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Headstone City
The night Johnny Danetello drove a dying girl through the streets of Brooklyn in his cab, he was trying to save her life. Instead he ran down a cop and lost her and his freedom. Every day in prison, Johnny knew that Angie Monticelli’s family blamed him for her death, and that going home would be suicide. But Johnny has unfinished business with his former friend turned mob boss, Vinny Monticelli.
Now Johnny has returned to converse with the doomed and the dead–and wait for Vinny to make his move. Survivors of a long-ago freak accident, the two men share access to alternate realities no one else can know–and to a past and present that will all become the same in a city only one of them can leave alive. . . .
Now Johnny has returned to converse with the doomed and the dead–and wait for Vinny to make his move. Survivors of a long-ago freak accident, the two men share access to alternate realities no one else can know–and to a past and present that will all become the same in a city only one of them can leave alive. . . .
302 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
47 people are currently reading
495 people want to read
About the author
Tom Piccirilli
186 books386 followersThomas Piccirilli (May 27, 1965 – July 11, 2015) was an American novelist and short story writer.
Piccirilli sold over 150 stories in the mystery, thriller, horror, erotica, and science fiction fields. He was a two-time winner of the International Thriller Writers Award for "Best Paperback Original" (2008, 2010). He was a four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award. He was also a finalist for the 2009 Edgar Allan Poe Award given by the Mystery Writers of America, a final nominee for the Fantasy Award, and the winner of the first Bram Stoker Award given in the category of "Best Poetry Collection".
Piccirilli sold over 150 stories in the mystery, thriller, horror, erotica, and science fiction fields. He was a two-time winner of the International Thriller Writers Award for "Best Paperback Original" (2008, 2010). He was a four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award. He was also a finalist for the 2009 Edgar Allan Poe Award given by the Mystery Writers of America, a final nominee for the Fantasy Award, and the winner of the first Bram Stoker Award given in the category of "Best Poetry Collection".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
August 1, 2015
This ain't your mama's Mob tale.
Blending a pitch perfect noir sensibility with dark humor and a dash of the supernatural, Piccirilli offers up a unique cup of literary espresso that you could only find in the wilds of Brooklyn, a borough that really does share real estate with the Twilight Zone.
Highly recommended!
Blending a pitch perfect noir sensibility with dark humor and a dash of the supernatural, Piccirilli offers up a unique cup of literary espresso that you could only find in the wilds of Brooklyn, a borough that really does share real estate with the Twilight Zone.
Highly recommended!
December 16, 2013
Hmmmm, I DID NOT see that coming...
Dane is a driver and an ex-con, recently released from prison after doing time for hitting a police officer while driving a dying girl to the hospital. The catch here is that the dying girl is the daughter of Mafioso Don Monticelli, and also the little sister of Dane's best friend, Vinny. The family hold Dane responsible for Angie's death and he is a marked man, in prison and out. He comes home to live with his Grandma Lucia, a tough old bird who has survived burying her father, her husband, and her son, all police officers. She also cared for Dane's mother, who was consumed with cancer and passed away when Dane was a teenager.
There is a supernatural twist to this little story. See, Dane and Vinny were in a nasty car accident when they were younger. They boosted a car while down at the shore one night and they tried to ram their way through a roadblock. They both went through the windshield, Dane suffering a fractured skull, and Vinny losing an eye and also fracturing his skull. Upon recovering, they discover that they each have a new "gift". Dane can see the dead, and Vinny can choose alternate paths of reality.
Dane comes home and has promised to make certain amends. Angie has been a regular visitor of his while he was in prison, and she has asked that Dane avenge her death. His father also seems to be hanging on in the world, and Dane has no idea what to do to help him move on. And there is also a weird little brain damaged ghost boy that haunts Dane and brings him messages about his dead mother. And he also has a score to settle with the Monticelli family for trying to him out...
The ending was totally not what I was expecting but I guess that's a sign of a good book if you can still be surprised when it's over. Recommended for fans of noir fiction.
Dane is a driver and an ex-con, recently released from prison after doing time for hitting a police officer while driving a dying girl to the hospital. The catch here is that the dying girl is the daughter of Mafioso Don Monticelli, and also the little sister of Dane's best friend, Vinny. The family hold Dane responsible for Angie's death and he is a marked man, in prison and out. He comes home to live with his Grandma Lucia, a tough old bird who has survived burying her father, her husband, and her son, all police officers. She also cared for Dane's mother, who was consumed with cancer and passed away when Dane was a teenager.
There is a supernatural twist to this little story. See, Dane and Vinny were in a nasty car accident when they were younger. They boosted a car while down at the shore one night and they tried to ram their way through a roadblock. They both went through the windshield, Dane suffering a fractured skull, and Vinny losing an eye and also fracturing his skull. Upon recovering, they discover that they each have a new "gift". Dane can see the dead, and Vinny can choose alternate paths of reality.
Dane comes home and has promised to make certain amends. Angie has been a regular visitor of his while he was in prison, and she has asked that Dane avenge her death. His father also seems to be hanging on in the world, and Dane has no idea what to do to help him move on. And there is also a weird little brain damaged ghost boy that haunts Dane and brings him messages about his dead mother. And he also has a score to settle with the Monticelli family for trying to him out...
The ending was totally not what I was expecting but I guess that's a sign of a good book if you can still be surprised when it's over. Recommended for fans of noir fiction.
March 19, 2016
A rare blending of ghost story and crime fiction that somehow managed to make me laugh as well. Great story and entertaining read from one of my favorite authors.
July 16, 2008
From Genrebusters.com:
The Premise
Johnny Danetello – Dane to his family and friends – is let out of jail after serving two years for assaulting a police officer with a vehicle. He returns to Brooklyn a wanted man: the reigning mob family, the Monticellis, want him for his negligent involvement in the death of young Angela Monticelli; his best friend, Vinny Monticelli, wants a showdown that he promises will come at the right time; his father's ex-partner – and possible murderer – wants him to leave town; and his Grandma Lucia wants him to buy more cannoli and biscotti at the local bakery – and to “keep moving once he starts,” whatever that is supposed to mean. On top of it all, Dane is frequently visited by restless spirits who want his aid in their struggle for peace.
In Review
Headstone City is so enjoyable a tale, I'm tempted to search for flaws. There are none. Still I won't call this book flawless, since such a statement is too close to the book blurbs I can't stand. Exact is a better fit. Everything in this novel is in its right place, and it all works together to tell a story. It is as simple as that – only telling a story in prose is not a simple matter. The way Piccirilli writes it, though, you'd think this kind of thing came easy.
The language Piccirilli uses to tell this story is mesmerizing. This is a book you don't just read – you listen to the cadence of the words on the page. It's as if you're sitting at a table with a wise guy, and he's settled back into his chair after a fat dinner and a fatter bottle of wine to tell big fish stories. The tales seem tall, but the man in front of you is a pretty big guy, and his hands look like they could do some of the business he is describing. His voice is low, almost bored, while his choice of words is so direct that they almost sting. One thing is clear: this guy ain't shy.
This town, it took your blood and replaced it with cement, asphalt, and pigeon shit. You became part of it as much as the steel and iron, all the bone meal sprinkled into its cornerstones. No matter who you were, you got hard.
Brooklyn, New York.
Fourth largest city in the United States, cradle of roughnecks and Nobel Laureates, center of America's most diversified gather of angry cultures.
You knew it, and it knew you.
This voice is Dane's, and though Headstone City is written in the third person, the narrative never distances itself from him. It reflects his moods, reveals his thoughts, and sets the tone for the story. Often, this tone is wry, as Dane takes in the state of his neighborhood, and wonders what the hell happened to everyone in it. Where once he saw rispetto and the bloody deeds to back it up, now he sees men who rest on their reputations - inert, lethargic. The latest generation is a joke, all looks and no know-how. The Dons are old, feeble, and lost to drugs that barely keep them going. Once, there was a family that sat on the neighborhood like a lion. Now, it moans like a dying elephant, long on the memories of its triumphs – and long in the tooth.
What Dane doesn't see is that his own stature has changed with age. Dane is his own worst critic, and in the beginning of Headstone City he writes himself off as an aimless slacker. Then someone steps up to challenge him, and he sees through their bullshit and blows through their act. His approach with everyone is the same, who- or whatever they are: here I am, take it or leave it. He doesn't talk big, even after besting a big talker. He's honest, thoughtful, and the only thing he's afraid in life is his grandma. He is, in other words, an ideal hero for this corrupt, decadent setting.
Maybe it's coincidence, or maybe Piccirilli has his ear to the ground, but the atmosphere of lost glory that he captures in the pages of Headstone City feels familiar. Dane wonders where all the big men have gone, and the same question could be asked about the world today. Does anyone give a shit about taking charge – and can they back up their words? It's an unexpected resonance to find in crime fiction, and maybe it is just synchronistic. Regardless, it pulls the story out of fiction and into that netherworld that lies between there and here, where ideas hold some weight, and characters aren't just players – they're examples of the kind of people we could be like.
There's a supernatural element in Headstone City, and under Piccirilli's exact guidance, it serves a real purpose. Dane can see and speak with the ghosts of people he once knew. He can also employ this ability on the living, and while I don't want to give it away, I do want to give credit where it's due: it's a great idea, and well used in a modern context. The story deals more with the deeds of the living than the dead, but in the final act, both worlds collide in a series of events that satisfy and surprise. Let me revise that: the ending isn't so much a surprise, but the way Dane gets there is.
This is a good book, the kind you want to read quickly, and miss once it's over. Then you want to tell people about it, because some things deserve to be shared. On that note, it's unfortunate that Piccirilli's reputation as a Horror writer will cause book store managers to file this away in that section. He deserves to be read by anyone who appreciates a good tale well told.
5/14/06
The Premise
Johnny Danetello – Dane to his family and friends – is let out of jail after serving two years for assaulting a police officer with a vehicle. He returns to Brooklyn a wanted man: the reigning mob family, the Monticellis, want him for his negligent involvement in the death of young Angela Monticelli; his best friend, Vinny Monticelli, wants a showdown that he promises will come at the right time; his father's ex-partner – and possible murderer – wants him to leave town; and his Grandma Lucia wants him to buy more cannoli and biscotti at the local bakery – and to “keep moving once he starts,” whatever that is supposed to mean. On top of it all, Dane is frequently visited by restless spirits who want his aid in their struggle for peace.
In Review
Headstone City is so enjoyable a tale, I'm tempted to search for flaws. There are none. Still I won't call this book flawless, since such a statement is too close to the book blurbs I can't stand. Exact is a better fit. Everything in this novel is in its right place, and it all works together to tell a story. It is as simple as that – only telling a story in prose is not a simple matter. The way Piccirilli writes it, though, you'd think this kind of thing came easy.
The language Piccirilli uses to tell this story is mesmerizing. This is a book you don't just read – you listen to the cadence of the words on the page. It's as if you're sitting at a table with a wise guy, and he's settled back into his chair after a fat dinner and a fatter bottle of wine to tell big fish stories. The tales seem tall, but the man in front of you is a pretty big guy, and his hands look like they could do some of the business he is describing. His voice is low, almost bored, while his choice of words is so direct that they almost sting. One thing is clear: this guy ain't shy.
This town, it took your blood and replaced it with cement, asphalt, and pigeon shit. You became part of it as much as the steel and iron, all the bone meal sprinkled into its cornerstones. No matter who you were, you got hard.
Brooklyn, New York.
Fourth largest city in the United States, cradle of roughnecks and Nobel Laureates, center of America's most diversified gather of angry cultures.
You knew it, and it knew you.
This voice is Dane's, and though Headstone City is written in the third person, the narrative never distances itself from him. It reflects his moods, reveals his thoughts, and sets the tone for the story. Often, this tone is wry, as Dane takes in the state of his neighborhood, and wonders what the hell happened to everyone in it. Where once he saw rispetto and the bloody deeds to back it up, now he sees men who rest on their reputations - inert, lethargic. The latest generation is a joke, all looks and no know-how. The Dons are old, feeble, and lost to drugs that barely keep them going. Once, there was a family that sat on the neighborhood like a lion. Now, it moans like a dying elephant, long on the memories of its triumphs – and long in the tooth.
What Dane doesn't see is that his own stature has changed with age. Dane is his own worst critic, and in the beginning of Headstone City he writes himself off as an aimless slacker. Then someone steps up to challenge him, and he sees through their bullshit and blows through their act. His approach with everyone is the same, who- or whatever they are: here I am, take it or leave it. He doesn't talk big, even after besting a big talker. He's honest, thoughtful, and the only thing he's afraid in life is his grandma. He is, in other words, an ideal hero for this corrupt, decadent setting.
Maybe it's coincidence, or maybe Piccirilli has his ear to the ground, but the atmosphere of lost glory that he captures in the pages of Headstone City feels familiar. Dane wonders where all the big men have gone, and the same question could be asked about the world today. Does anyone give a shit about taking charge – and can they back up their words? It's an unexpected resonance to find in crime fiction, and maybe it is just synchronistic. Regardless, it pulls the story out of fiction and into that netherworld that lies between there and here, where ideas hold some weight, and characters aren't just players – they're examples of the kind of people we could be like.
There's a supernatural element in Headstone City, and under Piccirilli's exact guidance, it serves a real purpose. Dane can see and speak with the ghosts of people he once knew. He can also employ this ability on the living, and while I don't want to give it away, I do want to give credit where it's due: it's a great idea, and well used in a modern context. The story deals more with the deeds of the living than the dead, but in the final act, both worlds collide in a series of events that satisfy and surprise. Let me revise that: the ending isn't so much a surprise, but the way Dane gets there is.
This is a good book, the kind you want to read quickly, and miss once it's over. Then you want to tell people about it, because some things deserve to be shared. On that note, it's unfortunate that Piccirilli's reputation as a Horror writer will cause book store managers to file this away in that section. He deserves to be read by anyone who appreciates a good tale well told.
5/14/06
April 12, 2018
So a mob story channeling Goodfellas, but also a ghost story. Extremely slow moving for what I've come to expect from a Piccirilli novel. The first 150 pages are almost all character development. The later half of the book has some good fight scenes, but also one of the most boring car chase scenes of all-time. I slogged through this only because, at the sentence level, Piccirilli was such a tremendous writer.
November 29, 2015
Piccirilli's novels often take place in fully realized but non-specific locales: a small college in New England or maybe the Northern Midwest; a mid-sized city on the Eastern seaboard; some backwater of the American South. Headstone City, however, is placed firmly in Brooklyn, although in a part of Brooklyn that exists only in the author's imagination. Characters may visit Williamsburg, Bed Stuy, Park Slope, and make trips into Manhattan or out to Montauk, but Melody Park, once home to early stars of the silent screen, is not on any map, nor is Headstone City, the crowded cemetery that anchors the neighborhood. Some of that crowding must be due to the local mobsters who, though reduced to penny-ante status, still regularly off one another.
Johnny Danetello is a product of Headstone City. HIs father was a dirty cop who maybe committed suicide or was maybe murdered. Growing up his best friend was Vinny, the son of the local mob boss, although that ex-best friend wants him dead because of Dane's involuntary involvement with Vinny sister Angie 's fatal OD. Dane has just been released from prison after serving time for running over a particularly obnoxious traffic cop. He may live with his grandmother but he is still plenty tough. Early on he calmly orders pastry at the local bakery although reaching the counter has involved stepping over three dead hit men and ignoring another man, an old acquaintance, bleeding to death at one of the tables.
Dane endures frequent visits from the dead. Angie shows up, as do both his parents, assorted neighborhood characters, and "the boy with the damaged head." Dane can also summon astral spirits for late night rides and conversations. He gained this ability after he and Vinny took a trip through the car windshield while smashing through a police barricade. Ridiculous, right? Don't let it bother you, it all works in the novel. Vinny came through the accident with the ability to shift planes of reality.
As a crime novel, Headstone City is not entirely successful. One plot line seems like filler and the characters are just that, characters. It is a Piccirilli motif, however, to have one real person working his way through a story populated by "types." But at least they are colorful types. Dane's grandmother is a real scene stealer. She has pink hair ("It's magenta!") and gets many of the best lines. After Dane's first encounter with his dead father, she walks into the room, sniffs, and says, "What did you do? Buy a bad salami?"
Johnny Danetello is a product of Headstone City. HIs father was a dirty cop who maybe committed suicide or was maybe murdered. Growing up his best friend was Vinny, the son of the local mob boss, although that ex-best friend wants him dead because of Dane's involuntary involvement with Vinny sister Angie 's fatal OD. Dane has just been released from prison after serving time for running over a particularly obnoxious traffic cop. He may live with his grandmother but he is still plenty tough. Early on he calmly orders pastry at the local bakery although reaching the counter has involved stepping over three dead hit men and ignoring another man, an old acquaintance, bleeding to death at one of the tables.
Dane endures frequent visits from the dead. Angie shows up, as do both his parents, assorted neighborhood characters, and "the boy with the damaged head." Dane can also summon astral spirits for late night rides and conversations. He gained this ability after he and Vinny took a trip through the car windshield while smashing through a police barricade. Ridiculous, right? Don't let it bother you, it all works in the novel. Vinny came through the accident with the ability to shift planes of reality.
As a crime novel, Headstone City is not entirely successful. One plot line seems like filler and the characters are just that, characters. It is a Piccirilli motif, however, to have one real person working his way through a story populated by "types." But at least they are colorful types. Dane's grandmother is a real scene stealer. She has pink hair ("It's magenta!") and gets many of the best lines. After Dane's first encounter with his dead father, she walks into the room, sniffs, and says, "What did you do? Buy a bad salami?"
November 28, 2014
I really liked this book yet am conflicted by the genre mash-up. Part crime/mob book, part horror/supernatural author Tom Piccirilli bleeds life and death over the pages of HEADSTONE CITY to formulate an interesting culmination of the two that just doesn't quite feel right.
I like subtle horror and an element of urban fantasy but I like that distinction to be well advanced and recognisable, not as a side bar to the main event. The supernatural elements felt a little like that here. Which isn't to say that they weren't good - the side plot to avenge a teen who had an OD was interesting and entertaining enough, but it would've worked better had that and elements like it been the main drive.
The 'man-out-of-prison' aspect is equally good but again, fails from having the reader being distracted by the ghostly apparitions and other worldly events that take place.
This review sounds negative, however, it should be noted that I DID enjoy the book. I just feel it would've been better served had the author focused on one or the other and then let the plot dictate the turn of events.
All in all, this is a good solid read which offers something for fans of genre mash-ups and those who like the steady evolution of a good mob book.
I like subtle horror and an element of urban fantasy but I like that distinction to be well advanced and recognisable, not as a side bar to the main event. The supernatural elements felt a little like that here. Which isn't to say that they weren't good - the side plot to avenge a teen who had an OD was interesting and entertaining enough, but it would've worked better had that and elements like it been the main drive.
The 'man-out-of-prison' aspect is equally good but again, fails from having the reader being distracted by the ghostly apparitions and other worldly events that take place.
This review sounds negative, however, it should be noted that I DID enjoy the book. I just feel it would've been better served had the author focused on one or the other and then let the plot dictate the turn of events.
All in all, this is a good solid read which offers something for fans of genre mash-ups and those who like the steady evolution of a good mob book.
September 19, 2008
This is a mediocre story at best. I had to beat myself to get through it. BTW, there is no such thing as an 11 gauge shotgun! This what Dane's mother used to ice Joey Fresco!
September 12, 2015
Mr. Piccirilli pulls off a supernatural tale, with hardboiled noir, topped off with some humorous moments. **never thought I would make this statement, about a book** Well done atmosphere, using New York and characters of the local mob.
RIP
RIP
March 4, 2019
After reading a third of the book I gave up. There was still no discernible plot, not even a hint of direction. Just some guy acclimating to life after getting out of prison. The grandmother was a cool character though.
October 6, 2009
I'm still wondering why I read this book.
August 6, 2013
Loved this one. Dynamite writing, a great plot - mafiosos with a touch of the supernatural.
Piccirilli is one I need to read more by!
Piccirilli is one I need to read more by!
March 25, 2019
I ended up not finishing this. The book is "good" but not what I wanted to read at the moment.
October 6, 2019
Good premise, creative, not trans friendly
March 12, 2019
Hmmm.
This one, hmmm. Raw, poetic, mystical, manic. A crime thriller with the prerequisite Italian mobsters and the cops on the take. Certainly not what I was expecting...better in so many ways.
This one, hmmm. Raw, poetic, mystical, manic. A crime thriller with the prerequisite Italian mobsters and the cops on the take. Certainly not what I was expecting...better in so many ways.
April 16, 2019
I enjoy all of Tom Piccirilli's books. Just slightly offbeat (well, way offbeat), but interesting.
June 6, 2019
i always like books by this author, good stories and well written. I had a hard time following the story line a couple of times, but it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the book.
February 7, 2013
The night Johnny Danetello drove a dying girl through the streets of Brooklyn in his cab, he was trying to save her life. Instead he ran down a cop and lost her and his freedom. Every day in prison, Johnny knew that Angie Monticelli’s family blamed him for her death, and that going home would be suicide. But Johnny has unfinished business with his former friend turned mob boss, Vinny Monticelli.
Now Johnny has returned to converse with the doomed and the dead–and wait for Vinny to make his move. Survivors of a long-ago freak accident, the two men share access to alternate realities no one else can know–and to a past and present that will all become the same in a city only one of them can leave alive. . . .
From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review. Alternately funny, sad and thrilling, Piccirilli's stellar supernatural crime novel plays haunting riffs on old mob standards. The wise guys of Brooklyn welcome back cab driver Johnny "Dane" Danetello, fresh from two years in the slammer, with a contract on his life and a handful of restless ghosts. Burdened with the ability to see the dead, Dane spends time between fares chatting up spirits and spooks, trying to make sense of his precarious life on the outside. If his old pal (and partner in metaphysical enhancement) Vincent Monticelli wants Dane dead, why hasn't he been taken out? What does the gorgeous movie actress Glory Bishop want from him? Who's the federal lawman looking into the Monticelli family? These questions lead Dane to face his own haunted past, including a murdered father, a mother who lived and died in agony, and the beautiful young Angie Monticelli, who caught a ride to her death in Dane's cab two years earlier. Stoker-winner Piccirilli (A Choir of Ill Children) plays cleverly with his hero's paranormal ability, keeping the reader guessing—and jumping—by blurring distinctions between the living and the dead. (Feb.)
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"HEADSTONE CITY is a beautifully and perversely funny sort of crime novel: a hard-boiled hallucination.... [Piccirilli has] the authentic surrealist's gift of blind trust in his imagination and that enables him to throw off striking metaphors like sparks from a speeding train."--The New York Times Book Review
June 28, 2011
This book is so good, I actually called off work in order to finish it. Piccirilli, as always, has an incredibly original mind and proves once again he belongs with the cream of the crop in the dark fiction category. His flavorful vocabulary jumps off the page and his characters are as three dimensional as the reader holding the book. Headstone City is one of Piccirilli's best and although not as dark as some of his prior novels, it's just as satisfying. Of course, I would prefer his novels to be slanted more into the horror genre than this crime tale with a supernatural angle, but it's hard to complain as long as he continues producing such daring work. An essential read.
September 16, 2015
This book was great fun. Although I didn't find it scary (I don't think frights were the author's intent, TBH), it was packed full of everything I want in ghost noir and Piccirilli's deft turns of phrase had me laughing more than once. This isn't your typical "I see dead people" haints vs. the living chiller...it's a lively romp in which a Continental Op-esque ex-con is pitted against a powerful family, a handful of astral projections, and his former best friend.
TL;DR - Headstone City doesn't suck. Don't miss it.
TL;DR - Headstone City doesn't suck. Don't miss it.
December 6, 2015
Gritty, funny, sad and poetic all in one. Brooklyn wise guys, ghosts and a pastry loving grandma with pink (magenta!) colored hair. Loved everything about this one except the ending. It felt a bit rushed to me – even though I really liked the idea behind it. Would also have liked to gotten to know The Dane's great love Maria more instead of just being told what an amazing woman she is. Piccirilli knows how to write bad ass women – grandma Lucia is a prime example of this, so yeah, a bit more time should have been spent on Maria as well, I think.
September 26, 2010
Gothic horror?... Um... I would say gothic goombah action, but horror?... this was simply a bit of mafia action with the main character seeing dead people.... an interesting and engaging read... but not what I would call gothic horror... I hope they changed that bit of hype on the actual book's cover... I'ma give it 3 out of five stars. Good, but doubtful I would read it again, or even reach for the other Piccirilli on my shelf. I did love his grandmother though!
Read
July 27, 2011Genre=Mystic
Set in America, in a neighbourhood where the Mafia are a part of every day life. The story begins with the release of Johnny Danetello as he finishes his 2 year sentence. Even though there's a price on his head, Johnny just can't shake off his lifelong apathy. Or the ghosts who keep trying to talk to him. Not to mention his sugar addicted Italian grandmother who is a my favourite character.
I really enjoyed this one.
Set in America, in a neighbourhood where the Mafia are a part of every day life. The story begins with the release of Johnny Danetello as he finishes his 2 year sentence. Even though there's a price on his head, Johnny just can't shake off his lifelong apathy. Or the ghosts who keep trying to talk to him. Not to mention his sugar addicted Italian grandmother who is a my favourite character.
I really enjoyed this one.
July 31, 2011
A mafia novel with supernatural elements? This can't possibly work, can it? Piccirilli pulls it off, thanks to some really ingenious plotting––the kind which both suprises and delights––snappy dialogue, and a relentless, edgey pace. Crime purists may deplore the intrusion of the weird, and lovers of the weird may wonder why they are reading a crime novel, but as far as I'm concerned the cheeky flouting of genre boundaries only adds to its appeal. A terrific novel.
March 13, 2012
A hard-boiled Brooklyn thriller. The main protagonist, Dane has a price on his head from his long-time friend and mob capo, Vinny. Both young men were involved in a car accident in their teens that left them with "visions". Dane walks the streets of Brooklyn in a race against time to clear his name, right some wrongs and claim what is his.
January 19, 2016
Interesting and well done but felt I wanted to like it more.
I think the biggest issue is that either half was good. Both the supernatural aspects was good and so was the noir/crime story but putting them together there felt to be a bit of a mish mash. Nonetheless I am quite interested in reading more works by this author.
I think the biggest issue is that either half was good. Both the supernatural aspects was good and so was the noir/crime story but putting them together there felt to be a bit of a mish mash. Nonetheless I am quite interested in reading more works by this author.
March 19, 2022
Fun, fun fun! Moves at a sprint, even with all the descriptions of places and people. For me, the descriptions were fantastic. I could visualize places and people making me completely immersed. A fast read from a very good author.
June 17, 2008
Review coming soon...
December 15, 2011
An interesting mix of the supernatural and the mafia.
December 9, 2011
AWESOME. Mix of supernatural noir/crime/mob tale.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews