Though not always polished, the writing is generally solid, and the story is interesting enough to keep most true-crime fans...
Investigative reporter and true-crime vet Glatt (Love Her to Death, 2012, etc.) turns his attention to the story of a rich playboy’s gruesome murder.
The author isn’t content simply recounting the tempestuous relationship between Ben Novack Jr. and his wife, Narcy, and how it ultimately led to his death. He explores Novack’s childhood at the Fontainebleau as well as the design, construction and sordid history of the Miami Beach hotel. Readers will be regaled with stories of Sinatra’s escapades, possible mob ties, Novack Sr.’s business acumen and the long-standing argument over who had the idea for the curved architecture. All this history adds color to Novack Jr.’s early life and provides important perspective on his personality. But some of the color—particularly when the plot has moved past his time at the hotel—just seems out of place. After his father lost the Fontainebleau, Novack Jr. started a business and became a millionaire in his own right. Early on, he married his second wife, Narcy, and insisted on a severe prenuptial contract which stipulated that if the two divorced, she would walk away with only $65,000. Prosecutors, family members, the author and a jury all believed this was her motive for murder. According to Novack’s will, she would inherit his multimillion-dollar fortune if he died while they were still married. Glatt goes into great detail explaining the plot Narcy and her brother used to get the fortune, including killing Novack’s mother so that none of his money would go to her after his death. Though the narrative is mostly smooth, the detail can be overwhelming, and the thread occasionally gets lost in the minutiae of failed car repairs, costume changes and other unnecessary bits.
Though not always polished, the writing is generally solid, and the story is interesting enough to keep most true-crime fans happy.Pub Date: April 16, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-250-03572-1
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Feb. 20, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2013
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
This autobiography might almost be said to supply the roots to Wright's famous novel, Native Son.
It is a grim record, disturbing, the story of how — in one boy's life — the seeds of hate and distrust and race riots were planted. Wright was born to poverty and hardship in the deep south; his father deserted his mother, and circumstances and illness drove the little family from place to place, from degradation to degradation. And always, there was the thread of fear and hate and suspicion and discrimination — of white set against black — of black set against Jew — of intolerance. Driven to deceit, to dishonesty, ambition thwarted, motives impugned, Wright struggled against the tide, put by a tiny sum to move on, finally got to Chicago, and there — still against odds — pulled himself up, acquired some education through reading, allied himself with the Communists — only to be thrust out for non-conformity — and wrote continually. The whole tragedy of a race seems dramatized in this record; it is virtually unrelieved by any vestige of human tenderness, or humor; there are no bright spots. And yet it rings true. It is an unfinished story of a problem that has still to be met.
Perhaps this will force home unpalatable facts of a submerged minority, a problem far from being faced.
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 1945
ISBN: 0061130249
Page Count: 450
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1945
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