Whacking Jimmy by
William Wolf
pbk out September 99
(No Exit Press)
at £6.99
In the last episode of “The Sopranos” Tony Soprano, with a hung dog look, lamented the fact that an attempt had been made on his life by “...two guys with 9mm’s. My self esteem is at an all time low”. Life, for a modern Mafia family, is definitely getting more complicated.
So, when Don Vittorio Tucci, head of the Detroit mob, is dying and his various “business associates” jockey for power he chooses his grandson Bobby as the next Don. Blood is thicker than, well blood, especially when it’s splattered all over the place and unless Bobby, a no-mark college student civilian, can work something out he’ll be sleeping with the fish before you can say “Keep your friends close.....”. And with friends like these - including a mother who makes Lucrecia Borgia look maternal - Bobby is quickly in it up to his neck. To top it all he has to ”make his bones” by whacking Jimmy Hoffa.
Wolf has pulled off the feat of writing a book which is fast, violent, believable and quite simply a top notch read. It’s also very funny. There’s a kangaroo called Ali who off’s a Mafia consigliore in a scene that had me laughing out loud. It is both original and hilarious and may well, like “The Sopranos”, make you wish it wont end. And it has absolutely nothing to do with the untimely demise (for him) of Mr Hoffa. Honest.
Whacking Jimmy by
William Wolf