This had one of the best opening lines I've seen in a while & it was such an original concept. I really enjoyed this!

Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book wasn't exactly what I was expecting but I really liked it just the same. I was expecting more of a thriller and what I got was more of a mafia Godfather like story with a love story in the mix. It is very, very well written and anyone that reads it is going to enjoy it. I have never read a book by Anthony Schneider but I am sure I will read another one of his books!

Loved the premise. Very much like Goodfella's. I felt however that there were too many names of gangsters that felt like name dropping, that were not necessary for the story and went nowhere.

I love this book, characters were well developed. The plot had many twist and turns. Great read., cannot wait for the next book..

Awesome novel!! At first I wasn't sure if I would be able to truly dive into this story but I am glad I stuck it out! Very well written... Anthony Schneider did a great job at making sure you were fully immersed into the plot. The characters were great as well!

Gangs, grit, organized crime on the mean streets of New York and the menacing homeland of Sicily,, this nicely written but ultimately flat novel is at heart a love story . Meandering back and forth between the wife of a made man and the one who's doing time for a killing he didn't do but is nevertheless serving time while keeping shtum about who did, it takes 28 years to get the star-crossed lovers together again. By that time the all too familiar tropes of the genre - Mafia machinations, dumped bodies and the triumph of true love- have ceased to interest the reader.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This novel is set in New York and details the lives of a mafioso and the woman he loves. Despite the brutality of some of their crimes, Jimmy and Melina are likeable characters. The ending was implausible, but I liked it.

Lowdown, by Anthony Schneider
This was different than usual reads and I really loved and enjoyed it.
The story begins with a young Jimmy Paccinii earns his way into Brooklyn Mob ,and Milena Cossutta soul mates and the loves of each others lives.
Milena marries Mob boss Vinnie DeNunziofor for security and the life style.
Jimmy stays loyal to the moband takes the rap for a mob hit on another crime boss. This also turns into a life on the run for Milena and Vinnie.
A beautifully written story of love ,redemption, sacrifice and changes.
So well written I felt I was living in the different era's and places watching the characters and their lives.

Based on the description of this book, I was expecting a fast paced thriller about the mob and it's workings, but I can't say I felt any of that while reading it. Very slow start and confusing storytelling in-between. The only part of the story I liked and could follow well was the love story between Jimmy and Milena. For the rest of the plot, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what the point of the book was. Call it a love story and throw away the mob parts as I did not follow any of that anyway, but it would have been a short book.. Parts were nicely written, but cannot recommend as it is not at all memorable as a story.

I very much enjoyed this book.
It is the story of a young man , who becomes important in the mob, and a young lady that marries a mobster.
Their lives intertwine as life unfolds for them.
It is a story about commitment and sacrifice and humanity and love gained, lost and re found.
Do take a look at it, it is a good book.

I LOVED this book. Mob stories have always interested me, so I couldn't put this one down. My Kindle actually broke while in the middle of this book and I had to order a new one quickly to get back to these characters. I feel for the two main characters in this book. They had hardships, but ultimately have happiness. I highly recommend this book to anyone partially interested in mob stories, but you don't have to be into the mob to love it. It's a well written book full of twists and turns that will definitely keep your interest.

Lowdown, written by Anthony Schnieder is a romantic thriller about the mob life and the intertwining lives of Jimmy Paccini and Milena Cossutta. The time switches back and forth before Jimmy is sent to prison for arranging the murder of the head honcho of another mob family. As the time frame switches back and forth between past and present we see into the lives of both Jimmy and Milena.

I admit the time switches were confusing particularly for Jimmy. It made it harder to follow, but the love story and the themes of redemption mingle within the threads of action and betrayal. Definitely an interesting read!!

Thank you to NetGalley, Anthony Schnieder, and Permanent Press publishing company for this ARC for me to read and review.

An excellent read. Moves quickly, has both suspense and a love angle. If you like Mafia books with a humanizing element, this is a book for you.

What a page turner! The cover drew me in, but the story within the pages is just as compelling. I don't want to give away any details for fear of spoiling it, but I zipped through this in no time and would definitely recommend it!

A very different book about life in New York City and that of someone connected to the mob. You follow different people and different storylines, as well as time periods. Jimmy Piccini, who after being in prison for twenty five years is paroled. When he comes out everything is different, cars, streets, music, cloths, language, even the men he was with are either dead, or are no longer with the family. His family is being run by someone totally different. He went in because of a rat, snitch. During the time when Giuliani used the Ricco Act and the time in the 80’S when he took down the five families. If you had read or were around from the time period you will recognize how the author came up with a very good way of tying all of the characters to these different eras. You are told Jimmy’s story from when he gets out and his looking back on if he could have seen the signs and done something different as to not be arrested. You are also given a story of Vinny and Lila which actually was a good story and intersects with Jimmy’s. This too is a good part of the book and keeps you going from the 70’s and to the present. The way the author has Jimmy though looking at things when he comes out of prison and how he is adapting for me is the main part of the story. That real feeling and emotion he has at the beginning helped sell me on the character, and made me want to continue with the book to see what will happen to him. The rest of the book is good, along with the characters. The book kept me entertained from the beginning to the end and had a few twists along the way which was good. Overall a very good book.

This was an interesting book. I had a little trouble following the back and forth timeline. It bounced between before prison, during prison and after prison. Overall I enjoyed it and would be willing to read the next book by this author.

This was a very good book with a great love story. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

I loved this book! It was an original story about the Mafia that is a tender love story and a thriller. Very authentic dialogue that made me care about the characters. The storytelling has layers that make me want to reread (I won't because I never have time to re-read beloved books, but I want to!).

Excellent.

Let me start by saying that there is some truly brilliant writing in Lowdown. The author certainly knows his prose and draws a reader into the story. However, there are also times when the story is too drawn out and even drags a bit. I wouldn't call this a thriller (as promised in the blurb) of the romantic or any other kind. For me, it feels more like adult fiction or drama. There is a romance and there is plenty of crime, but I just didn't get that edge of your seat feeling that should come with a thriller. I think a large part of that can be attributed to the back and forth of the timeline. According to the blurb, the story spans three decades, which is accurate, but with so much jumping around, it's hard to get a feel for the characters, let alone their world or the actions they take, especially with so many characters and so much elapsed time. From the ratings I've seen, I'm clearly in the minority, so it's quite possible that this one just wasn't for me. Whatever the reason, I was left somewhere in the middle of the road on this one after weighing the positives and negatives of my experience with it.

Oh ragazoo!

Lowdown was sort of a letdown. This story has so much potential and all the makings of a good mob story. But the execution was rough, choppy, confusing and kind of bad. I don't often come right out and call a book out like that. But this was not good....

This story mainly revolved around the lives and experiences of Jimmy and Milena. These are our star crossed lovers of the story. We get insight into their younger selves and their older selves (mid-fifties) and journey with them through three decades of existence. And what a thrill it was....oh wait...

First of all, the timeline in this story is incredibly confusing. We get insight into the past and present with Milena and Jimmy. Milena's chapters go in chronological order. It was never confusing and made sense. Which makes it hard for me to understand why Jimmy's chapters are all over the place? There was literally a chapter where I couldn't tell what moment of time we were reading about until the last few lines of the chapter. The execution of Jimmy's past and present was done poorly. And to be frank, it was annoying trying to figure out what year I was in with each chapter of Jimmy because it was a crap shoot.

Next issue, how many inconsequential people do we need to talk about? I understand connections and the intricate family dynamics that go along with the mob. But aside from Jimmy, Milena, and Vinny, Schneider names so many different Italian names that any supporting characters are hard to recognize because you've had 1000 different women and men names with thrown at you. Now if you are Italian, no problem. But for others, it truly was too hard to differentiate associates and acquaintance of Jimmy's because it was just too busy in that regard.

Moving on, all of the chapters are told from a point of view of a certain character. I understand Jimmy and Milena's view. But there were many chapters like Paul, Molly, Molly's baby brother, Cathy and Tom that simply could have been done without. Furthermore, they didn't really add much to the story. For example, Cathy has chapters where she complains about the convict living in her house. And that is about the sum of it. There is no additional plot, she just doesn't like it. And that is pretty much that. Or how about Paul's one chapter. He sees Mikey in another country and tells Mikey his brother is Jimmy. Ughh...okay? A whole chapter for that? No. Just no.

Let's chat about Jimmy getting out of prison. Much of this story talks about his time following his release. What is exciting about following an ex-convict do things we all do daily? Like getting an expresso machine? Or having a steak dinner? There is nothing exiting about it! Not a thing!

Milena's portion of the story was much better in my opinion. The relationship added value to this novel. But I think that aspect is over marketed. Their "love" story is very minimal overall. I am not really a fan of the marketing and genre being pushed for this novel. In my opinion, it is way off.

Overall, I am going to rate this story with 2 stars. I very much felt bored, disengaged and at times had no damn clue what was going on. This story had me counting down the pages to the end. And that certainly is not a good sign.

Thank you NetGalley and The Permanent Press for an advance copy.