Brian Selfon

Author Brian Selfon worked in criminal justice so its no surprise that his debut novel would have an authentic feel. He’s an excellent writer that brings poetic life to these unlikeable characters. The initial story revolves gangster Henry and his friend Emil who are both painters. Brian Selfon has a knack for finding humanity in these monstrous people. The structure is a bit confusing and suffers from a non-linear time frame. So even with the elegance of his writing, he fails to engage the reader.… (más)

The story starts off well enough, although the family-loving money launderer is a bit overdone. Still the Brooklyn setting is nice and the mystery of what happened to a runner with $250,000 in cash on his way to make a deposit is pretty good UNTIL. UNTIL the author about 2/3 of the way through the book just seems to get tired of the story and let the most interesting character and the rest of the story go off the rails. The ending is just a fizzle. The publisher should have sent this one back for a re-write.

The audiobook is pretty well narrated, but some of the female voices are really annoying. Of course, the character herself is annoying, so maybe this makes sense.… (más)

Shecky Keenan's family business is running dirty money. He is a family man of sorts who cares about his makeshift family of his niece and nephew who are in the "biz" too. The niece is recently released from prison and seeing a therapist and struggles with drug addiction. The nephew is responsible for business personnel and hires an artist friend who is killed. This is a business fraught with problems and there are many. Through it all Shecky always tries to make sure that they have a nice home and a good meal on the table.… (más)