Steve Piacente

Author Piacente's third novel starring reporter Dan Patragno. Patragno is now a disgraced newspaper reporter, for being involved with his sources; however, his wife has taken him back and he is managing a laundromat in Washington D.C. It's now ten years after the story told in Piacente's Bootlicker, when he gets a completely unexpected call from a man he put in jail, who promises him a story. Patragno hopes this story can restore his credibility as a journalist, and travels south to hear the story, and it's a real doozy: the jailbird, a white supremacist, is dying and wants to make a confession about his past. The secret is so important that it can potentially alter an upcoming Senate election.

Piacente weaves in a number of historical events and personalities in race relations, both in the South as well as the Washington D.C. area and he develops a compelling, likable character in Haryette Coleman. The ethics of newspaper reporting remain a central theme in his novels.… (more)

Piacente's second novel is a prequel to Bella, starring reporter Dan Patragno. Patragno writes a moving news story about a murder-suicide, is promoted to the political beat, and is assigned to cover a Congressional race in South Carolina engineered to bring the state's first black since the late 1800's. The leading candidate was a key figure in mustering black support for a white S.C. Senator, and the story of how he got involved with the Senator is a key element of the story. Piacente is clearly a Washington D.C. insider, well versed in how newspaper reporters and newspapers work. Well done.… (more)

This was such an excellent story! It was written by a local author whom I know in person who was once a journalist. I previously read another book by him and can attest to his excellent writing skills. I loved that this story was mostly based in the Washington, DC, area, and included such local color as names of cities I know (Bethesda, Silver Spring), and mentioned a college I attended (University of Maryland...Go Terps!).

The story is about Danny Patragno, a married man and father, who becomes entangled in the life of Isabel Moss (Bella, as she had been know to her husband), a woman whose husband died by friendly fire as an American GI in Afghanistan. As a DC correspondent for a Florida newspaper, Patragno spent much time reporting on what happened in Washington that was of interest to Floridians. Of course, Patragno always loved to have a scoop approved by his editor so he was talked into (or maybe sexually lured into) investigating the story that Isabel's husband had been given the short shrift and she had been lied to by having her husband's death reported as by enemy fire and not by friendly fire.

As the story developed, I was afraid that I might not follow all the details of it, but I did write down who all the important characters were so that I could follow the story more easily. Danny Patragno was a well fleshed-out, if ultimately a foolish, character. In pursuit of a story, he simply forgets about journalistic discipline. To find out what happens, though, you'll have to read this story yourself. It's quite an adventure and a thoughtful look into journalistic practice.

Kudos to the author for having provided this fun story for me to read. I'll be happy to share this book, first with my husband, and then with others. I'm sure it will be greatly enjoyed.… (more)