The Man Who Liked Slow Tomatoes

So compared to "The Friends of Eddie Coyle" (see other post) this book was more enjoyable to read, but it was not one of my favorite books and I probably won't read it again. Now the author K.C. Constantine is from a town around Pittsburgh so the professor basically told us that one of the major reasons he had us read the book was to give money to the author. At least he was honest.

Mario Balzic is the chief of police in Rockburg and is trying to keep his sanity as the city is going through negotiations about the new police contract. That is really the back story and the only reason that Balzic works on the case of the missing Jimmy Romanelli. Jimmy's wife, Mary Francis, is worried that Jimmy has been gone for a few days and knows that something bad has happened to him, but Mario is not so sure. Mario had learned from a local bartender that Jimmy had been in there a few hours before selling tomatoes early in the season. Mario goes back to talk to Francis again when no other then Jimmy walks in the door and throws Mario out. Mario suspects that Jimmy, who is abusive to his wife, is messed up in drugs and heads to a Spaghetti restaurant where drug trade is said to be located. Jimmy goes missing once again and Frances is a wreck. After shaking up a few people in the parking lot Mario runs into problems with the drug department who threaten to get him fired. The case is broken when a crazy neighbor says that she saw Jimmy get killed by Francis's father Mike in her dream. Mario goes digging in Mike's tomato patch and finds Jimmy's body. Mike says it is because Jimmy hit his daughter that he killed him, but Mario thinks it might be because Jimmy won the beat between them to see who could grow their tomatoes the fastest. The book ends with Frances killing herself because of her husbands death, her father not being convicted and dying a year after his daughter, the contract is resolved in favor of the police, and Mario goes on being police chief. 

Overall the novel was alright, but it wasn't something I would read again. Mario was a likable character and you got to see him with his family. You understand that he has a drinking problem as well as not being close to his family, but you find that as part of his charm. The plot was slightly boring because the missing person really wasn't missing until the very end. Also the story is more about Jimmy getting over his respect and fear of Mike then the actual crime.      

The Friends of Eddie Coyle

The thing I remember most about this novel is how much I hated it and that is about the only thing that I remembered about it. I had to go and look up summaries and things online to even remember character names and plot points. Now I did read this a couple months ago, but I feel as if I just blocked it from my memory because of the horribleness of this novel.

Eddie Coyle, the main character of sorts, is a small time criminal that is also trying to inform to the police in exchange to avoid going to jail in New Hampshire after transporting liquor. Eddie at the time is also by guns for bank robberies for mob members lead by Jimmy Scalisi and Artie Van. Jackie Brown is the gun dealer and the first character that we are introduced to who is also trying to sell machine guns to a young couple. Coyle wants to turn over Brown to Dave Foley, an ATF, in return for staying out of jail. Foley captures Brown when he goes to sell the machine guns, but he tells Coyle that this isn't enough to keep him out of jail. Coyle is going to tell Foley about the bank robberies, but Foley has already been informed about it after Scalisi's disrespected the woman he was living with and she told a cop friend she ran into. The robbers are busted and Coyle is pinned as being the informant. Dillion, the local bar owner and hit man, is hired and after taking Eddie out of the town shots him.

I seriously took and hour looking all this up because I couldn't remember a lot of it so here is hoping that this isn't a major part of the test. Overall I extremely disliked this book and it seems that I am in the minority. Higgins is a great writer, but the characters were unsympathetic and the plot was rather boring. It was just really dark and boring for me, but it seems that a lot of other people really enjoyed it. Maybe I am just not into dark detective novels or I just don't know what I am talking about, but I would not recommend this novel to anyone.     

Sorry!

I have been so busy with classes and my tumblr that I haven't posted in months! I have a final for detective tomorrow so my plan is to review all the books I read this semester. Here is hoping this helps *cross fingers*