If At First

by Howard Weiner

 Few challenges prove more nettlesome than a change in family business leadership, especially when the family business is murder-for-hire.

The Carrullo Family is in Father-in-law, family patriarch, lead assassin, is giving way to his new son-in-law. Dad has carried forward the artistry he learned from his father. His new son-in-law was a former special forces operator and sniper in the armed forces trained in speed, stealth, and function.

Four generations living in the same household from the oldest, "Nana," to the recent newborns--all of whom are involved in the family business. Some by choice. Some not.

This  Drawn from recent current events, Weiner's latest thriller weaves the threats posed to U.S. democracy in the 2016 presidential election. If at First is the ruthless intersection of a lethal crime family, the intelligence communities of two countries, and the White House with secrets that will prove deadly to all concerned told only as Weiner can.

A mafia underboss escapes a sanctioned act of retribution by his family's patriarch. Rescued by a Russian oligarch with close ties to Putin, the underboss is hidden in a London outpost operated by the Internet Research Agency. This outpost is ground zero for many of the tactics exposed by the American intelligence hacked emails of political actors, disinformation campaigns in social media, and targeted ads designed to foment social unrest and disruption to the national political discourse.

The underboss steals this information to secure safety on his own terms. Yet his former boss still wants him sanctioned. The Russian Federation fears premature disclosure of its new form of warfare will destroy its carefully crafted treachery aimed at the heart of U.S. democracy.

Weaving fictional events through Washington, DC, Pittsburgh, London, and Provence, Weiner carries characters known and new to readers of the Blood Relations series into its third installment. You can start the series with any of the three novels but starting with If at First casts recent real-life events in a way that is at once engaging and entertaining.

276 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 6, 2019

About the author

Howard Weiner was born in Washington, DC, in the distant past when Congress returned home during the summers, new best friends moved in every four years, and old ones never stayed. He attended local public schools and graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a BS in computer science and a spouse.

For the next forty years, he pursued an extensive graduate education, served as a member of the professoriate, an entrepreneur, and leadership positions in information technology in the private and public sectors. He lived during his working years in the Washington DC suburbs and exurbs, Richmond, Virginia, in three locations on Long Island, New York, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and finally, the upper west side of New York City.

He retired in 2012, and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he realized it gets very hot in the summer. So, in 2015, he and his bride purchased a second home in a small Utah city where the summers and neighbors are easy going.

Weiner has always enjoyed writing, although as is typical of far too many technologists, he made it appear English was his second language. His bride, an accomplished compositionist in her own right, continues her patient efforts to make English his first language.

Today, he and his bride spend their time traveling north-south on I-15 as they shuttle between Las Vegas and Cedar City. They live with the fourth in a series of smart—but bad—dogs, the latest, an Australian Shepherd named Chiclet Bleu.