can list many and many authors much more known that are unable to their presumptuousness when doing so, which leaves a bad taste.
I'm no expert, but if you like talking about weapons, scenes of crime and the such, this could also be for you. I really felt that I was a cop whenever we had Klimecki's point of view and considering the about the author doesn't mention him being one, kudos to him because he had me fooled. All that without losing pace.
Onto the bad points, I think the characters were mostly unbearable. There were times they just made me skip parts because I couldn't stand the way they were thinking. I'll take a guess and say male readers—and women who prefer male authored—may not feel bothered, but I did. I couldn't cheer for any of them in the end, or feel sad for those who died. They were just too self-centered. In fact, even though we had some women, and by the end one was important, it takes long for that, so be ready for too much testosterone too.
Despite some big scenes, like the fight that starts all and the drive-by, I couldn't call this book action-packed. For better or for worse, to be honest. This is more a book for you to find the clues and try to guess what made hell break loose in Chez Alain.
After my initial disappointment about the exact genre, I can say I grew to like it and the story only got better, so why not give it a chance?
Honest review based on an e-galley provided by the author. Many thanks for this opportunity.
Rating: 4 out of 5.
No comments:
Post a Comment