An engaging, thinly veiled fictionalization of Chicago politics.
The business partner of a power broker in Chicago recounts political shenanigans that led to a presidency in this debut novel.
Marston “Mars” Gregory, partner of Saidah “Sam” Alsheriti, describes himself as “the last man standing” in his story, since “Everyone else is either dead, in prison, or untouchable.” He provides excerpts of his own memoir, which include an account of events that “ended the careers of two governors and elected a president of the United States.” It all began with a 1994 traffic accident that killed six children. It was eventually revealed that drivers’ licenses were being given to unqualified truck drivers who bought tickets to a fundraiser for politician Ed Parker. The scandal was initially hushed up, though, and Parker became Illinois’ governor. Gregory then left his corporate law gig to become partners with Chicago real estate developer Alsheriti, a Syrian immigrant. Alsheriti was eager to become a political power broker, but Vince Perino, “the mastermind of the Republican Combine,” turned down his offer of campaign contributions. This snub led Alsheriti to help take down Parker and install a new Democratic governor. He also assisted Malik Alawi, a beaming, young African-American state senator, by securing a bargain price for land near his home. By novel’s end, Alsheriti and both governors are behind bars, and Gregory is amazed that Alawi now sits in the White House, as his partner predicted. Author Beller, a Chicago-based investment-firm executive, takes readers through an entertaining composite tour of the highly publicized corrupt politics of his city. Along the way, he brings an array of recognizable honchos to life, such as the controversial, real-life Obama supporter Tony Rezko. Beller spends a bit too much time on descriptions of Mars’ extramarital activities, however, and too little time fleshing out his Obama-like character. Indeed, Alawi makes only a few enigmatic walk-ons, and Sam’s bombshell that “Malik owes me big” for fixing a problem with a birth certificate is dropped very late in the game.
An engaging, thinly veiled fictionalization of Chicago politics.Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9966799-0-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: G. Anton Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
More of the same: Sparks has his recipe, and not a bit of it is missing here. It’s the literary equivalent of high fructose...
Sparks (The Longest Ride, 2013, etc.) serves up another heaping helping of sentimental Southern bodice-rippage.
Gone are the blondes of yore, but otherwise the Sparks-ian formula is the same: a decent fellow from a good family who’s gone through some rough patches falls in love with a decent girl from a good family who’s gone through some rough patches—and is still suffering the consequences. The guy is innately intelligent but too quick to throw a punch, the girl beautiful and scary smart. If you hold a fatalistic worldview, then you’ll know that a love between them can end only in tears. If you hold a Sparks-ian one, then true love will prevail, though not without a fight. Voilà: plug in the character names, and off the story goes. In this case, Colin Hancock is the misunderstood lad who’s decided to reform his hard-knuckle ways but just can’t keep himself from connecting fist to face from time to time. Maria Sanchez is the dedicated lawyer in harm’s way—and not just because her boss is a masher. Simple enough. All Colin has to do is punch the partner’s lights out: “The sexual harassment was bad enough, but Ken was a bully as well, and Colin knew from his own experience that people like that didn’t stop abusing their power unless someone made them. Or put the fear of God into them.” No? No, because bound up in Maria’s story, wrinkled with the doings of an equally comely sister, there’s a stalker and a closet full of skeletons. Add Colin’s back story, and there’s a perfect couple in need of constant therapy, as well as a menacing cop. Get Colin and Maria to smooching, and the plot thickens as the storylines entangle. Forget about love—can they survive the evil that awaits them out in the kudzu-choked woods?
More of the same: Sparks has his recipe, and not a bit of it is missing here. It’s the literary equivalent of high fructose corn syrup, stickily sweet but irresistible.Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4555-2061-9
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
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