Books Reviews

Badfellas – Book Review

By Angela Youngman Jul 6, 2010, 12:57 GMT

Under cover of darkness, an American family moves into a villa in Cholong-sur-Avre in Normandy. Fred Blake, the father, tells everyone he is there to write a history of the Allied landings. His wife Maggie gets involved in a local charity; their teenage children enrol in the lycee. At first glance a family like any other. But Fred\'s real name is Giovanni Manzoni - an ex-Mafia boss who has grassed ...more

An American family move into a villa in Cholong-sur-Avre in Normandy.  The children attend the local school and the father tells everyone that he is writing a history of the D Day landings.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

In fact, he is an ex-mafia boss who is now in the FBI Witness Protection Programme.  Having blown his cover numerous times in the US, the FBI have encouraged him to move overseas in hope that this will be more successful. 

Unfortunately, Manzoni cannot live a quiet life and soon things start getting lively - especially when his former Mafia colleagues track him down.  Strange things happen to anyone who insults Manzoni - the local supermarket burns down after the manager insults Manzoni's wife. 

Can they survive?  Who cares?  This is not as darkly funny as some of Benacquista's earlier novels such as Holy Smoke and I have to admit that I just didn't enjoy it as much.  It's different, an unusual approach to a mystery but I cannot say that it kept my attention.