even if you are not from Brooklyn you will enjoy the truisms of the Joey Dale Story you won't ...
355931
This book is a must read , the narrative  is so precise  that it will have you on a emotional roller coaster . I could not put the book down , even if you are not from Brooklyn you will enjoy the truisms of the Joey Dale Story  you won't be sorry !!!!!! I would give it 6 stars if there were an additional star to give It is over the Top  !!!!! Treat yourself and  .... Have fun
1725425
I could hardly wait until my copy of Kate Carlisles latest installment in her Bibliophile Mystery series arrived. But mingled with my anticipation was a teensy bit of trepidation  in her ninth volume, would she be able to find a new and entertaining way to involve Brooklyn in murder and mayhem?  I should have known better than to doubt  it is a charming tale set against a backdrop straight from Public TV with a twist!

Were all familiar with the amazed delight when unsuspecting owners of treasures appear on Antiques Roadshow and are told that grannys hand-me-down is actually a valuable treasure.  But have we ever wondered what happens when they return home?  In the world of Brooklyn Wainwright, bookbinder and guest rare book expert and appraiser on a San Francisco based version of This Old Attic, that garage sale treasure can become a motive for murder.  An especially dangerous motive since the now-deceased owner had left the book with Brooklyn for some minor repairs!  Throw in a mysterious stalker whose attacks on the shows new handsome host go awry and involve Brooklyn in the cross-fire, two thugs named Lug Nut and Grizzly, a tie-in to Mae West, and you have a page-turner you cant put down until the very end.

Sexy boyfriend and security firm owner Derek Stone plays a large role in this story, as he insists on providing 24/7 protection for Brooklyn (among other things).  But Brooklyn is also evolving as a strong character and, thanks to a new neighbor introduced into the ongoing cast of series regulars, she learns key self-defense skills so she is not just a damsel-in-distress character.  I also loved it that the author paid tribute to long-time series-running characters by involving them in small scenarios, but didn't overburden the action by trying to write them into every plot line.  It kept the story fresh and focused on sorting out the various mysteries.

I cant wait for the next adventure!
2533126
Reading Thomas Pryor's book "I hate the Dallas Cowboys" is as familiar and comforting as milk and cookies on a cold wintry night. In fact while reading it -- like a Pavlovian dog, it gave me the urge to do just that recently!

As recounted by this dyed in the wool Irish-Italian New Yawker, Mr. Pryor's folksy and accessible vignettes, of growing up in the Mid Fifties, Sixties and the dawn of the Seventies, as a lifelong fan of the iconic teams that called Yankee Stadium their home (the New York Football Giants and the storied Bronx Bombers) are breezy, parables that bring to mind O'Henry and the Wonder Years.

His loving, wistful tales are a love letter to his parents and for his way East of the East Side Yorkville neighborhood and it's colorful denizens. The lovingly obsessive, graphic detail of his writing are snapshots of a vital, bygone era in an enclave of New York City unsullied by much of the crime of the day and a "real neighborhood" as compared to the steadily eroding Manhattan we know today. Taken over by Big Box Retailers and the tasteless, post yuppified offspring the "been there, done that" Millennials lost in their iPhones. Mr. Pryor treats us to the New York known as "Fun City" before "The I Love New York" theme song and "The Big Apple" moniker came into the vernacular.

"The Third Beer" was such a great story. I could almost taste the cold beers his Dad and cronies were sipping at the local bar, until they were cajoled by little Tommy to go see "The Chairman of the Board" pitch in the Bronx against the hated Red Sox. And then the sweltering cab ride, bouncing on the swing out little toilet-like seat of those big ole checkered cabs (that I used to dread sitting on as a kid). I found myself humming along as the fellas and little Tommy lustily crooned the beer jingles of the day. And then I could hear the murmur of the fans settling in and the smell of the grass on that hallowed ground that is Yankee Stadium.

The madcap juxtapositions with his younger brother, mom and dad, Nan and other local yokels are fodder for a TV series or at least a movie.

Yeah, this is one of those books to read if you're a fellow nostalgist, love your Mom and Dad and pine for simpler times. Having grown up parallel on the West Side and being a few years younger, I can attest to the veracity of his stories, they seemed far away - yet so close.
234070
This novel is an extremely powerful novel that portrays Brooklyn the way it really was "back in the day".  The book contains a series of short stories which are vaguely connected and which paint a picture of a crime ridden 1970s Brooklyn which was really nothing more that a hell hole.  I gave the book 4 stars because the stories that were good, were powerful and phenominal, while the ones that weren't so good were simply boring, but with this book the good clearly outshines the bad.  Just as a warning, this book is extremely graphic and violent.  The author writes in a very gritty style and parts of it are extremely intense.  This book can certainly be upsetting to those who are not desensitized to graphic violence.  The story breakdown is as follows:

Another Day, Another Dollar (5/5)- Portrays a street gang who causes trouble by robbing military personal staioned in Brooklyn.  The story is a powerful view of the level of violence and the lawlessness of Brooklyn at the time.  This story is quite violent, and is very gritty and dark, it also shows the level of police corruption and apathy inherent in Brooklyn at the time.

The Queen is Dead (5/5) - portrays the life of a transvestite prostitute and his life mingeling with the tough street punks of Brooklyn.  It is an interesting almost darkly comical view of how the most macho men in Brooklyn were more attracted to transvestite prostites than they were to their own women.  It also protrays the distorted and horrific family life of a homosexual in the 1970s and the the level of disdain and unacceptance at the time.  Finally this story gives a glimpse of a perscription drug party an the associated consequences.

And baby makes three (1/5) - This story is about a girl who was impregnanted by a motorcycle mechanic.  It portrays her alcholoic father and how he tries to force himself to accept her and her decisions.  This one was pretty slow and really went nowhere, I truthfully feel it did not belong.

Tralala (5/5) - The story of a young Brooklyn prostitute and her life picking up military sailors and than robbing them.  The story is about her own rapid downward spiral and her deeply depressing life.  This story is very violent and the end is extremely notorious, graphic and intense.  This story should be avoided if you are unable to handle horrific, upsetting details.

Strike (5/5) - My favorite story in the book.  It follows a factory worker who later becomes a union official during a strike.  It portrays his corruption, his wild use of union funds, his excessive drinking and partying with his punk and his attraction to the transvestite prostitute from the second story.  In this story, he also hates his wife, and has an absolute disdain for her, looking to hurt her physically and emotionally in any way possible.  At the end he makes the biggest mistake of his life and he pays in a fitting way.  Phenominal ending on this one!

Landsend (1/5) - Random intertwined stories from a specific housing project in Brooklyn.  This section is pointless, unnecessary and consists of nothing more than random arguing, yelling and general idiocy.  It is a day's view of a Brooklyn housing project from the eyes of an insider.
4702594
Entertaining, educational and suspenseful.  As an ex Brooklynite I loved it!
1393209
The short, boyish Benji Golden is a most unlikely Manhattan PI.  He is hired by a snobbish, uptown lawyer, Peter Seymour, to locate a missing Canterbury College student, Bruce Weiner.  Inside a secluded cabin at Candlewood Lakes, Benji finds Bruce only minutes after a hired assassin has shot him dead.  Bruce's murder, Benji later learns, is connected to the suspicious suicide of a mentally disturbed socialite, Kathleen Kidd, whose brother, Bobby, is campaigning for the governorship of New York City.  Benji soon finds himself neck deep in scandalous secrets; wealthy, obnoxious bluebloods; and crooked lawyers and politicians.

  David Handler's unique mystery, "Runaway Man," is short, fast-paced, funny, and violent.  These are adjectives that can also be used to describe its hero, Benjamin Golden.  His mom affectionately calls him "Bunny."  He has a very unusual family.  His father, Meyer Golden, was an extremely beloved and respected New York City detective who married Abby, a former exotic dancer.  Meyer is deceased and Abby runs the family business, Golden Legal Services.  Rita, the office manager, is also a former exotic dancer; she is waiting patiently for her professional basketball player husband, Clarence, to be paroled from Sing Sing.  Benji asks his best friend and mentor, Detective Lieutenant Larry "Legs" Diamond, to help him solve the crimes.  In this novel, all the men carry big guns and all the women have large endowments--typical noir.

  Another woman with large endowments is the highly flirtatious kindergarten teacher, Sonya Posner.  She also has a big crush on Benji.  They have a romantic encounter.  The next morning, Legs Diamond is driving Benji to an interview with Eleanor Saltonstall Kidd when he asks:

  "Your voice sounds deeper today.  Did you get laid last night?"

This is one example of the crude humor that permeates "Runaway Man."  The characters, especially the minor ones, are often hilarious.

  With "Runaway Man," best-selling author David Handler gives his fans a must-read mystery that is on a par with his highly successful Mitch Berger and Des Mitry series ["The Blood Red Indian Summer" (<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Blood-Red-Indian-Summer-A-Berger-and-Mitry-Mystery-Berger-Mitry/dp/B00A1A01SA/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Blood Red Indian Summer: A Berger and Mitry Mystery (Berger & Mitry)</a>), "The Snow White Christmas Cookie" (<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Snow-White-Christmas-Cookie-A-Berger-and-Mitry-Mystery-Berger-and-Mitry-Mysteries/dp/1250004543/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Snow White Christmas Cookie: A Berger and Mitry Mystery (Berger and Mitry Mysteries)</a>), and the soon-to-be-released "The Coal Black Asphalt Tomb" (<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Coal-Black-Asphalt-Tomb-A-Berger-and-Mitry-Mystery/dp/125004197X/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Coal Black Asphalt Tomb: A Berger and Mitry Mystery</a>)].  It is an enticing novel with enough violent deaths and shocks to keep my eyes glued to its pages.  The raunchy humor and tender romance were big bonuses.  At last, David Handler has gone out on the limb to create a heroic PI who is modeled after us little guys.  Benji "Bunny" Golden is not the six-foot, muscle-bound bruiser who is often the stereotypical investigator found in many crime novels.  I definitely hope to read more about his future investigations.

Joseph B. Hoyos
2674153
The State of New Jersey wants to put you away for the rest of your life, you're stuck in the house wearing an ankle bracelet with a guard outside your door, your lawyer is getting nowhere, and you're just starting to get worried? You should have hit full-fledged panic days ago.

Andy Carpenter has a way with words that serves him well as a defense lawyer and also as the central character in 11 previous mysteries. He is the star of the diverse cast that David Rosenfelt has assembled --- a cast that is not only capable and reliable but also dedicated and likable, a cast that could be dropped on the Seinfeld set and become permanent players on the show. The dialogue and easy banter that are unique to the Northeast move the story along at a fast pace, never giving the reader a moment of boredom. When conferring with a police lieutenant, Andy asks, You're sure it was him? The Lieutenant replies, Who do you think you're dealing with, Barney Fife? Fingerprints match his army records. Like that.

When Andy receives a call from his friend, Lieutenant Pete Stanton (the only cop in Patterson, New Jersey, who wouldn't like to shoot him), he is soon drawn into a deadly game that threatens to put Pete behind bars for the rest of his life. A parolee, who Pete arrested and then helped to rehabilitate, has been found dead, and all the evidence points to Pete as the prime suspect. While it is obvious to everyone who knows him that the evidence has been planted, it nonetheless is evidence, and Pete is arrested.

Once Andy and his team begin investigating, they discover that the victim, Danny Diaz, had once worked for crime kingpin Dominic Petrone. By following up on that lead, he is able to form a peculiar alliance with Joseph Russo, a powerful man who agrees to help with the case. When it's a few weeks before a murder trial and all you have is a hunch, you take all the help you can get --- even though Andy thinks to himself ...he's a scary guy that radiates danger. As someone who was scared of the cookie monster until I was seventeen, it's intimidating to me.

What Andy discovers are seemingly unrelated murders that have a common thread. Not only have otherwise healthy people been dying of heart failure, those who are questioning the deaths are also being attacked. The fact that Pete was investigating one of these deaths as a possible homicide may be the key and connection. However, despite all of his grueling work and endless hours spent by his technical team, Andy knows that the connection remains a theory and would be inadmissible in court.

Little by little, new details are revealed, and the dots are laid out in such a way that the avid mystery fan can begin to guess at the conclusions. But no matter how skilled an amateur sleuth you may be, the final dot will elude all but the most adept. That's the one that takes a story over the top, setting it in the above average category.

Investigations, legal maneuvering, lively dialogue, short chapters that keep the pace moving: What more could you ask for? Add in a couple of dogs, a cute kid and a comfortable romance, and you're in readers Nirvana.

Reviewed by Maggie Harding.
179017
The voice of Brooklyn is back with another complex and fascinating novel, Nothing is Quite Forgotten in Brooklyn. Author Alice Mattison is known for her short story collections and novels. Among my favorite was The Book Borrower. Brooklyn is again the setting for this tale that alternates between 1989 and 2003.

In 1989, Constance "Con" Tepper comes to Brooklyn to mind her mother's apartment and feed a constantly shedding cat. Gert has gone upstate to visit her dear friend, Marlene. On the first night, a stranger walks into the apartment and takes Con's purse. Con is left with no keys and no money. She cannot leave the apartment; she is afraid to leave without locking the door. She cannot call a locksmith because she has no money to pay the bill. She turns to her only connection to the world, the phone.

In 2003, Con has moved into the apartment. She has divorced her husband, Jerry, but they remain somewhat good friends. Con has continued her work as a lawyer-not for a corporation, like in 1989, but for a non-profit. Marlene is coming to visit and Jerry is coming to crash on her couch will in New York. Con is also expecting her daughter, Joanna. The arrival of these three at one time throws Con into a state of depression and near regret.

The alternating time frames are easily to follow. In the 1989 sections, I was quite intrigued with the World War II-era letters from Marlene to Gert that Con found in the apartment. They provide an enigma to the relationship between Gert and Marlene. Con was fascinated with Marlene when she was a child and the letters shed a new light onto that secondary friendship. As for the 2003 sections, I was fascinated by the relics of a lost elevated train that was supposed to be a time-saver back in the 1920s.

I gave Nothing is Quite Forgotten in Brooklyn a four-star rating because there is a major discrepancy in how Con meets Gert's neighbor, Peggy, one of the novel's secondary characters. Except for that issue, this is a story worth a reader's time.

Armchair Interviews says: The surprises and twists add a deeper layer.
2873410
This was a real funny book about a boy growing up in Brooklyn.  It brought back so many memories of my growing up in Brooklyn also. The part I loved best was when his brother put him in the dumbwaiter and pulled him to the basement.  I cant imagine how he did that.  If you lived in that part of Brooklyn you would really enjoy all the talk about the neighborhood.  It is an easy read and full of fun stories.
4798676
I received a copy of Tales from the Laundry Pile by Kathleen Kole in exchange for an honest review.

Claire, her husband and twin boys have moved back to their hometown of Boxwood Hills, which is something she never thought they'd do.  The characters she comes face to face with on a daily basis makes for a very interesting life for sure, not the least of those being her own mother and the in-laws.

This book totally depicts the sometimes obsessive behavior some of us parents feel and the craziness that comes with raising children and the worry about the "what ifs".  The funny, colorful characters on a busy street make for a hugely entertaining read.  We find friendship and support in the most unsuspecting places and most of us moms understand each other more that we realize.
186629
This book lay gathering dust on a shelf in my home for fourteen years because I didn't think I'd be interested in the subject matter, the Asian organized crime problem in the U.S., and, especially, New York City, during the mid-Eighties to early Nineties.  I acquired it during a chance encounter with the author, T.J. English himself, who was gracious enough to autograph a copy and give it to me after I told him how much I had enjoyed his (at that time) previous work, "The Westies."  Last week, in search of something to read, I picked it up - and couldn't put it down until I had finished the last page.  "Born to Kill" is the riveting tale of a violent gang of youthful Vietnamese refugees who not only preyed on merchants in New York City's Chinatown district, but extended their activities to such far-flung states as Texas and Georgia as well.  They were eventually brought down by one of their own who, guilt-ridden because he thought he had taken part in the brutal murder of a Vietnamese shopkeeper in Georgia, decided to cooperate with a joint task force of ATF agents and NYPD detectives dedicated to bringing this group to justice.  Enough said.  I won't reveal anything more in this review because I don't want to ruin it for the rest of you.  Just don't make the same mistake I did and assume it won't hold your interest.  Trust me, it will.
3738477
Being partial to NYPD thanks to tv I just had to read this one especially thanks to the blurb. This one has two one who was and one who is but hiding. Mike knows he is in for it that is the fun of this one even with the drama. Cassie has to make a run for it especially if living is to be in her future. This author will have you on edge as she takes you on this adventure with these two in it with even able to surprise a time or two. That is a plus for me have read for many years. When she takes you squealing into homebase by then you will be white knuckled but thank goodness for the romance to soften it all.
2703432
This book, by my friend Joe Trigoboff, is the story of the childhood of a Jewish Boy amidst the scary slum of East New York in the late 1950's and early 1960's. Joe describes in harrowing detail how from the age of 4 years old he feared for his life every time he left his house and how he had to learn the ways of violence to survive among the gangs and ethnic and racial strife of East New York. It is also the story of the deep bonds of masculine friendship forged between boys who struggled to both survive and resist the lure of the streets.  It is also the story of Joe and his father, one of the most powerful men in Brooklyn, a man Joe loved and revered but also feared.  Every word comes alive, the book is frightening, funny, heartwarming and heartbreaking.  Not one word of this review is written because I know Joe.  But knowing Joe I can see how the events described in this book made him the man he is today.  I really really recommend this book to everyone. It is a story that needed to be told and needs to be read as well.
836609
The latest in the Duffy Dombrowski series is a interesting and engaging story set in the confines of upstate New York.  The hero is a compelling and realistic individual to whom any reader can relate.  Given his hobby is boxing, many may think there is nothing with which they will resonate, yet the truth is anyone who has ever trained or competed at any level will immediately recognize the virtues Schreck's character describes.  The storyline is not far fetched nor is it something you could't read in any newspaper in the country.  It is gritty and honest and Schreck continues to serve up stories with lifelike dialog, plot twists, and even a touch of romance also contemporary.  If you like a good murder mystery not set in the Southern California nor written by a long dead author, Schreck and Dombrowski fill the bill nicely.  I found it thoroughly entertaining without it being patronizing.
2249293
This story of a young lad dropped off at his grandparents in Brooklyn, NY after the death of his mother and his father's desertion, is not always a happy read.  I loved Joey's spunk and ability to survive in a dysfunctional, often cold environment.  You will not like his grandmother, but his grandfather makes up for it.  I felt such empathy towards Joey due to the cold, cruel people thrust into his life.  He is a survivor, but sadly, did it have to be so hard?  Nonetheless, I still enjoyed the book despite all of the hypens.  Someone please edit this book and reissue it.
2417733
The Girl Next Door, by Brad Parks, ain't great literature.  But it sure will help you pass the time pleasantly and will get rid of the doldrums.

Parks has written a paint by the numbers murder mystery that will take you a New York minute to read.  Carter Ross, a veteran newspaperman for the Newark Eagle Examiner, is down on his luck (they're always down on their luck).  Given a paucity of real news to cover, he decides to write a human interest story about a newspaper delivery woman who was killed on the job by a hit and run driver whilst completing her appointed rounds. Inevitably, Ross discovers that this was not a simple hit and run.  Following Park's linear plot, Ross' pursuit of the story leads him into direct conflict with his editor, puts his very job in jeopardy, and (of course) also positions him as the next victim.

Parks relates Carter Ross' tale with a great deal of humor and the obligatory palette of colorful minor characters.  Okay, there are some problems.  It's not much of a whodunit: Parks is a little heavy handed when he pushes you in one direction, so you actually see the red herring before you smell it. The characters may be fun, but they are thinner than the paper that the book is printed on.  It's also hard to ratchet up tension, when writing in the first person, by putting the narrator's life in danger.  Unless you assume that the book was written from the notes of the dead newspaperman's diary, it's a foregone conclusion that he will survive the novel.  (Most authors ratchet up the tension in a first person narrative by putting another character--say an innocent victim--in danger.  Someone who realistically could get dismembered by the end of the novel...)

But even though there are flaws, they really don't matter.  This isn't meant to be an answer to Faulkner and Parks isn't even positioning himself to be the next Agatha Christie.  He simply wants to entertain and does this brilliantly.
4357128
Great story. Yay Brooklyn.!! Imagine money not being an issue and using your resources in a positive way. He's obviousley a jerk as he was successful in show business but he came out the other side and is as heroic as an American life can be in the 21st century.