Lowdown

This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Buy on Amazon Buy on BN.com Buy on Bookshop.org
*This page contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app

1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date 19 Nov 2018 | Archive Date 15 Mar 2019

Description

All it takes is one mistake.

For Jimmy Paccini, savvy and cool-headed, it was joining the Brooklyn mob, the easy way out of a nowhere life that – for arranging the execution of the head of a rival crime family – rewarded him with a quarter-century of hard time.

For Milena Cossutta, sexy and smart, it was selling out her dreams to marry a handsome but hot-headed made man, Vinnie DeNunzio, which left her on the run from the feds in Sicily, a stranger in a strange land.

And sometimes the mistake is crazy, forbidden love – like the one between Jimmy and Milena. Or could it be their salvation?

Spanning three decades and two continents, soaked in passion, blood and the garish colors of the mean streets, Lowdown is a vivid, gripping romantic thriller that follows a twisting road strewn with sorrow and desire, deceit and ecstasy, shocking violence and intimate tenderness, to arrive at a surprising, bittersweet redemption.



All it takes is one mistake.

For Jimmy Paccini, savvy and cool-headed, it was joining the Brooklyn mob, the easy way out of a nowhere life that – for arranging the execution of the head of a...


A Note From the Publisher

Pushcart Prize Finalist,

INDIES Award Winner

Pushcart Prize Finalist,

INDIES Award Winner


Advance Praise

Schneider avoids pathos in this affecting tale of two star-crossed lovers as he paints a vivid picture of a crime family’s values, rules, and pecking order.​.. A worthy, character-driven crime novel.

— Publishers Weekly


A novel to fall in love with. A love story with a rugged sense of humor and a tender criminal at its heart. It’s also a story of forgiveness, and the novel's final pages will leave you a little bit breathless, a little bit trying not to cry.

 

— Hannah Pittard, author of Visible Empire



A brass knuckle knockout of a gangster novel. If you like crime stories to ring true, with characters you can care about even if their moral compasses got shattered somewhere along the way, you’ll want to read Lowdown. And, also it's a love story.

 

— Ed Falco, author of The Family Corleone and Toughs

 

A suspenseful novel for all fans of organized crime stories but also for anyone who appreciates a tale of second chances, true romance and—ultimately—life’s elemental pleasures.

 

— Joanna Hershon, author of A Dual Inheritance

 


Rapid-fire and richly imagined…  a deliciously addictive urban crime thriller with a dark, deep heart and soul.

— Debra Immergut, author of The Captives    

Schneider avoids pathos in this affecting tale of two star-crossed lovers as he paints a vivid picture of a crime family’s values, rules, and pecking order.​.. A worthy, character-driven crime novel.

...


Marketing Plan

• Multi-city reading tour

• New York City launch

• National radio appearances 

• Multi-city reading tour

• New York City launch

• National radio appearances 


Available Editions

EDITION Hardcover
ISBN 9781579625238
PRICE $29.95 (USD)

Average rating from 86 members


Featured Reviews

Lowdown by author Anthony Schneider is a gritty look into the lives of a mob family and forbidden love. It's running from the feds and loving someone locked up in the federal penitentiary. I absolutely loved this book as well as characters in it! I greatly recommend this novel!!
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of Lowdown in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

No, I don't really know what mobsters are like but I FEEL like I do after reading this book. The characters are very realistic without being caricatures, and the story is surprisingly sensitive and appealing. This is a book that will stay in my mind.

Was this review helpful?

Lowdown, a romantic thriller set in the world of New York City’s mafia families, has the best first paragraph I’ve read in a long time:

“The first seven years you’re in the can, all you can think about is revenge. The next seven years you crave freedom and things you remember from before. You want to get laid more than you want to get even. After that you’re not so sure. You know you want to be on the other side, but you don’t trust your memories. People have died, gone to prison, disappeared. Places you remember have closed down. Freedom is just a dream, something you imagine often but incompletely. Part of you is scared of it. Prison has become your life. You may hate it, but it’s home. You’re not even sure if you hate it anymore. That’s what twenty-five years in the calendar shop does to you.”

Jimmy, a made man, is finally getting out of prison. He states:

”You are outside the prison gates. You’re fifty-eight years old and a newborn.”

But this is not just Jimmy’s story about reinventing himself after being a stand-up guy for twenty-five years, it also the story of young Milena. Milena is only thirteen when her story begins. She is an Italian teenage girl in the 1970s. Against the background of notorious NYC serial killers and the Vietnam war, her role is to get married and have children. Milena rebels against this stereotype by making poor choices in men and getting involved in crime. Eventually, she marries a made man and they have children. Her husband pulls her into his world with varying results.

Forgive me for quoting so much of the book but the language used is part of the charm of Lowdown. While it has mob killings and rats, it is more a love story of two people in a difficult setting finding each other. I love mafia movies and was expecting something along the lines of The Godfather. This is similar to the life story of Kay Adams-Corleone (Michael’s wife played by Diane Keaton) written after divorcing Michael. It is definitely more of a romance than a mafia book. It is recommended for readers who want an original perspective on mob life. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5 stars!

Thanks to the publisher, Permanent Press, and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

Wow. What a well-written book. A quiet story of youth and maturity, impulse and restraint, violence and tenderness, Lowdown will be added to those very few books that I will read again and again.

Anthony Schneider created characters very different from me, yet he lured me into believing them, caring about them, and rooting for their unlikely success. His dialogue is natural and authentic. The story is built slowly and skillfully, layering the bits of knowledge he shares with readers about each character and each pivotal event.

Others have called this book a romantic thriller, but it transcended either genre. Jimmy Paccini, a former Brooklyn mob figure, is released from a 25-year prison sentence as the book opens. Milena, married to another mobster, loved Jimmy when he was a young man. Both Jimmy and Milena have a quiet intelligence and a savvy discretion, and both are capable of violence and criminality.

Taking us both backward and forward in time, the author puts organized crime in a personal context. This is not a gangster book -- this is a story about complex human beings working out how to survive, set amidst the Mafia of the 1980s and onward.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance readers copy.

Was this review helpful?

It is a tale as old as time: two star-crossed lovers are separated after an intense affair. One is a Mafia henchman, the other another mobster's wife. The guy serves 25 years in prison for a hit he orchestrated. She is stuck with an unfaithful and inattentive husband and has to flee to Italy to avoid prosecution. The characters are drawn very humanely: you'll think about the ones famously enshrined on The Sopranos.. The settings are realistic enough to want you to take a trip to Brooklyn and Sicily where the major plot points unfold. I highly recommend this book.

Was this review helpful?

This book grabbed me at page one and didn't let me go, as it was well written. I cannot wait to read more by this author.

Was this review helpful?

Jimmy served his time, a LONG time, abd kept his mouth shut. Now he's home and trying to figure out what comes next. Milena is a mob princess looking for love. This is a gritty story about loss, love and redemption. Well done.

Was this review helpful?

Two main characters created by author Anthony Schneider make his novel, “Lowdown,” shine with originality. Although neither are exactly paragons of virtue, their story is told with a dramatic patina that makes them lustrous and memorable.

Told by two protagonists, Jimmy Piccini and Milena Cossutta, both Brooklyn natives with mob leanings, who find early romance amid tangled mob operations. Jimmy eventually gets time in prison for assisting in a mob hit while Milena settles, in his absence, for a marriage to wealthy Vincent DeNunzii, a high up in the Ruggeiro crime family, who she believes can provide the security she craves in her life. But the two ill-fated lovers never forget each other.

Schneider uses flashbacks to tell his two-pronged story. Jimmy spends a quarter- century behind bars, keeping his mouth shut and earning respect from other mobsters for his loyalty. Milena finds her marriage a prison of its own, under the emotional control of Vinnie who turns vicious in his relationship with her. The author is adept at telling their stories as each life unfolds under totally different circumstances. Jimmy’s life behind bars is the usual mix of subtle threat and violence that, somehow, he manages with a cool-headed style that keeps him safe.
Milena finds herself becoming more involved with criminal activity as a means to neutralize the ineptitude of her booze and drug-swilling husband who sinks ever deeper into despondency that threatens both her and their two children.

So what’s the result here? As you read the book, and you should, these disparate difficulties will merge together with a surprising outcome. You will find yourself becoming more intrigued with Schneider’s work as the book progresses. There is clear writing, good dialogue, and clever characterization. Even the abundance of Italian names never got tedious or cumbersome for me. The atmosphere was realistic, perhaps assisted by the beautiful language adaptations.

Was this review helpful?

This is a thrill a minute romantic adventure. A well researched mob storyline. Will look into reading more from this author. Very entertaining. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and I am voluntarily leaving this review

Was this review helpful?

,This book is really great! It grabs you from the very beginning and never lets go. Jimmy keeps his head down and tried to stay under the radar but he gets sentenced to fifty years for planning a hit on a mob boss. In the meantime other gangsters are rounded up while others leave the country. Including Milena,his bosses wife and the woman he is in love with. The story plays out over twenty five years and had a bittersweet ending..

Was this review helpful?

Great book! The author does a great job of allowing us to really get to know Jimmy, an ex-con who faces life changing decisions from the start. Its a story about the strength of family, of love and of determination. His details of Jimmy's experience in the mafia as well as in prison are fantastic. The author keeps you engaged and rooting got Jimmy to have the life he wanted, all the way through.

Was this review helpful?

Twenty five years is a long time to be in prison. Jimmy could only think about revenge, getting back at Mikey who turned traitor and put him there. After a few years, you're just waiting to get out, be free.
Jimmy thinks a lot about Milena. No she wasn't his, she belonged to a "made" man in the mafia, Vinnie. That didn't stop them from falling for each other. Sneaking around. There may have been a future for them. She would have had to escape the clutches of Vinnie. Who knows. Then, Jimmy finds out Milena has died in a car wreck. Jimmy was arrested for conspiracy to commit murder. The family he worked for, the Ruggiero's couldn't get him out of prison. He did occasionally receive care packages.
Now he is finally free. What can he do with his life. Revenge? Find Mikey make him pay. Jimmy is 57, 58. What to do with his life...
This was not you every day mafia read. It looks more into the character of the people involved. Who they really are. What they really feel. It includes being a wife of a mafioso. How that relationship works. The characters are strong and you actually get to like them, or hate them whatever the case may be. I enjoyed this book. The Author did a terrific job!

Was this review helpful?

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!

Was this review helpful?

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.

Was this review helpful?

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!

Was this review helpful?

Readers who liked this book also liked: