Badfellas Tonino Benacquista
Russell James

As it says on the cover, 'imagine the FBI's witness-protection programme moving the Soprano family to Normandy' – and for once, that's a fair summary of the book. Ex-player Giovanni Manzoni, who has testified against and brought down the Newark Mafia, has been given a new identity as 'Fred Blake'. He and his family have been relocated to a house in France. How will they cope? The Manzoni family exerts the same compulsive grip as the Sopranos – a fabulous blend of outrageous dark humour mixed with believable, if exaggerated, violence. Giovanni can no more be kept in rural idleness than could Tony Soprano – and neither can his family, each of whom 'breaks out' in a different way. For their idyll cannot last. An FBI team watches the house from across the road, a restless mastiff lies cooped up in the cellar, and one day, surely, the Newark Mafia will track them down. Benacquista is faultless in this book. So, please, imagine it's not me but Giovanni who is recommending you to buy the book. Don't hesitate. Don't even think about it. This is an offer you really should not refuse.

Russell James

Badfellas

by Tonino Benacquista

Bitter Lemon paperback, £8.99, 978-1-904738-43-5

Posted at 8:56AM Friday 27 Nov 2009