The Gateway to Hell, By: Ray Mileur

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

In the world of hard-boiled detective fiction, the story is generally not so much about solving a mystery as it is setting things up for the hero to take on the bad guys and win, usually with bullets flying and plenty of bloodletting. Unfortunately, too many writers have turned this into a template for a lot of bad stories filled with clich?s, caricatures, and stereotypes, not to mention a lack of any shred of originality.

The Gateway to Hell is certainly a part of this genre. Thankfully, it manages to avoid many of the pitfalls of this type of fiction, and turns out to be an entertaining read. That's not to say it doesn't have its share of clich?s, caricatures, and stereotypes. In fact, the private investigator at the heart of the story is introduced to us being very much an over-the-top, clich? of a detective.

Mike Shannon is a St. Louis' private investigator who has made a career out of solving the cases the police couldn't or wouldn't take. He's killed more men then he cares to remember. He's fiftyish and his work is starting to wear him down.

Shannon is also a former Marine sniper, former St. Louis police detective whose exploits often landed him in the newspaper, and the leader of a covert CIA op team known as Sabre 6, who we learn has just rescued an ambassador's daughter in South America from the Escobar crime cartel.

Shannon is one very tough, hard-to-kill, private dick, uncorruptable and a boy scout at heart.

And if, by the bottom of page two of the book you aren't convinced of this, well, you just haven't been paying attention. Admittedly, the opening chapters don't really get the ball rolling. But the fact is, author Ray Mileur is just using those early chapters to set us up for a great ride, as Shannon ends up having an assortment of bad guys-- the mafia, the Escobar cartel, corrupt cops-all out to kill him.

His rescue of the ambassador's daughter has led to a $1,000,000 bounty on his head, and resulted in the New York mob, at the prompting of the Escobar family, sending hit men to St. Louis to do him in. On top of that, the "Sandman," a former marine sniper-trained by Shannon and now a freelance hit man- is also in St. Louis to perform a hit. And while Shannon isn't his target, the Sandman clearly wouldn't mind having a shot of Shannon.

And when Shannon pays a visit to the local mob boss, Salvatore Salerno-a Don Corleone-type who wants nothing to do with drugs, the FBI turns up. Their agents initially arrest Shannon in a ruse to get information out of him to help in their investigations into a cocaine trail that leads to St. Louis.

In the middle of all this, Shannon is hired by a minister and his wife to find their missing 17 year old, runaway daughter, who may be linked to one of Shannon's police buddies, Steve Holland. When Holland turns up dead, and appears to have been a dirty cop involved in the drug trade, the action amps up, as things get increasingly personal for Shannon.

What ends up setting Shannon apart from so many other similar characters, is that it turns out he's not superman-- he manages to nearly get killed while trying to catch the runaway. Shannon gets hurt, physically and emotionally, and he makes mistakes, e.g., had he returned a phone call he might have been able to save Holland. He's also got an ex-wife who manages to complicate things even more for him.

Reviewed by: Gary Sorkin

Gary Sorkin is the Senior Editor for Pacific Book Review. Please visit Pacific Book Review at:
http://www.pacificbookreview.com/

They Always Win Written By Anthony M Pesare

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Mobs have been around since time has been recorded. When Anthony Pesare sent me his book I have been engrossed by its contents, questioning why and how these organizations run by thugs, killers, persuaders, financial controllers, and much more can control so much in the world. The book is excellent and will make you also wonder about the same things that puzzled me. The author, now the Chief of Police of Middletown, Rhode Island has seen it all and I am sure lived much of it. I also wondered what connection, if any, he had in the story.

The story begins as it follows a recruit for the Rhode Island State Police force, Gino Peterson. Gino was Italian and he knew that most of all police forces were very short on Italians, partially because of the many Italians in the mob. After his graduation Gino dug in as so many opposed him as an Italian on the state police force but Gino was determined to make a difference. While in training and the early part of his work, he was transferred around to many rural areas but Gino figured it was time to try to get into the intelligence part of police work. He had a rough life as a youngster, knowing that some of the things he did were not really legal but he followed orders given to him by his family. These things taught Gino much about the mobs. Sex, drugs, beatings, shaking down merchants, and killing were routine in the mob.

Gino knew some of the mobsters from his past association when he was younger and he used these connections to investigate and question some that he knew. His sergeant and immediate boss on the force was Michelle, a woman that Gino had feelings for from the first time he saw her but the rules were that no state police officers could fraternize with each other. These two did eventually have deep feelings for each other and saw each other secretly, or so they thought, for a long time. Michelle helped give Gino lifts in the intelligence unit to do some work otherwise not available. Gino got deeper and deeper into the investigation of several murders in which the mob was known to be involved. Gino would interview inmates trying to get them to cooperate in murder charges against those most wanted. He worked with those inmates and prosecutors preparing a trial against some key members of the mob.

You will learn much about the mobs organization and how they were able to intimidate, mostly through fear, so many not to testify against the guilty mobsters. You will go to trial with Gino, the mobsters, and those that decided to testify against those mobsters with whom they had been associating with for years. Gino, in most cases, would work directly with the attorneys. You will listen as a jury would listen including the selection of that jury. You will hear verdicts that seem impossible and charges that flew around like a bird but very few would actually believe most of them. The book is easy to follow but so enjoyable. The subject matter will leave you wondering how and why these organized groups exist.

Reader review by Cy Hilterman of a book supplied by the author.