How are you doing this second week of January? I'm still wildly swinging between new year energy and a lingering post-holiday slump. I feel like a vitality/lethargy yo-yo!
But I am back again to share from a book I want to highlight this week on Book Beginnings. Please share the first sentence (or so) from the book you are reading -- or just a book that caught your fancy.
MY BOOK BEGINNING
If you wrong the Mob, if you help the Feds take down a crime family, you become dead or go Gone. Thirty-nine years ago, I'd picked Gone.
-- Lorrie's Deal by Buck Sawyer. This new novel is about a mid-level gangster who narced on his boss and got witness protection in New Mexico. Decades later, he retired to Florida. That sounds like the set up for an Elmore Leonard book, so I hope this is as lively and fun.
A lawyer buddy of mine in Boise sent me this book, which his friend wrote. I've worked with this lawyer for years, most intensely when we litigated 30 sex abuse claims against the Boy Scouts and the Mormon Church. Those cases took ten years to finish, so I spent a lot of time in Boise with my buddy Andy Chasan.
The author of this book, Buck Sawyer, lists Andy as one of his "test readers" with a sample of Andy's commentary: "Tears? That's a cheap out. Fine, don't listen to me but that's dumb." That makes me laugh because it sounds just like Andy. That's exactly how he talked to our clients.
YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS
Please leave a link to your Book Beginnings post in the Linky box below. If you share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings.
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Another fun Friday event is The Friday 56. Share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your book, or 56% of the way through your e-book or audiobook, on this weekly event hosted by Freda at Freda's Voice.
MY FRIDAY 56
“The Bureau has honored your wish for us to handle your relocation—”“That wasn't a wish, that was a demand.”
Lorenzo Mancuso is a guy with secrets. As a kid, his broken family spilled him onto the streets of Philadelphia. His childhood buddy brought him into the home of the family that ran the Family—the biggest crime Family in that city. He grew up and muscled for them on the streets, but, with his head for numbers, he ended up helping to run the business. Lorrie achieved his dream of being important, trusted and valued. Right up until he wasn’t. Lorrie worked for the Family but wasn’t actual family— and having the Family’s secrets marked him for death. Lorrie made a quick, strategic choice and stayed alive by taking his secrets to the FBI. The Mafia bosses went to prison, Lorrie got a one-way ticket to New Mexico and a new identity. The FBI kept him safe, hidden there for thirty years. Then, without their permission, he moved to an upscale retirement home in Florida. What’s a guy like Lorrie—with time on his hands and crime on his resume—do to keep himself entertained? What secret brought him to Florida? What happens when, for the very first time, other people become more important to him than himself?
