Great addition to the West Coast Mobsters series! One of the main characters is Max Pedretti, Castellani security guard, who has previously been in the sidelines until now. Max was first mentioned in His Brutal Heart, when Alessandro promotes him. The other main character is Bricker Soldano, loved his actual first name more than his nickname lol, who is a Capo in the Esposito Family. We have been introduced to this family throughout the series, but now we finally have one as a main character!
The Esposito Donna, or Maestra as she prefers, is interested in Max helping Bricker on an assignment working against a common Mob enemy, the Pacific Syndicate or PacSyn.
The first third of the book is introducing the MCs to each other and Max becoming integrated into Bricker’s crew. It felt like Ocean’s Eleven to me, like we are introduced to this ragtag bunch working on a heist. Max even points out that there are a lot of people to keep track of, which I thought was funny because I was having a bit of a struggle the first time I read this as well. I even wrote all their names down to help me remember! Its not a bad thing though, just different as we haven’t had such a big crew (maybe Ciro’s old inner circle?) that the readers had to keep track of.
Regarding the relationship between Max/Bricker, bringing Max in with the crew helps the guys learn more about how each other work and gain respect, which kindles the initial attraction they both felt for each other to grow into a relationship. Max has total Daddy vibes, and Bricker is completely into it! They do remind me a bit of Angelo/Baxter from their book in the Morelli series, sort of a prequel to this one since they happen in the same universe. Baxter, Bricker…even sound sort of the same, how these young dudes like a hot, older man to compliment them? Am I reaching? Probably.
Max is partly there to help Bricker’s crew because certain mess-ups have been occurring during previous heists and they want this one to go well. When it ends very badly, it is revealed there is a mole in the crew and now Max/Bricker are working together to figure out who the mole is. The tragedy in the middle was so sad and because Greene spent the time developing these characters, you actually do feel something when the tragedy strikes.
Now it almost feels like this story could get really heavy, but the way Greene writes adds levity to the story. It isn’t all gloom and doom, there is some lightness, and the characters have great dialogue. We get jokes! Dad jokes, and little quips like calling Julian “Psycho Ken” I laughed a lot a that one!
My main criticism of the book is that there is a bit more told to us about these characters than is shown, since this story feels to be like a sidestep from the main Castellani plot that we have been following. It even acknowledges this when we hear about a Castellani event that went a bit crooked, although I’m fairly certain that the intention is for this to be a main plot point in Book 5, His Guilty Pleasure. I already have it preordered and am so excited!
We have been following Jack, Julian, and Alessandro since Vow of the Vigilante, so Max/Bricker feel sort of new and not as developed yet. I still absolutely loved this book; it really adds to the complexity of this West Coast Mob world that Greene has been building. Greene is one of my favorite authors and there is a reason, these are not just throw away romances. There are plot twists, suspense, action, as well as lots of sexiness! I can read these books over and over again and I find myself amazed how certain things are alluded to keep the reader engaged, but plot twists are revealed and not left hanging…except to get you to come back to the next one, which I am always looking forward to!
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