Cambridge Street by Steven Decker; Intimate Family Saga About Italian-American Family

 

Cambridge Street by Steven Decker; Intimate Family Saga About Italian American Family 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: One of the best ways to learn about the past is to research our own family history. This research teaches us where we came from, the struggles that our ancestors faced, what challenges befall them, and our inherited legacy. Steven Decker researched his own family history, the Tomasellos. The results are Cambridge Street, this intimate personal family saga about an Italian family emigrating to the United States during the Roaring Twenties.

The Tomasso Family are forced to leave Sicily because dwindling supplies cannot feed and provide for all of them. So eldest brother Paolo emigrates to the United States with his reluctant wife, Gianna, their children, Gianna's mother Stella, and Paolo’s brothers, the idealistic spiritual Leonardo and the sly criminal Renzo. 

The family settles in the Little Sicily area of Chicago where they face poverty, family conflicts, threats from organized crime, and the sacrifices and ambitions to achieve the American Dream. 

In writing the experiences of the Tomasso Family, particularly the three brothers, Decker reveals the various conflicts and concerns faced by immigrants when they are in a new place and their former roles are challenged. They are forced to find another way to live and adjust.

Paolo and Gianna have to face uncertainty. In Sicily, Paolo was one of several farmers. He worked alongside his father according to the planting and harvesting season. It was a routine existence that he knew when to plant seeds, when to grow and note the progress, when to harvest, when to store and when to eat. It was a cycle that his family knew well.

Also he and Gianna were surrounded by family, uncles, aunts, siblings, cousins, parents, long-time friends, and neighbors. It was a legacy recognized by several generations which contributed, networked and knew that if one person needed help, others were close by.

Now in Chicago, they are out of their comfort zone. Paolo now works in a slaughterhouse for human managers and supervisors who act with more authority than the seasonal weather cycle can. It is hard backbreaking work with very little rewards.

 The fertile fields are replaced by city streets. The peaceful villas by tenement slums. Before Paolo knew that he and his family would be cared for. Now they have the fear of poverty, homelessness, and hunger hovering overhead.

As if that wasn't hard enough, the Tomasso Family are now among strangers instead of family. Gianna in particular feels the loss as she misses the network that she knew and feels uncomfortable around people that she does not. She gives birth to more children, becomes a committed church member, and finds common ground with others around her.

 She and Paolo now have a found family made up of fellow immigrants and American citizens that are in the same situation that they are in: working hard in a new country and hoping for a better day.

Renzo was in a different situation. He is charming, ambitious, and slick. He would prefer to take the easy path to fortune. He assisted criminals by doing leg work, delivered messages and packages, and used his wit to escape from tight spots. He also romanced unattainable women including the wife of a dangerous operative.

At first, Renzo didn't even want to go to America. He wanted to ascend in his fast glamorous life, perhaps becoming a Don in his own right. However, a very spirited discussion with criminal rivals involving gunplay and death threats caused Renzo to change his mind and come with.

Just as in Sicily, Renzo is involved in organized crime but being older, more mature, and away from the insulating protection of his large family and their certain legacy, Renzo is aware that he is pursuing a path that is not just dangerous for him. He is also causing great danger to those around him.

Renzo’s increased loyalty towards his family and his close proximity to the more unsavory aspects of the criminal life force him to face real consequences. In one heartbreaking moment, he realizes how much this lawless pursuit has cost him. 

Leonardo is the quiet scholar in the family and was destined to join the Church as a priest. He has the skills and temperament for this path and he was too even tempered and obedient to question it. It was an expected required path so he followed it. 

While Leonardo acquiesces, his real feelings are ascertained by how quickly he discards it once he lives in America. He declines going to seminary and falls in love. He opts not to serve God behind the cloistered walls of the priesthood.

Instead, Leonardo becomes involved with the community becoming proactive and spiritual but also continuing human pleasures like marriage and fatherhood. He has the best of both worlds: a definite belief in God and a love to share it with.

A tragedy occurs that won't be revealed here but changes the Tomasso Family. They have to face danger, grief, fear, anger, vengeance, redemption, and guilt. 

Those left behind have to weigh whether to seek revenge or move forward. They wonder what the American Dream can possibly mean if it costs too much to pursue and not everyone will be able to achieve it.

The Wine Broker (The Richard O'Brien Series Book 3) by Ian Rodney Lazarus; Vintage Third Volume Has a Dry But Crisp Taste of Suspense, High Stakes, and Murder

 The Wine Broker (The Richard O'Brien Series Book 3) by Ian Rodney Lazarus; Vintage Third Volume Has a Dry But Crisp Taste of Suspense, High Stakes, and Murder

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: The Richard O’Brien Series has a talent for beginning as one thing and turning into something else. Con and Consequence begins with an internet scam that eventually involves international terrorism. In Cease to Exist a lab theft leads FBI Special Agent Richard O’Brien to a mystery that includes genetic engineering and government conspiracies. Now in this third go round, The Wine Broker, Ian Rodney Lazarus begins this case with a bottle of stolen wine.

O’Brien investigates a burglary in the home of Alexander Sisky, a Russian diplomat. While observing the place, O’Brien notices that Sisky’s wine collection had been tampered with like someone took a bottle or left one behind. That and a threatening note regarding one of the bottles leads O’Brien to study the wine smuggling market. This seemingly innocuous crime spirals into larger ones involving organized crime particularly the Yakuza. Meanwhile, Jack Tanaka, the Yakuza’s latest recruit ascends higher into the criminal organization going from deliveries and smuggling to mutilation and murder.

The setup for The Wine Broker is nowhere near as compelling as the previous books in the series and falters a bit here and there. Because of that it is the weakest one in the series. How many people would be interested in reading about wine theft after all?

However, there is a lot of interesting information about the wine industry and the illegal activity that is involved. Much of the insider information includes ocean fermentation, intentional mislabeling and vintaging, sneaking contraband into cases and bottles, and using the seemingly victimless crime of wine smuggling to hide greater crimes. The greater crimes are where the Yakuza come in.

Volume 3 has a lot to offer in terms of plot and character to make it a worthwhile entry. O’Brien is up to his usual tricks particularly in his relationships with women. He has an affair with a wine connoisseur who offers more perspectives than just vino expertise. He reunites with his former colleague and lover, Sarah Goodman and it becomes clear that even though Goodman is married to someone else, she and O’Brien aren't quite over one another.

As with previous volumes in the series, we get another fascinating antagonist. This book's answer to Con and Consequence’s Jelani and The Professor and Cease to Exist’s Emma Lee and Dennis Spence is Jack “Tobacco” Tanaka. He has one of the most unique introductions. He does a stand up act at a comedy club and bombs tremendously.  

This shows him as a man with a lot of nerve and plenty of bravado but not a lot of sense. Tanaka is someone who wants to be noticed, wants to be wealthy, and wants to be the center of the room but is uncertain and naive about how to pursue it. He jumps into situations without any forethought over how it should go. He holds for the applause but doesn't bother with fine tuning the material to make it worth paying attention to.

Because Tanaka is in over his head with the Yakuza, many of the suspenseful and graphic scenes are seen by him. One of the early chapters shows Tanaka going through a painful induction ceremony that involves mutilation. It is a moment that makes the Reader cringe with empathetic while also yelling, “Get out while you still can, Idiot!”

Crime becomes an addiction for Tanaka. As he ascends higher, he becomes enamored with the money, glamor, fear from victims, and the reckless daring of committing crimes and getting away with it. It's quite easy to become hooked and Tanaka sacrifices everything about his former life, including his personal identity, to get his fix.

The Wine Broker has a dry, crisp taste of a psychological thriller and a hard boiled detective noir. Readers can feel the distinct aroma of suspense, high stakes, and violence in a dangerous world of criminal organizations hiding under a veneer of sophistication, wealth, glamor, and status. Overall, it has a long clean but not always pleasant finish.

The Catalogue(A VENOM Novel) by Ty Mitchell; Suspense, Betrayal, and Twists Are Made to Order

 

The Catalogue(A VENOM Novel) by Ty Mitchell; Suspense, Betrayal, and Twists Are Made to Order

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

This review is also on Reedsy Discovery.

Spoilers: ‘Tis might be the season for receiving catalogs, but if you are a character in Ty Mitchell’s Suspense Thriller VENOM Novel The Catalogue, this eponymous document is the last catalog that you will want to receive. Instead of orders about charcuteries and winter apparel, this is a list of the world's most available organized criminals, assassins, terrorists, blackmailers, and all around worst people ever.

The Catalogue is the property of VENOM, a global super network of organized crime. Many members know of the Catalogue’s existence but not all of them have access to it and some would kill to receive it. One of them is Jun Li who is literally killing the competition. His actions reach the attention of Detective Jake Penny, investigative reporter Zasha Avery, and NSA Special Agent Ethan Parker who try to get to the root of these murders that will hopefully lead them to VENOM and The Catalogue.

This is a high octane and energy thriller that relies on suspense, plot twists, and fast paced writing to tell its story and it does that well. The action chapters are very tight building on different layers of character and suspense to add to the overall tension. 

From the first moment that we, the Readers, observe the characters, they are thrown into violent situations that require us to evaluate their personalities. Jake's introductory chapter takes place in a pharmacy where he is desperately trying to get opioids that he is addicted to. He stops an armed robbery and uses his observation skills to reveal that it was an inside job. 

This opening shows him as an effective detective but a very troubled individual with deep personal conflict. Those actions questions his allegiance with the law and our thoughts towards him. He doesn't live in a world of black and white, but gray.

Jun Li is another character who acknowledges that gray world. He is ruthless and efficient in his murders, treating his targets like nothing more than items on a checklist. Even though he is a loyal VENOM member, he seems more interested in becoming the actual leader and grabbing power for himself.

However, there is another side to him and it is shown in the opening chapter when he reads to a group of orphaned children before he returns to and taunts his bound adult hostages. He develops a genuine bond with one of the young orphans so that a later chapter concerning the two of them is one of the most emotionally gripping.

 Like Jake, the purpose is to show different sides and the gray world that he and the other characters inhabit. Sometimes the hero has a dark violent side and sometimes the villain shows vulnerability that is hidden from everyone else.

The gray world leads to some of the more intriguing plot twists and revelations. Some make sense but one arbitrary twist stretches credibility especially since the book is third person omniscient and we would have had some hints in the characters' mindset. 

I suppose that is the point. In a world where good characters aren't always good and bad ones aren't always bad and everyone operates according to their own code, that is to be expected. Characters act in ways that even the Readers find questionable.

The Catalogue is the type of novel that provides suspense, thrills, plot twists, and understanding of the complexities of the law and the lawless. It is perfectly made to order.

Chloe's Crusade (The Teddy Bear Chronicles Book 2) by Donnalyn Vjota; The Bears Are Back in Town

 

Chloe's Crusade (The Teddy Bear Chronicles Book 2) by Donnalyn Vjota; The Bears Are Back in Town

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: I should let you know that because this book refers to events from the previous volume, Hope in Paris, I suggest that you read that review first and be forewarned that this review contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the first book. Proceed with caution.

The plush bears and their attached humans are back in the second volume of Donnalyn Vjota's The Teddy Bear Chronicles Series, Chloe's Crusade. and this time they have added a couple of new bears to their Comfort Circle and some new humans with new conflicts. More trouble arrives and the stuffed ones are caught up in from their furry feet all the way up to their adorable wide eyes. 

Things have changed since our last encounter with the bears and humans. Love Bear’s human owner Richard and his girlfriend, Tori have married, Tori’s mental health has improved, and they adopted two of the orphans from the orphanage where Tori worked under the name of Rachel Verona. Fair Bear’s human friend, Kelli, who is also Tori’s sister, has recovered from her abusive relationship with her ex Mark and married Detective Sidney Lukas. Both couples live in Paris in close proximity to each other and are pretty tight. 

But there are some new problems on the horizon overseen by two new members of the Fur Squad. One is Tiny Bear, a small bear hanging on a keychain belonging to FBI agent Chloe Stodgson, Tori and Kelli’s friend, who is investigating a drug ring out of Venezuela. The other bear is Rocco Bear who lives with the family of Santi Alesso including him, his wife Anna, and daughter Kiara whom Rocco affectionately calls “Munchkin.” Chloe’s investigation ties all of these characters together as the Alessis have to join Witness Protection because of their proximity to organized crime and Chloe needs help from a scientist to make fake drugs to trap the dealers and an outside police officer with experience in narcotics. Luckily Richard and Sidney respectively fit that bill.

This book is almost as good as its predecessor however it loses a lot of the charm and magic of the original. This intricate plot involving drug deals, criminal investigations, stalkers, organized crime, and assassinations comes out of an entirely different genre and runs away from the original premise of bears talking about the personal dramas and conflict of humans. There are some genuine moments of suspense particularly while Chloe is dealing with betrayal within her team, the Alessis have to go on the run for their lives, and Kelli and Tori receive gifts and break ins from a potential stalker. But these plots could be within any book that doesn't need inanimate toy bears to narrate it.

Much of the conflict of the previous book lay in the bear’s inability to understand the subtleties and struggles within their human companions. Their narrative voices hover between childlike curiosity and wizened understanding with the occasional sardonic and humorous quip at their friend’s expense. This book throws a Thriller plot, actually several of them, around and reduces the bears to side characters whose narration becomes muted. They are just reporting the on the scene action as would any generic first person or third person human narrator.

That's not to say that there isn't anything to recommend in this book. To their credit, the characters, both real and stuffed, are still just as memorable as they were in the previous book.

There are some great moments where Tiny, the little adrenaline junkie, gets excited on “helping out” with the case even though its main involvement ends at just hanging on Chloe's belt while she does the real work. Tiny thinks of itself as a Sherlock Holmes in a bear suit and takes pride in being part of an awesome investigative team like when the boss calls Chloe and her partner, Sanchez in for a private conference. Tiny reminds us that she actually has two partners and that it is the most important of the two. One of Tiny’s most adorable moments is when it reacts with jubilation and glee when it finds itself pictured in a news story about Chloe's investigation. Okay granted the pic just got the top of its head but it counts!

Rocco is a tough little guy who is protective of his family, especially “Munchkin.” He has issues with her parents and when the family is forced to separate, Rocco ends up with them instead of Kiara. He has to witness the Alessis change their names, relocate possibly forever, watch what they say because they are being monitored, and take their anger and discomfort out on each other. Rocco sees their flaws magnified in this stressful situation, particularly Santi’s quickness to anger and infidelity. Rocco reacts with fear and anxiety but is also surly towards Santi whom it holds responsible for this mess. Rocco acts like an angry adolescent holding trauma inside a tough exterior that tries to brush off fear, worry, and hurt but only increases their vulnerability.

The original bears also have some great moments. Love Bear accompanies Richard to work as he prepares the drugs and responds with the usual support and humor at its geeky human friend (When Richard yells, “Fiddlesticks!” Love responds with embarrassment that its human is an 80 year old in the body of a man in his 30’s.). Love is proud when Richard makes a breakthrough and terrified when it sees someone break into the office to tamper with Richard’s work. 

Fair is enamored with Kelli and Sydney’s romance but is worried when Kelli’s life is in danger. It also empathizes with her concern about Sydney when he's on the job, always ready with a comforting snuggle as she sits down for movie night to get her mind off of her troubles. Even our old friend Sleepy Time Bear is back to remind us that it is doing fine while still living at Tori’s old orphanage and comforting children who can't sleep.

While Chloe's Crusade is a near miss with its thriller plots and abandonment of the original narrative structure, this second volume still has enough warmth, humor, and heart to make it bearable. 

Death in the Holler (A Luke Ryder Book 1) by John G Bluck; Troubled Alcoholic Protagonist is the Highlight of Somewhat Muddled Murder Mystery

 

Death in the Holler (A Luke Ryder Book 1) by John G Bluck; Troubled Alcoholic Protagonist is the Highlight of Somewhat Muddled Murder Mystery

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: 2024 so far looks to be the year of the “Troubled Mystery Investigator.” Between the friendship of cop/criminal duo, Vincent Bayonne and Kane Kulpa unraveling  in Journeyman by Indy Perro and the team of Ingrid Barker and Miles McLeod surrounded by an abusive husband, a dysfunctional family, and their own mental health issues in What Happened at the Abbey by Isobel Blackthorn, it seems that solving mysteries is the least of their problems. Instead, they could use some of that time investigating themselves rather than crime. We can now add Luke Ryder to that list. He is the protagonist of John G. Bluck’s Death in the Holler, a mystery that takes an intense look at its problematic perplexing protagonist.

Luke Ryder is a former Game Warden whose frequent alcoholism cost him his job. His sympathetic friend, Sheriff Jim Pike recruits him to lend his expertise to a murder investigation. Farmer Joe Ford has found an unknown dead body. Since it's muzzleloader deer hunting season and Ryder had previously investigated an incident in which a doe was killed on Ford’s property during the off season, Ryder is called to offer his expert advice on the murder weapon, potential identity of the victim, and identity and motive of the killer. As Ryder peers into the questions, he discovers that the case is wider than he thought. He comes face to face with drug dealers, organized crime, street gangs, a local psychopath, and his own addictions and tormented past. 

Bluck has a strong understanding towards his lead character and the conflicts and struggles that surround him. His past with parents who succumbed to their own dependencies reveals an inherited addictive personality which makes him susceptible to following his parent's path towards potential self-destruction. He destroyed relationships, friendships, and a career that he worked hard to obtain. This is a man who is stumbling towards rock bottom. In fact, Pike reveals that he wanted Ryder's help not necessarily as an expert but out of loyalty to give his oldest and best friend one final chance to turn his life around before it's too late.

Despite his addiction, Ryder proves his ability as an investigator. He has a good sense of how the criminal mind works as he develops an acquaintenceship with a gang member. He shows a protective side towards a prostitute and her child. He follows various leads to their conclusions. Perhaps his desire to solve this case is a barrier from his addiction. As long as there is a problem to solve or a mystery to investigate, he doesn't have to look at the mess that his personal life is in.

Ryder stands out from the somewhat muddled mystery. It is incredibly convoluted and sometimes difficult to follow. Many of the leads are arbitrary and have a very tangible connection to the initial investigation. Some subplots such as that of the young psychopath could be promising but aren’t as compelling as they could be. It is more interesting to see Ryder interact with the suspects than figuring out what they have to do with the murder. 

Luke Ryder is the most important aspect of this book and it shows in the writing. Bluck appears not as interested in the mystery than he is about Ryder's personal journey from debilitating addiction to a second chance to help others and save himself. 

New Book Alert: Thunder Road by Colin Holmes; Hard Boiled Detective Novel Begins In Noir But Takes A Detour Into Science Fiction

 

New Book Alert: Thunder Road by Colin Holmes; Hard Boiled Detective Novel Begins In Noir But Takes A Detour Into Science Fiction

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Colin Holmes' Thunder Road is one of those detective novels that has fun playing on real events or possibly real events. 

Set in the late 1940's, it borrows heavily from the hard boiled noir detective genre with the loner detective hired to solve a case that takes him right into a den of gangsters, prostitutes, corrupt officials, and many secrets yet to be exposed. But then it takes a very strange and bizarre detour into Science Fiction which either can become the highlight or the worst thing about this book.

Jefferson Sharp has been removed from his position as a cattle thief investigator with a Ft. Worth investigation company as well as his position as husband when his wife, Evelyn, files for divorce.

Divorced and unemployed, Sharp goes gambling in Ft. Worth's Thunder Road. There he is spotted by Doyle Denniker, casino owner and gangster. Denniker wants to hire Sharp to keep watch on Myron Williamson, an associate of his rival, Bobby Caples. It's a simple tail-and-report job.

The assignment ends up being anything but simple when Sharp finds himself surrounded by dead bodies, feuding gangsters, mysterious aircraft, suspicious military personnel, and a piece of what appears to be tinfoil that is out of this world.

Thunder Road is one of those types of historical detective novels that marries its fictional world with the real world and events, well allegedly real events anyway. While Sharp faces fictional gangsters and criminals he discovers that they are connected to real life gangsters, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel and Meyer Lansky.

 Through  Sharp's investigation we learn about the creation of Las Vegas from a backwater forgettable desert town to the gambling and entertainment venue that we know today. We also see how the creation of the city played into the decline of Lansky and Siegel's one time friendship. 

Siegel wanted Vegas to be a glitzy success. Cost was no object. He even personally oversaw the construction of the first casino hotel, The Flamingo, later known as the Flamingo Hilton (named for the womanizing Siegel's then girlfriend, Virginia "Flamingo" Hill).

 Lansky however was concerned about the cost and felt that the showboat Siegel was getting too full of himself and drawing too much attention to the illegal dealings. Unlike most friendships which end with a fight or a Twitter battle, Siegel and Lansky's friendship ended with a bullet in Siegel's head. (Fun Fact: Siegel and Lansky were the inspiration for the characters, Moe Greene and Hyman Roth respectively in The Godfather franchise.)

It's brilliant how Holmes weaves Sharp's investigation with real life people like Siegel and Lansky. It gives a sense of history to this noir novel. Thunder Road seems to be a descendant of works like James Ellway's L.A. Quartet series (which The Black Dahlia and L.A. Confidential are a part) which uses a fictional case to comment on the very real and salacious past of certain American cities. This connection shows that in fact and fiction, there is a dark history that leads to the problems that are still prevalent to this day.

So far not bad, but then things get weird. Because Thunder Road then references another event from the late 1940's one that you would not expect to find in the genre: the alleged U.F.O. crash in Roswell, New Mexico (that's where the tinfoil comes in). 

For those that don't know: In 1947, a mysterious aircraft crashed outside Roswell, New Mexico. Eyewitnesses even saw bodies near the craft that didn't look human. Authorities insist that it was a weather balloon and the supposed bodies were merely crash test dummies. However most people believe that the craft was a U.F.O., the bodies were the alien occupants, and that the United States government covered up the crash and the results.

 Some also think that the Roswell crash was also tied to the mysterious section of Nellis Air Force Base, called Area 51, in Nevada (strange how Nevada appears a lot in Thunder Road isn't it?). Many people have seen strange lights and aircraft flying in and out of Area 51. Conspiracy theorists have been obsessed with it, even to the point of planning a raid on it three years ago.

 That's when Thunder Road steps away from detective noir and jumps right into science fiction conspiracy theory. It makes Thunder Road stand out from other neo noir books. The plot then makes the stakes higher than just a simple gang war. However, the book takes Sharp's investigation to a level that is distracting and only has a tangible connection at best to his initial case. 

Perhaps this is a case of Holmes doing too many things in one book. Maybe he should have split the ideas into two different books. He could have kept the noir detective book in this one and put the Area 51 stuff into a separate book. Maybe he could even have saved it for another Sharp book.

Besides the separate subplots that Thunder Road takes, there are some really great things to recommend. Among them is the development of the relationship between Sharp and his female friend, Roni Arquette. Longtime friends, they have been unlucky in love with Sharp's recent divorce and the death of Roni's husband.

 Roni and Sharp often taunt and tease each other but also are one another's confidant and partner. Roni even assists Sharp in his investigation by tailing and spying on potential targets. 

Throughout the book, Sharp and Roni are put in danger and have some very heated arguments to disguise their developing attraction towards each other. It would be interesting if a sequel to Thunder Road comes about and not only do Roni and Sharp become romantically involved but Roni becomes his partner. She is smart and observant enough to help him out. Their barbs and wit will keep one another on their toes for the rest of their lives.

Thunder Road has some aspects that work well, maybe not necessarily together. However, Holmes' book definitely makes a thunderous addition to the detective noir genre.