The Last Gig

I really loved this book. I will admit that one of the "bad guys" in the book is named Gearoid O'Hagan, so I was somewhat interested to see how the whole story unraveled as that is also my name. Well, I was not dissappointed. Great story telling, strong plot and very well developed characters. While there always is some 'suspension of disbelief' necessary to enjoy any work of fiction, I found a lot in this book real-to-life. The central character is, of course, Alessandra "Al" Martillo. A street smart, tough as nails PI, who manages to get into and out of all sorts of trouble. Other people have mentioned that Al is just a little too tough, but there is one memorable scene where she gets the s*** beaten of her. She wasn't too tough there. I highly recommend this book. Norman Green ties up all the loose ends and multiple sub-plots nicely and I look forward to Al Martillo having a long, successful literary career.

Thanks to her street wise uncle, former Bronx runaway Alessandra "Al" Martillo learns to live off the street too. She obtains a job at a dumpy private investigative-repo firm working as an assistant to sleazy former NYPD cop Marty Stiles. Irish mobster Daniel "Mickey" Caughlan hires Stiles to investigate who is using his trucking company to transport drugs while setting up the gangster to take the fall once the cops move in. Stiles needs an insider so assigns the anti Barbie tall, lean and tough Al to go undercover working at the trucking company. Al makes inquiries and learns of the mysterious death of Mickey's twenty year old son six months ago from an alleged overdose. As Stiles works other cases for his clients who hire him due to his silent shady investigations that cross the legal and ethical lines, Al courageously bangs heads placing her at risk. This is a terrific New York noir starring a kick butt female whose attitude encourages fights as if her motto is "violence is as American as cherry pie" (H. Raps Brown). Although she is bit over the Empire State Building, fans will enjoy her antics and that of her boss as they trek the city that never sleeps. Urban noir fans will enjoy THE LAST GIG due to Al's approach to life from pool-halls to dives, cases from sex tape retrievals to mob traitor, and Manhattan from sordid to even sleazier scenarios. Harriet Klausner