Fresh out of jail, Frank Lagotti Jnr is looking for a way to get rich quick and escape all his worldly troubles, and he has just the people in mind to help him.
Frank's big idea is to rob a bank and he soon gathers the men he needs. His girlfriend Mary Lou is also central to the plan, as she is the ideal one to use her ample charms to get on the good side of Carter Reinfeldt, one of the bank's employees - and Carter falls hook-line-and-sinker, allowing the gang all the information they need for the job.
You would think all would be going swimmingly, with an inside man, a skilled group of compatriots, and the backing they need from Frank Jr's mobster uncle, Frank Lagotti Snr, but trouble lies ahead.
It is not long before the gang members are all plotting to kill each other; Frank Jnr has a score to settle with Frank Snr; Frank Snr has a plot of his own; and Mary Lou does not know where her allegiance lies now she finds herself attracted to the reliable Carter, who it turns out is planning to rob the bank too!
This is not going to be such an easy job after all...
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The Heist is book one of the four part Lagotti Family Series, which tells the story of two generations and four decades in the lives of Frank, Mary Lou and the rest of the gang.
The action gets going straight off the mark and it is soon clear that trouble lies ahead, when the gang members rub each other up the wrong way.
Leopold Borstinski introduces us to the different characters in an explosion of diverse storylines, but the separate threads soon begin to weave together in a way that lets you know there is going to be a bloody reckoning sooner or later. As rivalries, petty jealousies and downright hatred breed between the characters, they are pretty soon either planning the demise of each other, or looking for a way out once the money is in their hands. This lends the story the air of a darkly comic farce, where you are party to all their evil schemes, while on the surface they are calmly biding their time and looking forward to the bank job as an apparently stable team, and I found this rather interesting.
My one issue with the book was the amount of sex. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with a bit of sex in a book - the characters in this book are all motivated by sex and greed, and it is interesting to see how their obsessions influence their behaviour. However, there is so much of it here that the sex gets in the way of the story and the gratuitous fumblings, fingerings and squirtings did little to advance the plot. I was here for the mob story and did not really care about how the characters got their all too frequent sexual kicks, although I think Leopold Borstinski was probably trying to convey that our less than intellectual cast of characters were looking for a way to pass the time. I found myself skipping over the rude bits just to find out what was going to happen next and less would most certainly have been more.
Looking past the sex, if you can, there is an engaging mob story fighting to get out and I became intrigued by how this would play out. The Heist forms a solid foundation for the other books, and book two, The Getaway, runs seamlessly on from the ending of book one - although I have not ventured far into the second installment. As predicted, things did not turn out as Frank expected and there are still plenty of trials and tribulations ahead for him and the gang - there is also an interesting development in the form of a snippet of Mary Lou's backstory right at the beginning, which is a bit of a shocker to say the least.
If you like a mob story, with an interesting cast of complex characters, and you are not squeamish about graphic sex, then The Heist offers an intriguing introduction to the world of the Lagotti family and tempts you to read more about the exploits of Frank and the gang.
Thank you to Leopold Bortinski, Sobriety Press and Damp Pebbles Blog Tours for providing me with a copy of The Lagotti Family Box Set in return for an honest review.
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From the book cover of the first book in the series, The Heist:
One jailbird. One bank. One heap of trouble.
After leaving Baltimore Penitentiary, Frank's get rich quick scheme to rob a bank requires his girlfriend, Mary Lou to sleep with an inside guy and for his gang to stay together long enough to take down the vault. Meanwhile Mary Lou falls for the inside man and can’t decide whether to go with him or Frank. If she chooses the wrong fella she’ll be penniless and wind up dead.
How would you choose between a fool and a dreamer?
From the book cover of the second book in the series The Getaway:
After ex-con Frank and his girlfriend Mary Lou rob a Baltimore Bank, they must flee
across country before the Feds find them and the mob ices them for stealing from an organized crime boss. As they dash to California, trust becomes the most important currency as Frank and Mary Lou grapple to decide whether love is enough to keep them together. And by the time they reach their goal, they must fight to the death to survive hired guns and trained police shooters. If they don’t kill everyone in their way then they will die themselves. Would you risk everything for a sack of greenbacks?
When Mary Lou takes the proceeds from a bank robbery to start up her heroin dealing business, old enemies circle overhead and threaten the lives of her twins. How will she keep them safe in such a dangerous place and what is she prepared to do to secure her new venture?
From the book cover of the final book in the series Mama's Gone:When Mary Lou makes some bad decisions, her twins and her husband must decide whether she’s losing her mind. If they can get that cleared up then all they have to worry about is their feud with the Russian mob. And then someone goes and ices the old lady.
Who would have the cajones to murder the head of the Lagotti family?
About the author:
Leopold Borstinski is an independent author whose past careers have included financial journalism, business management of financial software companies, consulting and product sales and marketing, as well as teaching.
There is nothing he likes better so he does as much nothing as he possibly can. He has travelled extensively in Europe and the US and has visited Asia on several occasions. Leopold holds a Philosophy degree and tries not to drop it too often.
He lives near London and is married with one wife, one child and no pets.
Leopold Borstinski is an independent author whose past careers have included financial journalism, business management of financial software companies, consulting and product sales and marketing, as well as teaching.
There is nothing he likes better so he does as much nothing as he possibly can. He has travelled extensively in Europe and the US and has visited Asia on several occasions. Leopold holds a Philosophy degree and tries not to drop it too often.
He lives near London and is married with one wife, one child and no pets.
Thanks so much x
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