All posts by : nancy

Reviewed by Chris Phillips

Giammatteo brings new life to the typical detective murder story. He takes the time to develop a complex plot into an attention-capturing tale of intrigue and friends betrayed, remade and destroyed.  Purchase Here.

“It’s not the oath that makes us believe the man, but the man the oath” – Aeschylus.

This quote begins the tale of a group of friends, perhaps unique in the way all Americans can be. Nicky “The Rat” Fusco, Frankie “Bugs” Donovan, Tony “The Brain” Sannullo, Tommy “Mick” McDermott form the core of this group and Chinski, Suit and Paulie finish out the gang. It seems that there is a destiny for them to be “friends forever” until years later.

“…Friendship means we look out for each other. Nobody ever rats or betrays anyone else…”

“…Honor means nobody fucks with one of us and not the others. We stick up for each other. And it means we don’t run, unless we all run…”

These fateful words and the consequences of making and trying to keep childhood promises provide all the tension for the plot. 20 years after these oaths are made, Frankie is a detective for the Brooklyn Police department. Tony is in heavy with the organized crime family in the same area. Nicky is the ex-con that precipitates the action. Frankie gets called into investigate a series of murders of some apparently unrelated men in the Brooklyn area. He begins to suspect soon that there is much more going on here then just someone being murdered.

Giammatteo writes each chapter from either a third person perspective or from Nicky’s personal accounting of his life with these friends. Due to the neighborhood they grow up in they live under the scrutiny of the local organized crime family, headed up by Mikey “The Face” Fagullo. Tony’s mother, Mama Rosa, and Sister Mary Thomas form the character building parts for the boys as they grow up. These two major influences keep the group active and bouncing around through their teenage years. Girls become something they have to consider but deal with as only kids and teens from this era and society can: clumsily, jerkily and very self-consciously.

As is the case with many such friends, they grow up and choose different paths. They see each other, but individual purposes and ambitions pull them away from each other. Girls, family problems and the lure of money impact the group, splitting them until a crisis arises. The gang maintains the oath for most of this time, until one fateful day when a rival gang comes looking for trouble. There are teen passions, pool cues and guns involved. Ultimately gun fire erupts and lives are changed forever.

In this tale, there is a lot of right, wrong and terribly, frighteningly gray. When the time comes and it is needed for oaths to be remembered, they are forgotten and life is never the same. The murders draw them inexorably together yet again. The common thread shows how badly a betrayal of friends can mess up the men that were always supposed to be oath-bound brothers.

The characters are smoothly real. Giammatteo takes the time to develop them naturally. Each takes their fated place and struggles with the people they become. Of course with this much time to cover there are details that grow in importance with each progressive revelation. The tragedy of the way these lives move brought tears to the eyes of this reviewer. The final betrayal is brokenheartedly realistic.

Although the switching of character and traveling back and forth in time might confuse the reader at first, the progression is for the right reasons and falls into place with a gripping conclusion.

The book is appropriate for adults because of the violence and language. As stated at the beginning of the book this is the first in a series “Friendship and Honor.” This reviewer is eagerly waiting for the next one.

Reviewed by Chris Phillips

Who would have believed that Dr. Will Dunbar, would be involved in a national emergency of far reaching proportions.  Purchase Here.

While diving in the Bahamas, Dr. Dunbar, Will, is summoned to Washington by a friend’s desperate plea for assistance. When he sees his friend, Colonel Ross Chapman the years seem to disappear between now and then, when they were both at West Point.

Although Dr. Dunbar is about to become the head of reproductive medicine at the Mayo Clinic, his friend is able to sidetrack him into working on this issue.

For the first-time Dr. Dunbar hears of a secret organization, The Blood Memory Society, that the government has been running since the beginning of the government in the United States. In the current case, the society has been renamed the Inherited Memory Society.

After hearing about this organization, he finds that it is under attack and that even though there only 100- 150 people in this society, it has been kept in secret for hundreds of years. There are 27 in the United States at this time. Someone is killing all the people who belong in this society despite the secretive nature of the organization. The number has dwindled from 27 to 11 in the last few days.

Suddenly in the previous few days their number has been decimated. Dr. Dunbar must help find the survivors and help to keep them safe.

The story continues with many spins, twists and complications that seem to be insurmountable. As Will goes deeper into the mystery and the secrets of this group, he finds himself in more and more danger. He rescues one of the members, but in short order falls in love with her. Then the excitement peaks as he tries to find out about his own past, what the people killing these members are about and how he can save them from more losses.

The plot is deep and intriguing. The pace is just about right. The background information is a little deep at times, but if the basics are understood then the tale unfolds with many more twists and turns.

The characters are well developed and their interactions are well structured and complete.

The author has some in-depth knowledge of several fields of endeavor and uses that information to make a well-considered book.

This is written for the mature reader with some light sexual content as well as large amounts of violence. Profanity is used but infrequently.

This reviewer feels this is a great read and one worthy of attention for most adult readers.