Ted Galdi

This story has a slow burn to it. Brian Rolson starts off as a good, but naive, fellow who is helping his younger brother Kip out. Their State Trooper dad has strict high expectations of both his sons and Kip has already had a mark against him. Now he’s gotten involved with some drug gangs and owes them $18k, which he can’t possibly pay off in time without help. So Brian, who’s been a limo driver for a while now, agrees to take up driving for this illicit casino business. Manhattan has show more strict rules about casinos but the Russian Mob has ways around them.

As the story unfolds, we get a few more characters, like Dusty who becomes Brian’s good best buddy in this illicit casino business. Then there’s Brian’s girlfriend (Samantha? maybe?) who reluctantly gets dragged into this and then unceremoniously kicked out. That spurs our duo on to what becomes a big flustercluck.

Igor is the Mobster that Brian has the most dealings with. He is calm, concentrated, and scary! One of my favorite scenes is where Igor, Samantha, and Brian are all crammed into a car having a heated discussion. It was intense and I wasn’t sure everyone was going to make it out of that car alive.

Dusty is lovable because he’s almost a Puck – so care free and full of life. He’s got this philosophy that you should take chances, live that life to the fullest, because death comes in an instant and then you’re not around to deal with any messy clean up (physically or emotionally). Brian isn’t sure he buys into that but it does intrigue him.

As wrapped up as I was in this tale, I did miss the ladies. There’s a brief appearance of Brian’s mom, a woman who runs the little bank at the casino events, and Samantha (plus some bar ladies and gamblers). Samantha has the most lines but she’s mostly there to provide emotional fuel for Brian and Dusty to hatch their plan. She hasn’t got a full personality like Brian or Dusty. So I would have liked more ladies and more from them.

I liked the underlying role of Brian’s dad. His strong expectations from his kids motivate Brian just as much as that event with Samantha. Both sons feel that they can’t go to their dad for help or guidance because they will forever be labeled Mess-Ups, never to crawl out from that black cloud.

While the heist attempt itself was full of riveting scenes, I could see all sorts of issues with their plan leading up to the attempt. Why oh why! Boys! So many ways for things to go wrong and for it to end in tears. But the ending was full of suspense and action, kept me hooked, and on the edge of my seat. 4.5/5 stars.

I received a free copy of this book. My opinions are wholly my own.

The Narration: Scott R. Pollak did a great job with this narration. He had the perfect voice for Brian, who is naive and a little too helpful to everyone. He’s eager to please. Then he also had the perfect care-free voice for Dusty. I also liked his strong, unforgiving voice for Brian’s dad (the state trooper). His few female voices were feminine. The pacing was perfect. There were no technical issues with this recording. 5/5 stars. show less

OH MY WORD, I COULD HARDLY STOP READING THIS NOVEL!! I'd hate to be on the wrong side of Cole who to took on the biker's that rough up his brother and foiled a drug ring! I was right with him when he raced on a Harley to get away from the local cops, and MY GOD what he had to go through not to mention he got shot two or three times. Black Quiet is a AWESOME THRILL SEEKING BOOK THAT I HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

I love that this one started with an 11 year old playing Jeopardy and just wiping the floor with the adults. But from there, I just didn't love the mc. It's nice he didn't stay 11, he grew up and we got a story with a later teenager.

I think I didn't love this as much because it felt a little too easy. Now that we've had a pandemic, you can't help but pause and think - *sigh* if only it was this easy.

It is an interesting adventure of a story, with shady bad guys, secret encryptions, and show more mysterious illnesses. And a very very smart kid.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book. show less

This book was an easy read, kept my interest, and while the characters are stereotypes the plot moved along making the stock characters not too distracting. The biggest problem I have is author would have us believe it is an unfortunate mistake and one that is forgivable, that the main character having criminally assaulted a person resulting in their loosing a leg, unfairly ended up in prison. Secondly, the main character escapes from prison and again the author would have us buy that this show more was an unfortunate mistake and is forgivable as he turned in the "truly bad guy." who escaped along with him. This says volumes about the lack of responsibility assumed by the author and his society. Consequently, the story is fatally flawed not due to any of the mechanics of the plot or characters but rather by a premise which fundamentally wrong. show less