06/27/2022
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.)
"Hogan creates a masterly portrait of men in turmoil, of allegiances forged and broken, and of loyalty tested... GANGLAND is also, like the best mob books and movies, an exploration of masculinity at its most toxic and pernicious."—New York Times Book Review
"Colorful, engaging, and bloody; a richly satisfying crime story and character study."—Kirkus Reviews
PRAISE FOR THE TOWN
"A terrific read...A rich narrative of friendship, young love, and mounting suspense." —Stephen King
"Smart, speedy, and stylish."—Jeffery Deaver
"As knowledgeable as James Ellroy, as sharp as Elmore Leonard, and as profound as fellow Boston scribe Dennis Lehane."—Fort Worth Star-Telegram
"A riveting, splendidly detailed thriller."—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"Stunningly crafted...The plot...is swift and expertly built, the prose muscular and clean."—The Seattle Times
03/01/2022
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.
Justin Price does an incredible job performing this grisly thriller featuring a real-life mob leader who is out for revenge against mobsters who invaded his home, ravaged it, and stole important papers. In a story in which no one is a hero, Price applies the slightest bit of sympathetic nuance to his portrayal of Nicky Passero, the hit man charged with catching the burglars and torturing them to death. Passero complies but is sickened with regret. Price increases sympathy for Passero's underlings, who don't want to kill people they've known for years but do it anyway. Ultimately, everyone obeys the insane mob boss, Tony Accardo. The audiobook is based on the real-life Accardo, who ran his Chicago crime organization with an iron fist for decades. M.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
Justin Price does an incredible job performing this grisly thriller featuring a real-life mob leader who is out for revenge against mobsters who invaded his home, ravaged it, and stole important papers. In a story in which no one is a hero, Price applies the slightest bit of sympathetic nuance to his portrayal of Nicky Passero, the hit man charged with catching the burglars and torturing them to death. Passero complies but is sickened with regret. Price increases sympathy for Passero's underlings, who don't want to kill people they've known for years but do it anyway. Ultimately, everyone obeys the insane mob boss, Tony Accardo. The audiobook is based on the real-life Accardo, who ran his Chicago crime organization with an iron fist for decades. M.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
2022-07-13
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.
