The Rizzoli Contract by
Kevin Stevens
pbk out September 03
(Pocket Books)
at £6.99
Although the author now lives in Dublin, this is a very 'American' book,
really needing some appreciation of New England politics back in the
'eighties. Based in Boston, the most Irish of US cities, it concerns a failing
small-time publisher, Harry Donohue, who is desperately grabbing at his last
chance of survival by landing a contract with Bobby Rizzoli, who is starting
a twelve-year prison stretch for a daring robbery. The major angle is that
Bobby was a local police chief and robbed a bank in his own community,
using other policemen as accomplices. Harry has a number of pressing
problems, including a fondness for drink. His publishing business is a
parasite upon the back of his family printing shop and his ex-nun sister, now
a lawyer, is pulling the plug on his creative accounting. The legal and
political establishment is not happy about Harry's planned expose of Bobby
- and a new complication is that Harry has fallen for Bobby's wife, a
dangerous thing even when hubby is behind bars.
This is the author's first novel, though he has written several factual crime
books - one of which was on New England's largest bank robbery,
obviously the inspiration for this story. The writing is good, though I found
the book a bit heavy going - I think a native knowledge of, and interest in,
Massachusetts wheeling and dealing is needed for this to become a really
gripping tale.
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
The Rizzoli Contract by
Kevin Stevens
