This Is A Bust by Ed Lin
One of the joys of reading is discovering a new author that you like and want to explore more into their catalog. I found that with Ed Lin. Wow what a book. This is one I’ve had on my shelf for a while that I decided to finally tackle. And I loved it. Yes in some sense it is a mystery but the mystery is only part of the story. The real story is Robert Chow, Chinese-American, Chinatown product, Vietnam washout, tokenized NYPD patrolman. Through […]
Chin: The Life and Crimes of Mob Boss Chin Gigante by Larry McShane
69 Barrow Street/Strange Embrace by Lawrence Block
The Pope of Greenwich Village by Vincent Patrick
Unintentionally so, I read three consecutive books set in Greenwich Village (well, I guess technically three out of four as one of the books is a two-for-one and the second story isn’t set in the Village). I decided to cobble together one review of the stories since they shared this similarity… Chin *** When I’d first heard of Chin Gigante, I was more fascinated with the idea that the mob had a thriving operation in Greenwich Village, an area I’ve always associated with Bohemians and the […]
Burn Down, Rise Up by Vincent Tirado
I have a thing for strong heroines, so of course this cover caught my eye. And when I saw that it was sapphic horror, well, of course I had to read it! It’s a love letter to the Bronx and reminded me a bit of a YA version of Alyssa Cole’s When No One Is Watching. “It’s fine,” she said in a way that told me it was not. She sighed audibly. “So, I guess we’re sort of in the same boat?” “The ‘sudden absentee […]
Mob Girl: A Woman's Life in the Underworld by Teresa Carpenter
I’ve been meaning to read this for a few years, ever since I heard it would be made into a movie starring Jennifer Lawrence and directed by Paolo Sorrentino. But I put it off after a while because the reviews for the book itself weren’t great and the movie seems to have stalled (it was announced back in 2019 but I’m guessing Covid and/or Lawrence’s pregnancy have changed things). Anyway, since I’m on a mob kick, I decided to finally pick it up and I’m […]
Batman, Volume 3: Death in the Family by Scott Snyder
DC: The New Frontier, Volume 1 by Darwyn Cooke
Batman: Curse of the White Knight by Sean Gordon Murphy
Batman, Volume 4: Zero Year-Secret City by Scott Snyder
Chances by Jackie Collins
Batgirl, Volume 1: Batgirl of Burnside by Cameron Stewart
Batman, Volume 5: Zero Year-Dark City by Scott Snyder
Sonny: The Last of the Old Time Mafia Bosses, John "Sonny" Franzeze by S.J. Peddie
The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer by Jennifer Lynch
Scoundrel: How a Convicted Murderer Persuaded the Women Who Loved Him, the Conservative Establishment, and the Courts to Set Him Free by Sarah Weinman
Call Me a Cab by Donald Westlake
Please See Us by Caitlin Mullen
The Bouncer by David Gordon
Blood on Snow by Jo Nesbø
Tough Luck: Sid Luckman, Murder, Inc., and the Rise of the Modern NFL by R.D. Rosen
Concourse by S.J. Rozan
Here are the books I read in April that didn’t merit a full review… Batman, Vol. 3: Death in the Family **** Reading a Batman-v-Joker comic is perfect for April Fools Day. I loved Scott Snyder’s Court of Owls run but wasn’t sure how I’d feel about him doing a Joker story combined with the extended Batman Family (which I’ve never been interested in). But this is a good story, a creepy one that continues to burnish Snyder’s credentials on this series. DC: The New Frontier, Volume […]
Mob Boss: The Life of Little Al D’Arco, the Man Who Brought Down the Mafia by Jerry Capeci and Tom Robbins
Among those of us who love mafia stories (both fiction and non-fiction), there’s been a constant discussion of what we’d do with a 4th Godfather movie. Would we continue the tale of Anthony Mancini? Find another story about Michael Corleone? Take another angle? I recently rewatched the first two Godfather movies and was struck at how they’re less about the mafia and more about family (which is why I think they took the cheap route in III by giving Sonny a spawn from an extramarital affair). How do family dynamics, immigration, […]
