Intense, edge of your chair, action-packed story of honor, friendship and betrayal.

Childhood friends growing up in a middle-class neighborhood gang together and have a rule – friendship and honor forever. For a time they separate but eventually four of them find themselves in the same town again. Two are married and in the mob, one is a homicide detective and the fourth is out after ten years in prison. This story begins with murder, has flashbacks to childhood and is told at times from different perspectives but the story focuses predominately on Nicky. By the end of the book I was thinking about friendship, honor and betrayal and why this group of four men ended up as they did. This is one powerful story that kept me reading from first page to last. There is graphic violence, murder, and rape in this story so if that is not your thing don’t pick up this book up. Otherwise, I highly recommend it! I will definitely look for more books by this author and recommend him to family and friends!

Thank you to the author for the copy of this book – I won it through a Facebook Party. ( )

wow totally unexpected and right out of the ball park! Review coming Wednesday at the Cabin! ( )

Book Info: Genre: Suspense/Thriller
Reading Level: Adult
Recommended for: people who like crime thrillers, stories about the mob
Trigger Warnings: murder, torture, child endangerment, domestic violence (against children), rape

My Thoughts: I'm actually quite happy that I read A Bullet for Carlos, which features Frankie Donovan as a minor character, before I read this one. Otherwise I think all the subtext and information about his childhood and friends we learn about in this book would have overwhelmed his character in the other book. As it is, reading this book afterward gave me the opportunity to become acquainted with Frankie before much is revealed about him, and that just worked really well for me. It might not be what the author intended, but I figured I'd share my thoughts on that.

There was a huge information error toward the end of the book, the chapter titled “Rattus Rattus”. The problem here is that Rattus rattus (the second is not capitalized) is the roof or black rat. The common sewer or grey or wharf rat that most people think of as “rats” are Rattus norvegicus. They are also the type that has been domesticated as pets. R. Rattus are easily run off by R. Norvegicus, who are larger and more aggressive and territorial; however, their territories tend to be different. Anyone who knows anything about rodents will be aware of this. I've shared my home with both these kinds of rats and can tell you they are very different.

Of course, this is a small and fairly minor thing. Overall this is a really interesting book, although sometimes a bit hard to read due to some of the things that happen. The kids growing up surrounded by the mob was sometimes funny but more often terrifying, and what happens to Nicky is really not fair. This author knows how to write very engaging characters, and characters that are very colorful. If you enjoy crime thrillers, especially relating to the mob, you should enjoy this book.

Series Information: Friendship and Honor series
Book 1: Murder Takes Time
Book 2: Murder Has Consequences

Disclosure: I won this book in a giveaway. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: A string of brutal murders has bodies piling up in Brooklyn, and Detective Frankie Donovan knows what is going on. Clues left at the crime scenes point to someone from the old neighborhood, and that isn't good.

Frankie has taken two oaths in his life—the one he took to uphold the law when he became a cop, and the one he took with his two best friends when they were eight years old and inseparable. Those relationships have forced Frankie to make many tough decisions, but now he faces the toughest one of his life; he has five murders to solve and one of those two friends is responsible. If Frankie lets him go, he breaks the oath he took as a cop and risks losing his job. But if he tries to bring him in, he breaks the oath he kept for twenty-five years—and risks losing his life.

In the neighborhood where Frankie Donovan grew up, you never broke an oath. ( )

Lesson in what it takes to form friendships and honor is the main theme of the book. It was thrilling and opened with a plot that you just had to keep reading on until you were finished with the book. I totally was impressed by the writing of this book. Not for teens or children. Murder Takes Time was a great name for this book because it was about three young boys who grow up together and then became Adults. A totally awesome read!
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A totally delightful romp through all the characters that populated our childhood. They may not have shared the same ethnicities but, all the character traits were there just not the particular set of last names. I loved the characters as they were obviously drawn upon the personal experiences of the author and I felt they were honest characters. We love some of them and see others for the back biting snakes they are. We have all had those type of characters in our lives as we matured. I also identified with the special cultural imperatives that the characters dealt with in a realistic fashion. The twists of the story and the way the characters dealt with those twists were also honest to the character types. I enjoyed the individual reactions and was pleased that even though some of the characters had feet of mud, they were able to work themselves into what was for me a good solution. I wasn't disappointed by a moralistic finish that would have destroyed what turned out to be a completely satisfying ending. A good yarn that we all might have been able to wander through given a similar set of circumstances. Give your self a treat and read this delightful book! ( )