Review by Booklist Review
For decades, Chicago's crime world was ruled by the Outfit, and Tony Accardo, known for his brutality, was the Outfit's longest reigning "capo dei capi." Hogan's story is based on a true incident that occurred in the 1970s, when some of the "soldiers" overseen by Accardo's loyal lieutenant, Tony Passero, rob a jewelry story without informing Accardo of their plans. Enraged at this act of extreme disrespect, Accardo charges Passero with forcing the renegades to give up the goods they stole, which included a bracelet destined to be a Christmas gift for Accardo's wife. In revenge, the thieves decide to burgle Accardo's house. Disrespect times 10! As Passero metes out Accardo's punishment on the thieves, the violence escalates into a bloody vendetta. Passero is a good company man, but he has a secret that could prove much more problematic for Accardo than an unauthorized jewel heist and a lost Christmas present. This skillfully written, suspenseful roller-coaster of a thriller will please fans of both Mob fiction and true crime.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Bestseller Hogan (The Town) does a serviceable job of fictionalizing the Chicago underworld of the 1970s. In 1975, Nicky Passero takes advantage of the trust placed in him by Sam Giancana, the former boss of the Chicago mob, to whack him. While Giancana is preparing dinner for the two of them in his home in the city's suburbs, Passero shoots him in the back of the head then fires six more shots into his face. The murder and the postmortem disfigurement were at the orders of the current boss, Tony "Big Tuna" Accardo, who suspected that Giancana was about to tell all to a congressional committee. The killing cements Passero's status as Accardo's right-hand man, which leads to more violence after hotheaded thieves burglarize the jewelry store of one of Accardo's friends and then the boss's own home. That Accardo doesn't know that Passero is approached by the FBI to serve as an informant raises the tension. Thin characterizations match the familiar tale of a hit man with a trace of a conscience hiding multiple secrets. This offers nothing particularly new. Agent: Richard Abate, 3 Arts Entertainment. (Aug.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
The New York Times best-selling, Hammett Prize-winning Hogan bases his latest on the true story of Tony Accardo, the longest-reigning mob capo in history. It's the 1970s, and loyal trooper Nicky Passero is tasked with retrieving stolen jewelry that includes a gold and diamond bracelet Tony got his wife for Christmas. Meanwhile, even as Tony seems more and more unbalanced in his directives, a battle for the mob control of Chicago rages, and Nicky finds himself beholden to the FBI. With a 30,000-copy first printing.
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A sticky yarn of paranoia and semiorganized crime, ready for the multiplex. The real-life burglary of Chicago mob boss Tony Accardo's suburban home in 1978 provides a marvelously hooky backdrop for Hogan's lowdown tale, which fictionalizes the event and the subsequent assassinations of parties directly and tangentially involved with the incident. "Nicky Pins" Passero, a bowling alley proprietor and midlevel member of Accardo's outfit, is our point-of-view character and an ideal guide through the horrific events set in motion by the resentful thief and the increasingly paranoid Accardo. Nicky, a closeted gay family man adrift after separating from his wife, is intelligent, sensitive, and discreet, operating under the radar as an effective survival strategy. Ironically, his superb people skills win him the confidence of Accardo, which first feels like an honor but quickly devolves into a bloody nightmare as the crime lord tasks him with catching the thieves who invaded his home. Further complicating matters is Nicky's status as an FBI informant dominated and abused by his handler, who entrapped Nicky via a humiliating staged seduction scenario. Hogan expertly tightens the screws as Nicky desperately scrambles to please his superiors, underlings, handlers, and estranged family as the body count mounts in increasingly gruesome fashion. Nicky is a fascinating character, sympathetic yet complicated, an aware and articulate person who has drifted into hell incrementally, trying in his way to do the right thing when he can. The satisfying thriller structure, vivid dialogue and characterizations, and tragicomic tone are reminiscent of the Coen brothers' best film work, and the historical underpinning provides the pleasures of a first-rate true-crime tale. Colorful, engaging, and bloody; a richly satisfying crime story and character study. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
