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NoirNovels.com - A unique repository for all things noir
Tough Luck
Reviewed By Steve Nester In Jason Starr's fifth novel, Tough Luck, luck is at a premium and Mickey Prada has none of it. His mother is dead, his father suffers from Alzheimer's, he's put upon and intimidated by a mafia bully, a local bookie is into him for $2000, he's involved in a robbery in which an accomplice is murdered, he gets fired from his job, the girl of his dreams hates him and he smells like yesterday's mackerel. To his credit, Mickey is an optimist in even the darkest of hours and is focused enough to keep his head down and plod forward. A nice guy who works in a local seafood market, Mickey cares for his stricken father while trying to save for college so he can escape a soulless, dead end Brooklyn neighborhood. Angelo Santoro, a steady customer who comports himself like a well-connected Mafioso, asks Mickey to place some bets for him with his bookie. Thinking this favor may lead to brighter prospects, Mickey complies. Unfortunately, Santoro bets as bad as Mickey smells, and pretty soon Mickey's in the hole and Angelo, composed entirely of cashmere and surly insouciance, won't pay up. To get out of debt, Mickey signs on to a plan concocted by some old friends. They burgle an empty home where someone is shot and killed. Rhonda, the woman who walked through the front door of the fish store and into Mickey's life was the one glimmer of hope in his drab existence. She has money, beauty, class, and an old-fashioned father who wants her to marry within the Jewish faith. Distracted by his money problems and his involvement in a burglary-turned-murder, Mickey alienates Rhonda and begins to watch his life tailspin for real when the police begin questioning him. Luck finally comes to Mickey in terms of criminal absolution but he remains determined to impose his will in the world to find happiness and success. |
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