This gritty mafia/cop drama starts off as a much too simple revenge story and becomes a story of struggle, both internal as much as external: cops vs the mob, family vs duty, love vs hate. Throughout the novel there is the revenge plot flowing through, but it isn't as much as a driving force as it is a drowning one for the main character, namely the protagonist. The antagonist doesn't even realize there is a revenge plot. At times, Denmon's characters' thoughts don't add up in a logical way to their choices. The novel's protagonist, Alex Vaughn, an undercover cop on a mission to avenge his friend's murder, must decide on revenge or keeping his family together by choosing to leave the job that's consuming him. In the reading, it seems that Alex only want to go home, but he chooses to keep following leads to his friend's killer. There is not adequate internal discussion to make Alex's choice reasonable. The antagonist, Rafael Rontego, the assassin who killed Alex's friend is a sociopath with a moral compass. Which is impossible. At times he is cold and unfeeling which would ring true of someone whose psyche could not contain thoughts of compassion or feel love. On the other hand, Rontego may have been in love before, he can feel loyalty to his mob boss, and he even makes a friend in the novel.If you like mafia stories, this novel almost delivers, but does not quite satisfy any "Godfather" cravings. Likewise, the cop drama aspect isn't completely fulfilled either. Denmon writes an interesting novel of the grit of Buffalo, New York, but the abrupt jumps to different character points of view muddle his intentions of an epic crime drama. The not-quite-connected plot lines make it hard to get a sense of an overarching theme. While not great, this book is still worth picking up if you like a pretty good mob story. After the first few sentences I actually almost put this one down (figuratively mind you, as I read in an ipad). The opening scene seems a bit over the top by my standards and appears written mainly for shock value. Glad I hung around with this on a lazy weekend though, as this one settles down into a pretty good mafia yarn. Yes, there is some here that reminded me of a rewrite of a Godfather novel; but there is also quite a bit more if you give it a minute to coalesce. There is a really nice dichotomy between Alex and Rafael, and though I won't share any plot details, it does drive the overall engagement level of the reader. At least it did for me. The pacing is also really quite good and you don't have much time to come up for air. It isn't Steinbeck, but few are. Overall, a very enjoyable read!The only real downside is, as others have noted, is the editing and proofreading, which could really use some improvement as it tended to jerk me completely out of the moment.
Do You like book For Nothing (2011)?
Just good enough to keep reading...but bad enough to make you wonder why you still care.
—Nat
A mafia story. Not my favorite subject, but the book wasn't bad.
—mak1976
