Friday 19 April 2013

Book ~ "In a Small Town" (2012) Marc DiGiacomo

From Goodreads ~ The shotgun blast catches Detective Matthew Longo by surprise. His world unravels into a nightmare that seemingly won't end. Murder, rapes, pedophiles, the small town of Hutchville, NY, is changing. It is up to him to make a difference.

While partner Donny Mello is in Italy attending a funeral for a family member who is connected, to say the least, a beautiful F.B.I. agent waits to question him about his family business.

Can Matt keep from answering the Agents questions? More importantly, can he hide a potentially career-ending secret from his community, his brother, and most especially Agent Cynthia Shyler?

Matt is a cop and has just gotten shot while getting some pizza.  Physically he is healing but emotionally he is a mess ... he is depressed and having nightmares.  In a series of flashbacks, we get to know Matt and some of the cases he has worked on. While he is healing, his partner and good friend, Donny, is in Italy attending the funeral of his grandfather who was a Don in the mafia.  FBI agent Shyler approaches Matt ... she's hoping to catch Donny at something because of his mafia connections.   Knowing he needs to keep his mind occupied, Matt goes back to work and the first case he comes back to is a rape.  When Matt discovers who shot him, it's a race to ensure he doesn't get shot again and bring the shooter to justice.

This is the first book I've read by this author and I liked it.  It is written in the first person (Matt's point of view) so we are always in his head, both in the present and in the past in his flashbacks.  He seems like a nice guy who is tormented by who would have shot him and his pain comes through.  He's a good guy who we learn has a secret that could ruin him.

While I was okay with the ending, I found that everything came together and was resolved a bit too quickly and neatly.  I think it leaves the door open for a sequel, though.

As a head's up, some of the language and activities are for a mature audience.

I'd recommend this book if you like mysteries and crime stories.

2 comments:

CMash said...

So glad you enjoyed this. As always, a wonderful review and post. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this book.

Unknown said...

Teena,
Thanks for the review and for hosting In a Small Town.
Marc DiGiacomo