Big Shots

by Phil Rossi

Four career and over-the-hill criminals plot to rob the Mafia's cash depot.
​'Going In Style' meets 'Goodfellas'.
A dark comedy.

40 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 18, 2013

About the author

Fiction, Nonfiction, Short Films. A graduate of St. John's University and The New York Film Academy. pgrossi17@gmail.com

Reviews

[Al · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mobster is released from prison after taking the fall for the mob bosses and finds they no longer have any use for him, so he recruits some fellow over-the-hill crooks to rip them off. It's a good premise and to a point, a good story. However, I found myself tripping over the occaisional typo (not that many, but too many for a work this short) or stumbling on writing that felt like it needed a bit more polish. For example:

"Sam, still out of it, didn’t respond, even as Fingers patted him down. Fingers stuck his free hand inside Sam’s jacket and pulled out the infamous Glock. Fingers stepped over Sam, en-route to search for the money. Fingers checked the room, pad tossing in full tilt. Closets, couch, and chair cushions. Fingers lifted the mattress, discovering the loot from the robbery. The cash bricks, lined the box spring. Fingers knelt down, as if he found a pharaoh’s tomb. Now were talkin’!"

In case you're uncertain, Fingers was involved in that scene. There were good parts and bad parts that averaged out to lukewarm overall.

**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **

[Nicolas Wilson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is written in present tense, with a terse style populated with all manner of lingo, and very brutal subject matter. There were a lot of reasons I wanted to like it, since I'm a sucker for a stylish crime story, but the tone was a bit TOO difficult for me to read. A lot of it would have been easier to engage with had it been written in past tense, and some parts written in present would have been more logical written in past tense. The stylistic use of sentence fragments was engaging in places, and distracting in others. It could use an edit, to clean up the punctuation, as well as a few random errors. The lingo was heavy enough that I had a difficult time following what was happening, or getting a sense of the characters. It has a lot of potential, but could certainly use some refinement. It's a pulpy story, and solidly paced, but the actual writing is difficult.

I received a free copy, in exchange for my honest review.