Jersey Girl Book Reviews: Nunzio's Way by Nick Chiarkas (VBT: Book Review / Contest Giveaway)

In association with Partners In Crime Tours, Jersey Girl Book Reviews is pleased to host the virtual book tour event for Nunzio's Way by author Nick Chiarkas!

Book Review

Nunzio's Way by Nick Chiarkas

Book 2: Weepers Series

Publisher: Three Towers Press / HenschelHAUS Publishing

Publication Date: August 3, 2022

Format: Hardcover - 294 pages

Paperback - 292 pages

Kindle - 8856 KB

B&N - 296 pages

ISBN (Hardcover): 978-1595989093

ISBN (Paperback): 978-1595989086
ASIN (Kindle): B0B84DQRJN
BNID: 978-1595989093

Genre: Crime Thriller

Buy The Book: Nunzio's Way

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Buy The Series: The Weepers Series

Book 1: Weepers

Book 2: Nunzio's Way

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Goodreads

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the author / publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review and participation in a virtual book tour event hosted by Partners In Crime Tours.

Book Description:

“In this city, you can have anything you want if you kill the right four people.” ~ Nunzio Sabino

In Weepers (Book 1), Angelo and his gang, with a bit of help from his beloved “uncle” Nunzio Sabino, defeated the notorious Satan’s Knights. Now, in this standalone sequel to Weepers, it’s 1960 and Nunzio is still the most powerful organized crime boss in New York City, protecting what’s his with political schemes and ‘business’ deals.

Against this backdrop of Mafia turf wars, local gang battles, and political power-plays in the mayoral election, the bodies begin stacking up. An unlikely assassin arrives fresh from Naples after killing a top member of the Camorra to avenge the murder of her family. She blends seamlessly into the neighborhood and with the focus on the threat from the Satan’s Knights, no one suspects that Angelo’s father and Nunzio are next on her hit list. Nunzio has lived his entire life by the mantra; Be a fox when there are traps and a lion when there are wolves. Will Nunzio be a lion in time?

Praise for Nick Chiarkas:

“Writers are always told, ‘Write what you know.’ Nick Chiarkas knows New York, organized crime, and how to write an engaging story. Nunzio’s Way is gritty and thoroughly gripping.” - John DeDakis, award-winning Novelist and former editor for CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer”

Book Excerpt: https://a.co/iiHJjrz

Book Trailer:

My Book Review:

In Nunzio's Way, book two of the Weepers Series, author Nick Chiarkos transports the reader back to the 1960 Two Bridges neighborhood of the Lower East Side of Manhattan, for an intriguing dark noir crime thriller that will keep the reader guessing and turning the pages.

In Nunzio's Way, the story that began in Weepers, book one of the Weepers Series, continues in 1960 revolving around the activities of powerful mob boss Nunzio Sabino. Nunzio is still the most powerful mob boss in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, but there are Mafia turf wars and growing tensions among the rival street gangs, and a political power-play for the mayoral race that keeps Nunzio busy holding onto his domain. And if that isn't enough, there is a simmering undercurrent of danger coming to the neighborhood when a female assassin wants revenge for the murders of her family, and she is targeting Nunzio and Angelo's father Mac with the assistance of the Satan's Knights street gang. Can Nunzio keep his domain safe, or will it come crumbling down when the assassin seemlessly infiltrates the neighborhood?

In Nunzio's Way, author Nick Chiarkas weaves a slow-building and suspenseful dark gritty noir tale that follows the latest danger that comes to the Lower East Side neighborhood that mob boss Nunzio Sabino controls. The reader is kept in suspense as turf wars, murder plots, and power struggles among the rival street gangs explode when a female assassin comes seeking revenge with Nunzio and Mac as her targets. This multi-layered story also brings the reader up to date with fifteen year old Angelo Pastamadeo's leadership in the Weepers street gang, when they are caught up in a power struggle with the Satan's Knights street gang.

The reader is easily drawn into this riveting dark noir crime story with its richly descriptive plot. It is a story that is a tangled web filled with enough drama, secrets, deceit, corruption, motives, suspects, and intriguing twists and turns that definitely keeps the reader guessing until the surprising conclusion.

This was a really intriguing story to read! The author transports the reader to a richly vivid description of the 1960 Two Bridges neighborhood (between the Manhattan Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge) where he grew up in the Al E. Smith Housing Projects, for a dark and gritty noir style crime thriller that will keep the reader turning the pages.

The story provides a fascinating storyline and a cast of characters the engages the reader, suprising twists and turns, and danger around every corner, especially when there are people who don't want the truth to come out. I found myself so caught up on following Nunzio's story intertwining it with Angelo's coming of age trials and tribulations within the relationships between neighborhood street gangs. You can't help but hold your breath as Nunzio fights to keep his power intact, while also trying to stop the assassin from killing him. The surprising conclusion will leave the reader exhausted!

Nunzio's Way will definitely take the readers on one heck of a thrilling roller coaster ride.

RATING: 5 STARS

About The Author

Nick Chiarkas grew up in the Al Smith housing projects in the Two Bridges neighborhood on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

When he was in the fourth grade, his mother was told by the principal of PS-1 that, “Nick was unlikely to ever complete high school, so you must steer him toward a simple and secure vocation.” Instead, Nick became a writer, with a few stops along the way: a U.S. Army Paratrooper; a New York City Police Officer; the Deputy Chief Counsel for the President’s Commission on Organized Crime; and the Director of the Wisconsin State Public Defender Agency.

On the way to becoming an author, he picked up a Doctorate from Columbia University; a Law Degree from Temple University; and was a Pickett Fellow at Harvard. How many mothers are told their children are hopeless? How many kids with potential simply surrender to despair? That’s why Nick wrote Weepers and Nunzio’s Way— for them.

Contest Giveaway

This is a giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Tours for Nick Chiarkas. See the widget for entry terms and conditions. Void where prohibited. There will be FIVE (5) winners for this tour. 1 - Grand prize: $10 Amazon.com Gift Card & gift ebook (epub) of Weepers and Nunzio's Way 4 - Runner Up prizes of Nunzio's Way ebook (epub)