 Die Next DIE NEXT JONATHAN STONE
In a crowded coffee shop, Zack Yellin swaps identical-looking cell phones with the businessman next to him. It's an honest mistake-and a deadly one. Because the "businessman" is actually a professional-and highly volatile-hit man named Joey Richter, and his phone is filled with bombshell evidence.If Zack takes Joey's phone to the police, will they believe his swapped cell phone story? Would they even be able to protect him? Because the hit man now has Zack's phone with the phone numbers and addresses of Zack's new girlfriend Emily, his best friend Steve, and all the texts and information from Zack's life.Whether Zack keeps the phone or ditches it, Joey will kill him for what he now knows. In cat-and-mouse twists, turns, and continually mounting terror, one thing is clear: Zack is next on the hit man's list.
PAT'S REVIEW
Die Next for me was a fast-paced book that starts with two people at a coffee shop were one man picks up the wrong cell phone. Both phones look alike and when Zack who was still at the coffee shop realizes that he has the wrong phone he contacts his phone to get ahold of the person who has it. By also seeing the way the man entered his passcode which was a very simple code. He has also entered into other information from the phone belonging to a killer.
Missing the time when he was to meet with the man Zack is packed because he does not remember phone numbers or email addresses, these are all storied in his phone so he does not need his memory for those things anymore. He decides to go to the police station. Once there he realizes he will be looked at as another crazy New Yorker who would believe his story, he would not believe it but he is living it.
This is what made this book for me the beginning half, the turmoil that Zack was going through. You are also in the mind of the killer going through his past and what will happen to him by not completing the job, feeling like a failure. I also liked the part of Zack not knowing anyone's phone numbers which a lot of people have forgotten. I guess since I grew up with those old fashion rotary dial phones, I still remember numbers, crazy I know but this book brings to life the new age. Yes, there are times it drags somewhat but overall, this is a fast book with very intriguing characters from Zack's girlfriend, his friend Steve to even later in the story the killer's parent's which was another added plus to the story. Overall a good book. I received this book from Netgalley.com I gave it 4 stars. Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com |
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  Godsend (Danny Felix #2) GODSEND J.A. MARLEY
It has been eighteen months since Danny Felix pulled off the robbery of his life. His plan brought London to a standstill, but at a heavy price.Now, living a quiet life running a charter fishing business in the Florida Keys, Danny is trying to come to terms with the death and destruction he had unwittingly unleashed. However, the low profile is beginning to wear thin and he soon starts to crave the adrenalin rush of his former criminal ways.Little does he know that three very different women are about to enter his life and turn it upside-down. Soon Danny finds himself right back in the action.But why has he been chosen? And does he have the appetite to pull off another job where the stakes are so lethally high?
PAT'S REVIEW
This is the second book in the series and after reading this one I am going to go look for the first one. The book opens with Danny Felix stopping a robbery by two girls at a convince store which is funny in a way. You find out that he is living in Florida and has a fishing boat. A priest comes out to fish and talks to him occasionally and he has a few associates. Mostly he deals with Danny.
Meanwhile, the other part of the story is about a televangelist and his wife. The man who has been using his platform as a way to scrub money for one cartel there in Florida has also found out he has been taken some off from the top.
Just as you think you have all of the players in steps a man from the first book that I am assuming he thought he would never see again but he is now having a conversation with. He is also agreeing forcibly to a heist that will include taking the drug money and more from the televangelist. Here is where the story begins to really take hold but just as you the reader thinks that everything has been giving to you it has not. The author takes you on a read that is non stop from beginning to end and as the book progresses the story is getting better along the way. You are not wanting to put it down and I was disappointed when it ended just because I wanted more. A wonderful fast-paced book that will keep you going from the beginning to the end. I received this book from Netgalley.com I gave it 5 stars. Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com |
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 Top Hoodlum: Frank Costello, Prime Minister of the Mafia TOP HOODLUM ANTHONY M. DESTEFANO
Using newly released FBI files, eyewitness accounts, and family mementos, Top Hoodlum takes you inside the Mafia that Frank Costello helped build from the ground up, from small-time bootlegging and gambling to a nationwide racketeering empire. The book's stunning revelations include:
* Costello's secret interviews with federal investigators--now released for the first time
* His private meetings with FBI director J. Edgar Hoover
* His partnership with Charlie "Lucky" Luciano and how they brutally displaced the old guard of the Mafia
*Surviving an assassination attempt by Genovese Family hitman Vincent "Chin" Gigante
*His crime family's role in the now legendary suicide of Abe "Kid Twist" Reles, a Murder, Inc. member who was about to rat out the mob
* His personal involvement in the notorious 1947 "mob summit" in Havana, Cuba
* His secret interests, both real and suspected, in Las Vegas, New Orleans, and Manhattan night clubs like the Copacabana
* His power over politicians, rapport with reporters, and amazing ability to evade the feds
* His refusal to admit his crimes long after he retired--until his death in 1973
Sometimes shocking, sometimes amusing, and always riveting, these are the stories that have inspired American crime classics like The Godfather, Casino, Goodfellas, and The Sopranos. This is the man who made the Mafia such a powerful force in our nation's history. This is Top Hoodlum.
PAT'S REVIEW
This book is a fascinating story of one Frank Costello. Who began back during the Volstead Act with Luciano, Lansky, and some of the others? This was before the five families. Here you get to see hie rise to power especially after Luciano is deported to Italy. He survives an assignation attempt by one Chin Gigante who later would still become a crime boss even after botching this attempt. Costello uses his smarts to overcome people and problems. Problems being people wanting to testify against the family regardless of where they may be staying.
You also get a look at how he uses his political and other government officials. I found this to be a very good book and full of a lot of information. He even goes into things when he was to have been retired. More to this story and book than many others that I have read and one that gives you the sense of a true gangster in all he accomplished and overcame. Especially when others ended up in prison. Very much worth the read. I received this book from Netgalley.com I gave it 5 stars. Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com |
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 Chin: The Life and Crimes of Mafia Boss Vincent Gigante CHIN LARRY McSHANE
Vincent "Chin" Gigante. He started out as a professional boxer--until he found his true calling as a ruthless contract killer. His doting mother's pet name for the boy evolved into his famous alias, "Chin," a nickname that struck fear throughout organized crime as he routinely ordered the murders of mobsters who violated the Mafia code--including a contract put out on Gambino family boss John Gotti.Vincent Gigante was hand-picked by Vito Genovese to run the Genovese Family when Vito was sent to prison. Chin raked in more than $100 million for the Genovese family, all while evading federal investigators. At the height of his power, he controlled an underworld empire of close to three hundred made men, extending from New York's Little Italy to the docks of Miami to the streets of Philadelphia--making the Genovese Family the most powerful in the U.S.And yet Vincent "Chin" Gigante was, to all outside appearances, certifiably crazy. A serial psychiatric hospital outpatient, he wandered the streets of Greenwich Village in a ratty bathrobe and slippers, sometimes adding a floppy cap to complete the ensemble. He urinated in public, played pinochle in storefronts, and hid a second family from his wife. On twenty-two occasions, he admitted himself to a mental hospital--evading criminal prosecution while insuring his continued reign as "The Oddfather." It took nearly thirty years of endless psychiatric evaluations by a parade of puzzled doctors for federal authorities to finally bring him down.This is an American Mafia story unlike any other--a strange and shocking account of one man's rise to power that's as every bit as colorful and bizarre as the man himself.
PAT'S REVIEW
A book about Chin Gigante who would be better known as the bathrobe, Don. Most of the material or information it seemed to me comes from his older brother who also happens to be a Priest. You do get a little of what he would do around the neighborhood walking around in a bathrobe and slippers. Also showing up at court like that as well. He did rise through the Genevese crime family to actually run it at one time.It would have been nice if the author would have gotten some of the old trial transcripts from early on when he was actually let go with an insanity plea and would go to a mental hospital occasionally just to keep the act going once, he passed the first doctors test. You do get some background but not as much as I have read from other books.It would take years to take him down and to discover his second home. It would have been nice to have more of the investigation in what it took to take him down and the fact that someone actually on the task force saw him one night when he was not in his bathrobe after one of his associates killed a female detective. Still, this was a good book that I thought could be better. Another interesting fact is one of the few men to botch a hit when he was younger and still rise to the top. I received this book from Netgalley.com I gave it 3 stars Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com |
 Snakes! Guillotines! Electric Chairs!: My Adventures in The Alice Cooper Group SNAKES!GUILLOTINES!ELECTRIC CHAIRS! DENNIS DUNAWAY
"Before the world heard of KISS, the New York Dolls, Marilyn Manson, or Ozzy Osbourne, there was Alice Cooper, the original shock-rock band." -Rock and Roll Hall of FameAs teenagers in Phoenix, Dennis Dunaway, bassist and co-songwriter for the Alice Cooper group, and lead singer Vince Furnier (who would later change his name to Alice Cooper) formed a hard-knuckles band that played prisons, cowboy bars, and teens clubs. Their wild, impossible journey took them from Hollywood to the ferocious Detroit music scene, and along the way they discovered the utterly original performance style and look that would make them the stuff of legend.Speaking out for the first time about his adventures in the Alice Cooper group, Dunaway reveals a band that was obsessed with topping themselves, with their increasingly outlandish shows and ever-blackening reputation. Dunaway takes readers into back rooms, behind brainstorming sessions, and into the most exclusive parties of the 1970s, revealing the talent, drama, and characters that drove two teenagers to create what would become America's highest-grossing act.From struggling for recognition to topping the charts with a string of hits including "I'm Eighteen," "School's Out," and "No More Mr. Nice Guy," the Alice Cooper group was entertaining, outrageous, and one of a kind.Snakes! Guillotines! Electric Chairs! is a riveting account of the band's creation in the '60s, their strange glory in the '70s, and the legendary characters they met along the way.
PAT'S REVIEW
Dennis Dunnaway who was the bassist in the Alice Cooper band describes the beginnings of first him meeting Vince Furnier who would later become the frontman and then the person we all know as Alice Cooper. Going back to there high school days and when they formed a band added members and then came up with the original guys who would play on their albums, at least the first seven. I had come across them in 71 when I was just 11 from an older friend thinking that it was their first record, I found out later it was the second. I had listened to them throughout the '70s and beyond even when he went solo.
Here though you get a look at the actually beginnings from high school through their time in southern California where they were part of the Topanga Canyon scene in the late '60s with Morrison of the Doors, Hendrix, Joplin playing at Whiskey a-go-go. That they were part of that scene was amazing what time in the mid to late sixties to be around that crowd.
You get to see the first person that really changed the music scene in performers with creating a character and becoming that character. Long before any of the other ones who have become famous. also how they came up with the stage props from guillotines, electronic chair, adding a snake when someone threw their boa snake on stage during one of their concerts. Behind their writing the songs that would become hits as well. I found this to be a very good book and interesting as well. I received this book from Netgalley.com I gave it 5 stars. Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com |
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 In Good Faith: A History of the Vietnam War Volume 1: The Road to War, 1945–65 IN GOOD FAITH SERGIO MILLER
Drawing on the latest research, unavailable to the authors of the classic Vietnam histories, these two volumes tell the whole story for the first time, including the truth behind the events of the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident, which opened the door to Washington's entry into the war, and which can now be told in full thanks to recently declassified National Security Agency top secret material. Examining in depth both the events and the key figures of the conflict, this is a definitive new history of American engagement in Vietnam.
In Good Faith tells the story from the Japanese surrender in 1945 through America's involvement in the French Indochina War and the initial advisory missions that followed. It describes how these missions gradually grew in both scope and scale, and how America became ever more committed to the region, especially following the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964 which led to the first bombing missions over North Vietnam. It finishes at the climax of one of those operations, Rolling Thunder, and just prior to the first commitment of US ground forces to the war in Vietnam in the spring of 1965.
PAT'S REVIEW
This book opens with the surrender of Japan in 1945 and how Asia was but forgotten when the leaders had gotten together for their talks at Yalta and how even Truman and others were focused on Europe and helping Japan. No one was really looking at any of the Asian countries and because of that communist regimes were able to move in and start taking over.
In Vietnam, it got to the point where the people were put down by the French who were in the country already priory to WWII. They wanted to stay in Vietnam after the war but would need assistance eventually in weapons to hold on. The author talks about how our country went from being in the war to wanting to deescalate, close factories, release men from service and really go back to the way it was after world war one, where we thought nothing would happen. Instead during this time of doing nothing, Asia was going away and America did not care, they would not care from 1946 to 1955. Then America had a wake-up call in 65 when more American soldiers would die.
The author takes you through what was happening in Vietnam during the late '40s and then the 50's. all the while we had men in congress doing which hunt on Americans over their so-called communists' activities. All the while not paying any attention to the World. They would let Korea get out of hand. Then when Eisenhower was in office, he tried to help Vietnam only to be shut down. He did send advisors and weapons. In the late 50's we were already running operations into areas of Vietnam, Laos and some men wanted to go into Cambodia. Had already lost American servicemen before Kennedy was elected. He then had to deal with Vietnam and then eventually the Cuban missile crisis especially after the Bay of Pigs. Goes into the assignation of a leader for he wanted someone else in charge. Yes, boys and girls, we did do these sorts of things back then. The problem was the President was assonated so Johnson was in charge.
In 1963 in a battle on Jan 2 we lost 15 helicopters, we could only have three advisors and one of the biggest problems was communication. The ones we were helping did not or did not want to listen. That was a bad day. It was also a battle where the enemy shot down most of the helicopters with the ground to air rockets which would happen much more in the war that would follow. I had heard of this battle decades ago, were the men there said if they had more Americans, they believed they could have defeated the enemy and changed course, only not to happen because Washington had them with only so many. The C.I.A also were running missions into the country. By 64 277service men were killed. In 65 the first female C.I.An officer is killed. One night an airbase was overrun with over 70 American servicemen wounded another 4 killed. Next night B-52's would drop thousands of bombs.
65 you have the bombing of the embassy in Saigon where the next day another bombing run was made called rolling thunder. My Uncle attached to the Marines was top NCO at the embassy from 65 – 66 he would go to Vietnam later in 69 in time for Tet. Anyway, as the author is taking you through all of this you are also getting what is happening at home. Civil rights workers are missing, then you have the incident at the gulf of Token. You also get a look at Lt. Alverez how would be first to be shot down and stay a prisoner for eight years.
You end in 65 right at the incident. For me, this was a very good book. Yes, people, we were bombing and running missions into different parts of the country long before Nixon. That is what always got to me. As a kid sitting around listening to the military men that came to our house, I thought all of those men were just telling stories. They were telling the truth about their stories. Having an Uncle fighting in Vietnam, a cousin who was a gunship helicopter pilot and each did two tours.
This is a very good book and though I probably di a much longer review than I should have this book is filled with information and is worth the read. I know some people may think it a dry read but for me, it was very good and informative. I received this book from Netgally.com I gave it 5 stars. Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com |
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