The Lawn Job

De: Chuck Caruso

Narrado por: Joe Formichella

When ex-con Craig Collins began his new job mowing lawns, he was ready to leave his former life where it belonged - in the past. But everything changes when Craig suddenly loses one of his contracts after staring a little too hard at the aging trophy wife of his pizzeria mogul client, Big Gino Pasarelli.

Soon, Craig begins to hatch a plan for revenge - along with his transgender sort-of-girlfriend, Juana. Since Big Gino seems to enjoy cheating on his wife, Craig and Juana decide to blackmail him with a sex tape. Their plan goes horribly wrong, and Craig finds himself in deeper and deeper trouble. It might be up to Big Gino's wife, Sheila, to bail him out, but can she be trusted?

The Lawn Job is as suspenseful as it is entertaining, a true thriller written with heart and humor.

©2017 John Charles Caruso (P)2018 John Charles Caruso

Not as good as I hoped

Ex-con Craig Collins isn’t the sharpest pencil in the pack but he thinks he is. He’s ticked off for losing his lawn job with several clients so he hatches this plan with his stripper girlfriend Juana that he hopes will give him a big payday. The plot was pretty straight forward though I did hope Alfonso’s guns for drugs stuff would complicate matters and make things interesting. Alas, that didn’t lead to much but it did give Alfonso a bit of personality.

Initially, I was rooting for Juana. She had the most depth out of all the characters. While it’s never made clear if she’s transgender or a hermaphrodite, she does use her assets to the best of their ability. I liked that Collins found her sexy in many ways but he was also a bit of jerk for thinking of her as a freak. Juana was great for pushing back for more in a relationship and for a little while there I hoped that things between her and Gino would turn out well.

But then one betrayal after another happens and I stopped rooting for any of the characters. The mystery still held a little interest for me. I wanted to know which character would win this little drama. I was pleased to see it wasn’t Craig. 3.5/5 stars.

The Narration: Joe Formichella narrated in a monotone voice for most of the story. He did give Craig’s two ex-con friends distinct voices. However, his Spanish accent for Alfonso was pretty rough. His female voices were lacking femininity. His pacing was good. There were technical issues with the recording. 3/5 stars.

I received a free copy of this book.

Different

This was a little different read than I am used to. And I can just about read anything. The story was unique and interesting but the characters were a little disconnected. I did not like any of them much. There is a lot of crude language which seemed to be more for shock value. I did enjoy the book. Just stilted and rough around the edges.