Carlo Salvo's Just Say the Word

Carlo Salvo's Just Say the Word

Plot: Rita Napapolus' fingerprints were all over the murder weapon, beckoning authorities onto her path and into her past. They immediately hit a wall when they find no record of the petite office manager's history before she appeared in Seattle with her daughter twenty years ago.

When a million-dollar bail is mysteriously posted and a hot-shot defense lawyer arrives from San Francisco, her friends want answers. So does the FBI.

Where did Rita come from? Who is watching out for her? Could she really be the killer?

My Review and Thoughts:

First off if you know me I love a good suspense/mystery, the more questions that build in the process of the book the better the mystery unfolds. Salvo has a talent with capturing the great quality of fiction and turning the story into a deep reality based process that the reader can believe that the story is real. The writing makes you feel the characters, the surroundings and most all the fiction that seems non-fiction, because it's written so well.

At the start this plays out like an old black and white film noir or a deep James Cagney flick. The word play is amazing, placing you there because of the very descriptive writing. You picture the characters, the places, the moments. I am a huge fan of old school crime novels and this plays out like one.

Salvo knows how to capture perfect moments of tension and suspense. The deep mystery works out flawless playing out from the very first line with that classic "It was a dark and stormy night" just priceless. The characters work so well, Rita becomes you, she is written in away like she is an aunt, a mother, a lover, or just a plain down to earth woman that takes nothing and holds strong.

The process of the police station, the arrest, the ordeal of going through being arrested which are all moments that are written in away it feels real, great detail and atmosphere from the written word. Starting in Chapter 6 I fell deeply in love with Gina and her past. Her parents, her brother Joey and all the wonderful tales made me feel with comfort, giddy, sweet, it made me remember my own childhood and the many adventures I had and the many memories of loved ones.

Salvo creates a flawless atmosphere of the past, the grand story telling of Gina and her family is thought provoking, mind numbing and it pulls at your funny bone and your heartstrings. The beauty of this book is that its a mixed genera of writing such as suspense and mystery, drama, history, reality and so much more, that it creates it's own little world of amazement.

Gina and her past is written in many wonderful flawless ways. The back-story to the book in itself, flows like a great memory book and yet mixes with a sense of horrible tragedy as you read the emotions, the ordeals, the horror's that people go through. I in honesty shed some tears at the wonderful written quality of Gina's back-story, I laughed and I cried at this well written story of a growing child and her brother. You go on to read Gina growing up and you see how all the back-story connects with the present story. 

You have classic dime store pulp crime fiction, mixed with a growing up dairy splashed with the likes of Goodfellas and a twist of a John Grisham thriller. The whole book is a great read, it comes together as a truly stand out book that has so much to it. I feel the back story of Gina and Joey and her parents and grandparents and her growing and meeting Marty is written in away that it is a high class piece of literature. Or simply put, this part of the book, the back-story is a masterpiece that creates it's own little world. The deep appeal in Gina's character is something few books ever capture or begin to create. 

A great read of story and characters and it is truly a must read book for anyone who loves a great written down to earth book that has the signature of a modern classic.