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Summary
Summary
Goodfellas meets Thelma and Louise when an unlikely trio of women in New York find themselves banding together to escape the clutches of violent figures from their pasts.
After Brooklyn mob widow Rena Ruggiero hits her eighty-year-old neighbor Enzio in the head with an ashtray when he makes an unwanted move on her, she embarks on a bizarre adventure. Taking off in Enzio's '62 Impala, she retreats to the Bronx home of her estranged daughter, Adrienne, and her granddaughter, Lucia, only to be turned away by Adrienne at the door. Their neighbor, Lacey "Wolfie" Wolfstein, a one-time Golden Age porn star and retired Florida Suncoast grifter, takes Rena in and befriends her.
When Lucia discovers that Adrienne is planning to hit the road with her ex-boyfriend Richie, she figures Rena's her only way out of a life on the run with a mother she can't stand. But Richie has massacred a few members of the Brancaccio crime family for a big payday, and he drags even more trouble into the mix in the form of an unhinged enforcer named Crea. The stage is set for an explosion that will propel Rena, Wolfie, and Lucia down a strange path, each woman running from something and unsure what comes next.
A Friend is a Gift You Give Yourself is a screwball noir about finding friendship and family where you least expect it, in which William Boyle again draws readers into the familiar--and sometimes frightening--world in the shadows at the edges of New York's neighborhoods.
Reviews (6)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Early in this addictive hardboiled crime novel from Boyle (Gravesend), Rena Ruggiero, the widow of murdered Brooklyn mobster "Gentle Vic" Ruggiero, hits her octogenarian neighbor, Enzio, over the head with a heavy ashtray after he makes an unwanted pass at her. Thinking him dead, she takes off in Enzio's prized '62 Impala. With no real plan, she flees to the Bronx, the home of her estranged daughter, Adrienne, and her 15-year-old granddaughter, Lucia. When Adrienne slams the door in Rena's face, Adrienne's neighbor, con artist and retired porn star Lacey Wolfstein, invites her into her home. Meanwhile, Adrienne's ex-boyfriend, Richie Schiavano, has just killed members of a major mob family, stolen a briefcase full of cash, and plans to grab Adrienne and Lucia and run. A violent confrontation between the hapless Richie and a brutal mob enforcer ensues, and Rena, Lacey, and Lucia end up in possession of the money fleeing for their lives. Boyle skillfully mixes a classic Westlake/Leonard-style caper with the powerful tale of three women facing the ghosts of their pasts. Agent: Nat Sobel, Sobel Weber Assoc. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Guardian Review
Anthony Good's debut novel, Kill [redacted] (Atlantic, £12.99), is a delicate but merciless portrait of a man in the grip of a mental breakdown. When retired headteacher Michael's wife is killed in a terrorist attack on the London underground, he decides to kill the politician whose policies he considers to be ultimately responsible for her death. Although the name is redacted throughout, as are some background details, and no dates are given, the fuzzy outlines of Tony Blair and 7/7 are discernible; the story is told through Michael's self-justifying diary, the "self reflections" he writes for his therapist, and a few letters. His voice is a triumph: intelligent but pedantic and emotionally constipated, seething with barely suppressed rage, and unable to admit the truth about his marriage or motives. Whether this is an elaborate revenge fantasy or a factual account is up to the reader - either way, this outstanding novel is a fascinating and complex read. There's more moral culpability in Mel McGrath 's The Guilty Party (HQ, £12.99). Here, it's a sin of omission - four thirtysomething friends from university are returning home from a music festival when they witness a man assault a woman but fail to intervene, and the victim's body is later recovered from the Thames. Cassie, Anna, Bo and Dex each have a reason for not acting, and we learn more about their backstories as the suppressed tensions come to a head during the course of a long weekend in a holiday cottage on the Isle of Portland. McGrath excels in creating believably flawed characters, and her masterful control of suspense and pacing make for a psychological thriller that is both perceptive and disturbing. The Mobster's Lament by Ray Celestin (Mantle, £16.99) is the third novel in the City Blues quartet, which charts, via the careers of investigators Ida Davis and Michael Talbot, the twin histories of jazz and the mob in 20th-century America. This one is set in New York in 1947, where former Pinkerton operatives are trying to prove the innocence of Talbot's son Tom, who is accused of the brutal murders of four people in a Harlem flophouse. Meanwhile, fixer Gabriel Leveson is planning to flee the city when he is tasked with tracking down stolen money by his boss, gangster Frank Costello. Things aren't going well for Louis Armstrong, either: the era of the big band is over, and he desperately needs to revive his flagging career. Celestin deftly weaves these strands together to create not only a satisfying and multi-layered mystery, but also a well researched and dynamic portrait of a teeming city, rife with corruption. Olivier Barde-Cabuçon also mixes fact and fiction, in a tale of pre-revolutionary France. Casanova and the Faceless Woman (translated by Louise Rogers Lalaurie, Pushkin Vertigo, £9.99) is the first book in a series featuring Volnay, who has been appointed by Louis XV as the "inspector of strange and unexplained deaths". Paris in 1759 is a city in turmoil, where the rich and powerful are cheek-by-jowl - and, in the case of the jaded and salacious monarch, sometimes even closer - with the poor. When the mutilated body of a young woman is discovered, Volnay's investigation brings him into contact not only with the eponymous lothario but also with the warring factions at court and a secret society that aims to overthrow the crown. A splendid mystery with an appealingly enigmatic protagonist, plenty of melodrama and intrigue, and a vivid, pungent evocation of a turbulent time. Cruel Acts by Jane Casey (HarperCollins, £12.99) is the eighth novel to feature DS Maeve Kerrigan. Here, she and DI Josh Derwent are looking into the case of Leo Stone, convicted of the murders of two women but released when it emerges that the jurors disobeyed the judge's instructions. The police want Stone back behind bars, but as Kerrigan retraces his steps she begins to wonder whether they might have arrested the wrong man. Then another woman disappears in circumstances that appear to match Stone's modus operandi ... Tense and compelling, Cruel Acts is an accomplished police procedural, but what makes it stand out is Kerrigan herself: ambitious and smart but insecure and, after a relationship break-up, emotionally raw, she's one of the most thoroughly human and convincing police officers in the fictional ranks. William Boyle's latest novel, A Friend Is a Gift You Give Yourself (No Exit, £11.99), is an Elmore Leonard-style caper that hits the ground running when Brooklyn grandma and gangster's widow Rena decks her octogenarian neighbour after he makes a pass at her and, fearing that she has killed him, makes off with his car. Her estranged daughter refuses to help, so she takes refuge in the home of former porn star and con artist Lacey Wolfstein. After a series of mishaps, including a shoot-out, she ends up on the run with Lacey, her granddaughter Lucia, and a briefcase full of stolen money. With vintage car chases, warp speed energy and female bonding, this is funny, touching and exhilarating in all the right places.
Kirkus Review
Aided by an obliging grifter, a Brooklyn grandma on the run tries to mend her relationship with her estranged grandchild as the three outrun mob goons in the latest from Boyle (The Lonely Witness, 2018, etc.).Things haven't been good for Rena Ruggeiro ever since the death of her husband, Vic, nine years ago and her realization that her daughter, Adrienne, had been running around with Vic's right-hand man, Richie Schiavano, since high school. In spite of Vic's connections, Rena's always kept her nose clean and stuck to her routine in her Bensonhurst community, beginning with Mass and McDonald's coffee every Sunday. There's no sense in Rena getting overexcited like Adrienne would. After all, Adrienne hasn't spoken to Rena ever since Rena said her piece about Richie and his quality as a partner. Now, however, Adrienne has a 15-year-old daughter, Lucia, who doesn't even know her grandmother. Rena ponders these problems but doesn't act until her pushy neighbor, Enzio, makes a move and she wallops him with an ashtray that brings him down and maybe kills him. What can she do but grab the keys to his classic Impala and high-tail it to the Bronx in the hopes that Adrienne's in a charitable mood and can help her sort things out? But Adrienne is much the same, and Rena finds herself trying to figure out her next step as she sits in the living room of Adrienne's neighbor Lacey "Wolfie" Wolfstein, a soft-core porn star-turned-con artist who's taken a shine to Lucia. All this is prologue to the real drama, a caper-inspired road story of quirky personalities on the run littered with gruesome deaths as the truth about the hit on Vic comes outalong with so much more.Deploying an inimitable tone that packs sardonic storytelling atop action and adventure, with a side of character development, Boyle's voice works even when it feels like it shouldn't. It's just the right kind of too much. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Boyle's follow-up to the well-received The Lonely Witness (2018) is being promoted as Goodfellas meets Thelma and Louise, and this is one bit of marketing hype that pretty much works. The novel incorporates the snappy timing of both those films, and the Elmore Leonard-like cinematic prose begs for a film adaptation. In a classic screwball-noir opening, Brooklyn Mob widow Rena Ruggiero leaves her neighbor for dead after he makes an unwanted pass, and she beans him with an ashtray, fleeing in the neighbor's most prized possession, a 1962 Chevy Impala. The wackiness continues after Rena arrives at the Bronx home of her daughter, Adrienne, only to be turned away. But here comes Adrienne's neighbor Lacey Wolfie Wolfstein, retired porn star and grifter, to the rescue, taking in Rena and her granddaughter, Lucia, who is on the outs from Adrienne. Then Adrienne is gunned down right in front of the three women, and Rena swaps the Impala for another classic car, an Eldorado belonging to Adrienne's boyfriend, Richie, who left a half-million dollars swiped from the Mob in the trunk. We knew this had to end in a road trip, and, sure enough, Rena, Wolfie, and Lucia, after piling into the Caddy, head for the fast lane, as the trio bonds out of fear and respect for each other's determination. Better floor it, Wolfie! Mob henchman Hammer Dude is on your tail. Recommend this triumph of moral ambiguity to fans of black humor, including that of Carl Hiaasen and Dennis Lehane, in addition to Leonard.--Jane Murphy Copyright 2019 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
It took 14 years, beginning with The Power of the Dog in 2005, but Don Winslow has finally finished his monumental trilogy about the Mexican drug cartels and, on the other side of the border, the American dealers, fixers and addicts who keep the trade flourishing. THE BORDER (Morrow/ HarperCollins, $28.99) is a mighty book, overflowing with dramatic subplots populated by characters who come and go and are killed off with alarming frequency. In one disturbing sequence, inspired by a real-life atrocity, 43 Mexican students are dragged from their tour buses and immolated. At the other end of this devastating spectrum, a college freshman on Staten Island gets hooked on heroin and prostitutes herself for a fix. A D. E. a. agent named Art Keller is both our guide through this world and an active player in its scenes of unflinching violence - as well as surprising tenderness. Since he emerged from an operation in the jungles of Guatemala in 2012, he has been obsessed with bringing down Adán Barrera, the ruthless fictional godfather Winslow has placed at the head of the real-life Sinaloa drug cartel. With its rival, the Zetas, wiped out, Sinaloa rules the trade. When Barrera falls, caravans of narcos make their way up twisted country roads to pay their respects at his funeral; then they fight to the death to succeed him. Winslow writes like someone who's been to hell and back and can't wait to talk about the experience. He especially wants to make the point, as one Mexican woman puts it, that her government (and, by implication, ours) is not serious about shutting down the drug trade, it's serious about managing the drug trade. Whether good, bad or altogether hopeless, his characters are full of life and hard to forget. Among the most lethal: Ruben Ascensión, called El Cachorro, the Puppy, and Belinda Vatos, adored as a narco rock star. Although Winslow's plot is epic-scaled and intended to raise serious issues about the drug trade as a major American industry, it's those multiple generations of crazy narco families that really make his case. Venetians love to gossip, Donna Leon advises us in unto us a son IS GIVEN (Atlantic Monthly, $26) , her latest mystery featuring that most compassionate of policemen, Guido Brunetti, commissario di polizia. There's bound to be talk when Gonzalo Rodriguez de Tejeda, the rich Spanish godfather of Brunetti's wife, Paola, adopts his lover and makes the young man his legal heir. To the degree that we love Gonzalo, we can be concerned for him, Paola says, but we cannot gossip about him, at least not at this table. To keep peace in the family, Brunetti agrees; but as a devotee of the classics he can't help thinking of Caesar's designated heir, his nephew Octavian, whose accursed lineage handed Rome to the likes of Tiberius, Caligula and Nero. Things turn ugly when Gonzalo unexpectedly dies on a visit to his family in Madrid, and uglier still when his best friend, who has traveled from Yorkshire to Venice for the funeral, is strangled at her hotel. Of course, Brunetti has seen crimes like this before, but this cop is neither jaded nor callous, and he has that rare quality Italians would call un cuore d'oro, a heart of gold. Comic crime capers are fun. Comic crime capers starring women are even more fun. William Boyle delivers some choice laughs and a terrific trio of felons in A FRIEND IS A GIFT YOU GIVE YOURSELF (Pegasus Crime, $25.95) . This jaunty escapade begins in Brooklyn when Rena Ruggiero, the 60-year-old widow of a departed wiseguy, slugs Enzio, her 80-year-old neighbor, for putting the moves on her. Thinking she's killed him, Rena jumps into Enzio's spiffy '62 Chevy Impala and heads for her daughter Adrienne's house in the Bronx. For good reason, Adrienne can't go on the lam, but her 15-year-old daughter, Lucia, thinks grandma is cool. With the addition of an ex-porn star, Lacey Wolfstein, the Chevy is full of adventurous females and good to go on a road trip that's so much fun you don't want it to end. GREG ILES'S books often take place in beleaguered small towns in Mississippi like Bienville, the fictional setting of CEMETERY ROAD (Morrow/HarperCollins, $28.99) . Faithful to formula, his stock characters face unlikely predicaments that are resolved through familiar plot devices. Here it's the murder of an archaeologist who unearths historical artifacts that pose a serious threat to a projected paper mill. But there's something about Bienville that rings true, something about the plight of small towns all over the South struggling to remain relevant in a modern economy. In fiction, if not in life, all they need is a hometown hero like Marshall McEwan to revive them. I'm a good Southern boy at heart, Marshall says, explaining why he has returned to care for his aged father and rescue both the family newspaper and the town itself. The story may be corny, but there's a terrific party scene set in a grand old hotel that luxuriates in one last night of glory. Marilyn STASIO has covered crime fiction for the Book Review since 1988. Her column appears twice a month.
Library Journal Review
Boyle's third Brooklyn noir (after Gravesend The Lonely Witness) follows three women as they navigate perilous relationships and flee a crazed mob enforcer. Sixty-year-old Mafia widow Rena fights off a lecherous neighbor by striking him over the head with an ashtray, leaving him for dead. She then steals his mint 1962 Impala and runs to her daughter Adrienne, who refuses to let her in the house. Adrienne's boyfriend Richie has just knocked off five members of the Brancaccio crime family, absconding with half a million. Adrienne's disturbed daughter Lucia eventually winds up with the money and the chase is on. But first Rena and Lucia stumble upon former porn star Wolfstein, who's pursued by a jilted chump she scammed out of 15 large. And then comes Crea, the enforcer who gleefully pulps his victims with a hammer. VERDICT Boyle's fiction rises above the stereotypes of urban noir, not so much for the plot as for the quirky, flawed female characters with rich inner lives, the gritty dialog, and atmospheric street settings, in which authentic details abound. Offbeat humor leavens the mix and adds to the fun.-Ron Terpening, formerly of Univ. of Arizona, Tucson © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.