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lizdesole's review against another edition
4.0
Zany and unhinged crime novel. Reminded me of Carl hiassen. Except told from the perspectives of women. And set in New York. Very entertaining but bloody like a Quentin Tarantino film
gobblebook's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
A mob widow thinks she has murdered one of her husband's former associates when he hits on her and she clunks him on the head with an ashtray. In a panic, she steals his car and flees to her estranged daughter's house. When her daughter refuses to let her in, her daughter's neighbor, a former porn star, takes her in. All sorts of complications ensue, worthy of a Guy Ritchie movie - the daughter's boyfriend steals from the mob and wants to take the daughter and flee, a man who the porn star conned out of a bunch of money tracks her down and wants her to marry him... ultimately the widow, the porn star, and the widow's granddaughter end up on the run together.
It's a mob thriller, so there's a lot of violence and some of it gets pretty gory. The action scenes are well-written and easy to follow.
In principle, the idea of a mob widow and a porn star, both women in their 60s, fleeing bad guys together, sounds like a lot of fun, and it is, but it also feels like Boyle is trying a little too hard. The porn star is always full of zen-like wisdom and always has the right thing to say. The widow's teenage granddaughter is obnoxiously stupid. Boyle clearly wanted to write some bad-ass women, and that's cool, but every single woman is a bad-ass and it's just too much. My eyes just about rolled out of my head when the granddaughter was rescued by a smoking, drinking, cursing nun.
This is a decent beach read if you're looking for something mindless and fun, but don't expect much else from it.
It's a mob thriller, so there's a lot of violence and some of it gets pretty gory. The action scenes are well-written and easy to follow.
In principle, the idea of a mob widow and a porn star, both women in their 60s, fleeing bad guys together, sounds like a lot of fun, and it is, but it also feels like Boyle is trying a little too hard. The porn star is always full of zen-like wisdom and always has the right thing to say. The widow's teenage granddaughter is obnoxiously stupid. Boyle clearly wanted to write some bad-ass women, and that's cool, but every single woman is a bad-ass and it's just too much. My eyes just about rolled out of my head when the granddaughter was rescued by a smoking, drinking, cursing nun.
This is a decent beach read if you're looking for something mindless and fun, but don't expect much else from it.
wsthompson's review against another edition
5.0
Definitely worth reading! It is a page turner for sure.
readwithshelby's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
moreadsbooks's review against another edition
5.0
"'You hearing this? You're not laughing? Enzio wakes up with a boner, covered in blood. Old broad bopped him one with an ashtray. That'll teach you about consent.'"
William Boyle has written yet another winner (although would that I had been reading this at the beginning of June, as I did The Lonely Witness, instead of bloody March), this time with a yarn about a mob widow, an ill-advised cash grab, an Terminator-esque hammer-wielding mob enforcer, and one of the greatest characters ever to grace the page, former porn star Lacey Wolfstein. Boozy, empathetic, Stevie Nicks fan, possessor of pearls of wisdom such as: "'That bus crashed into that big-deal plane, and they're both here . . . Point is, we're all like that all the time. We're all unfinished wreckage. Whatever's not dead is fixable. You and Lucia, you're not dead. You've been surrounded by some bad things, that's true. But you've still got your life. You're a righteous woman, and I'm your pal.'" Oh yeah, and a bus crashes into a plane.
The thing that makes Boyle such great reading for me, other than the incredible dialogue and the fabulous characters, is that he's so damn good at crafting complex, darkly funny scenes with a lot of moving parts that ramp up deliciously and play out perfectly. At some point all of the main characters are gathered together in a house with a lot of the secondary hangers-on and someone has a gun and is waving it around but being ignored, someone is listing off the titles of Wolfstein's movies despite being told repeatedly that this really isn’t the time, someone keeps dropping his car keys while someone else is laughing at him, everyone is talking over each other and the whole time the hammer murderer guy is probably going to show up any minute and it just builds into this delirious crescendo that's hilarious and terrible all at once. Boyle writes, "Lucia is excited and confused, like this is Shakespeare happening in front of her," and well basically, yes. Five stars doesn't just happen every day, you know.
William Boyle has written yet another winner (although would that I had been reading this at the beginning of June, as I did The Lonely Witness, instead of bloody March), this time with a yarn about a mob widow, an ill-advised cash grab, an Terminator-esque hammer-wielding mob enforcer, and one of the greatest characters ever to grace the page, former porn star Lacey Wolfstein. Boozy, empathetic, Stevie Nicks fan, possessor of pearls of wisdom such as: "'That bus crashed into that big-deal plane, and they're both here . . . Point is, we're all like that all the time. We're all unfinished wreckage. Whatever's not dead is fixable. You and Lucia, you're not dead. You've been surrounded by some bad things, that's true. But you've still got your life. You're a righteous woman, and I'm your pal.'" Oh yeah, and a bus crashes into a plane.
The thing that makes Boyle such great reading for me, other than the incredible dialogue and the fabulous characters, is that he's so damn good at crafting complex, darkly funny scenes with a lot of moving parts that ramp up deliciously and play out perfectly. At some point all of the main characters are gathered together in a house with a lot of the secondary hangers-on and someone has a gun and is waving it around but being ignored, someone is listing off the titles of Wolfstein's movies despite being told repeatedly that this really isn’t the time, someone keeps dropping his car keys while someone else is laughing at him, everyone is talking over each other and the whole time the hammer murderer guy is probably going to show up any minute and it just builds into this delirious crescendo that's hilarious and terrible all at once. Boyle writes, "Lucia is excited and confused, like this is Shakespeare happening in front of her," and well basically, yes. Five stars doesn't just happen every day, you know.
clambook's review against another edition
5.0
A while ago I went off on how non-city writers ought not take on descriptions of places like Brooklyn (the offender was Allen Morris Jones's Sweeney on the Rocks). William Boyle is, I gather, a loyal son of the borough with unquestioned literary street cred. This is a terrific crime novel with absolutely true-to-the-ear dialogue and a marvelous sense of place. Highly recommended.
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