I love both the book and the film because of wonderful character development. Four kids living in the toughness of Hell's Kitchen on the west side of Manhattan. Mischievious, yet innocent, these boys are always playing pranks, or having the kind of fun only poor, at risk kids have, splashing into...
Gangster is a wonderfully crafted epic about the rise of Angelo Vesteri to become one of the most decorated dons to have bedecked the arena of murderous mobsters in the United States. The narrative opens with the events leading to the escape of Paulino, Angelo’s father, from the Mafiosi in Italy....
This book starts out with a great premise (a few hundred street kids protecting their city from an invading Nazi regiment), and then wastes every opportunity to fully take advantage of it. The end result is like an uncomfortable marriage between Inglorious Basterds and a Disney cartoon: It's vi...
Carcaterra, Lorenzo: APACHES: excellent story, full of thrilling events but a tad bit (well, more than a tad bit) gruesome for me (pre-teen girl abducted, raped/fingers severed, etc.); even the “can’t put down” ending was gruesome (and probably not realistic), but hey it’s a story.; Heard ab. t...
The sharp pain caused his knees to buckle and his eyes to water; his back, chest, and forehead were all drenched through with cold sweat. He was standing in a dark corridor, empty gurneys lining both sides. Old and scarred medical clipboards hung from the wall he was using to support his weakened...
GIOVANNI Saltieri said, “asking me all these silly questions about a robbery when we have had no robbery occur.”“You’ve been in this job how long now?” Clare Johnson asked. “About six, maybe seven years. That right?”Saltieri nodded, tempted to reach for a fresh cigarette from the open pack of Lor...
Several of the crates had been eased open with the flat end of a crowbar. An iron door leading to steps and street level was locked and barred. A series of bare bulbs hung overhead.“Everything you need, you can find inside the crates,” Nunzio said, approaching one and resting a tray loaded with f...
Klaus Marni sat to his left and pointed toward the huge spires of the Cathedral de Notre Dame.“Impressive,” Marni said. “One of the guidebooks say it was built by hand and designed with little idea whether it could even be completed.”“This boat runs every hour on the hour until eleven tonight,” V...
“He’s got to go, Al,” Scanlon said. He was shouting now but could barely be heard above the din of the fire engines, the crowds milling as close to the destroyed construction site as they could get. “I let you talk me out of it one time. I’m not going to make that mistake a second time.” “Let’s t...