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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
really did not enjoy this book at all. the prose was leaden and very full of itself, and the story completely repetitious and far-fetched. i say "story" because after reading the entirety of this, i honestly doubt whether 3/4ths of this book are true, rather than the rantings and ravings of a psychopath to make himself seem even more dangerous or important. i looked up many of the claims contained within this book out of curiosity, and although kuklinski claims responsibility for many crimes, the credit for most a lot of the more notorious ones went elsewhere, at least as far as public record is concerned. there were also some authorial choices that i sincerely question, such as the casual glossing over of years of marital rape.
about a quarter of the way into the book i kept checking to see how much further i had to go because it gets so repetitive and leaden that i couldn't believe there was as much left as there was. the last quarter of it was a painful slog. how many times can you say the same things over and over again?
if you are a completionist and a devotee of mafia memoirs i suppose there could be some value in this book, but you may as well read a novel instead. i'm quite sure it would be just as disgusting about women, and fiction is supposed to be made up.
about a quarter of the way into the book i kept checking to see how much further i had to go because it gets so repetitive and leaden that i couldn't believe there was as much left as there was. the last quarter of it was a painful slog. how many times can you say the same things over and over again?
if you are a completionist and a devotee of mafia memoirs i suppose there could be some value in this book, but you may as well read a novel instead. i'm quite sure it would be just as disgusting about women, and fiction is supposed to be made up.
dark
informative
slow-paced
This book was featured on The Last Podcast On The Left reading list (Episodes 326-328). This book is an in depth look at Richard Kuklinski, also known as The Ice Man, who was a contact hit man for the Italian Organized Crime syndicate in New York. There are stories in this book that seem completely unbelievable, but there are so many stories in the news and on documentaries that I watch that seem insane and they actually happened too. Maybe he is making up some of these things, maybe he is not. He was certainly a violent person, and certainly responsible for plenty of murders and other violent acts. I think it is interesting to learn what makes people like this tick, what motivates them to do these things. It is astonishing how well they are able to hide it from their families, and also how families sometimes turn a blind eye to what goes on to keep themselves safe and as far removed from criminal activities as possible. This wasn't my favorite mob book, crime book, or biography, but it was interesting for sure.
Absolutely love this book. Cannot wait to read similar ones!
It's a good read, but I do think exaggerated somewhat.
After watching several interviews with Richard, and the authors own admission that some events probably didn't happen, I think Richard did some boasting.
Really interesting story, but the writing style was sometimes difficult to get through. He loves to use the same phrases repeatedly.
This book was extremely interesting and a wonderful read if you are ok with very intricuit details of how people are murdered. This was definatly a page turner for me and it can be hard for me to get sucked into a book as hard as I did with this one!
This book made me never give another driver the bird again for fear of being gunned down or fed to rats.
dark
informative
medium-paced
dark
informative
tense
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic descriptions of grotesque and violent murders