DENNIS N. GRIFFIN and MORGAN ST. JAMES - BUMPING OFF FAT VINNY (2015)

 

Synopsis/blurb....

Why can't they bump off Fat Vinny?

He's the guy you love to hate and he deserves to be whacked. There's only one problem-he's still alive when he's supposed to be dead.

Definitely a funny crime caper that will keep you turning the pages.

Laugh out loud when Mob wife Maria Mancuso, and best-selling coauthors Danny Garrett, a former FBI agent, and Margaret Stanton, a wealthy divorcee, decide their only choice is to murder the publisher from Hell--"Fat Vinny." Vitali,who tops the scales at 400 pounds. They were under contract for Maria's memoir--the one she came out of hiding to write--but Vitali really wanted (and thought he was getting) an investigative Mob book that named the killer of Maria’s late husband, Tony "The Nose," head of the notorious Mancuso crime family. The hit on "The Nose" is still unsolved , and entrepreneur Vitali, new to the publishing business, pictures himself becoming King of True Crime books. However, never once in the year-and-a-half it took to write the book did he tell them he expected a different book than the one the contract called for.

Now the only way they can get their book published is if Vinny has a one-way ticket to the Happy Hunting Ground. When their perfect murder plots turn out to be not so perfect, this crime fiction book will keep you on your toes trying to figure out what comes next..

Attempts to bump off Fat Vinny are becoming like hiring the "Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight" .

Scroll up and grab a copy today. Be prepared for a real surprise at the end.

The mob, a hit, a widow, a true crime memoir, a publisher, a falling out and some drastic measures taken.

Not the best book I've ever read, but one I did find amusing. Two co-writers and their client, a mob widow try to bump off Fat Vinny after an insurmountable disagreement finds him standing in the way of riches in the form of a film deal, for the book they've written but which he won't agree to publish or relinquish the rights to.

I quite liked the frustrated attempts to hasten Vinny's departure to the afterlife, and it wasn't like he didn't deserve it. That said, further down the road, Vinny does something out of character which has me slightly reassessing his douche bag credentials. 

There's a slight suspension of disbelief required to stay on-board with the scheming. At one time, one plan involves the assistance of two individuals Danny crossed paths with during his time in law enforcement. The next plan involves interviewing three hitmen for the job, and during subsequent discussions the conspirators worry about keeping their plans on the down low and maintaining secrecy. Duh... you've involved outsiders and now you're worried about exposure.

I liked the three main conspirators though and the way they backed each other and got along. I quite liked the idea of Danny and the glamourous widow, Maria getting together, but that never transpired. I liked the mounting frustration as the efforts to outsmart Vinny failed, before the pursuit of a more permanent resolution.

There's a decent clip to the prose and a not entirely unpredictable twist near the end of the book. You could kind of see it coming from quite early on. There's a second twist which wasn't exactly telegraphed but wasn't a shocker either. In my view the book would have been better either ending after the first non-shocking shock, or with another alternative outcome.  

More to like than dislike and I wouldn't be averse to checking out anything else the co-authors may write either singly or collaboratively in the future.

3.5 from 5

Read - (listened to) September, 2020

Published - 2015

Page count - 227 (5 hrs 36 mins)

Source - Audible purchase. (I did have another copy of the book somewhere after a Librarything Giveaway win a few years ago.)

Format - Audible