The Pips of Paradise

By: Michael Ciminera

Narrated by: Kay Eluvian

Length: 1 hr and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

The Pips of Paradise is a suspense thriller about two low level wiseguys who dream of turning their life of chance into the chance of a lifetime. But when their big break finally comes and goes sour, they must choose between their friendship or loyalty to a mythical street boss known as The Man With The Plan.

©2016 Michael Ciminera (P)2020 Michael Ciminera

Reminiscent of Gangster Wanna Be Guys!

Author Michael Ciminera creates a compelling short story thriller with two low-level stereotype mobsters, aka grave diggers, as the lead characters. The dialogue between Otto and Mordy shows insight into these characters. Mordy clearly annoys Otto often.

There are some tongue-in-cheek moments that are essential to the storytelling. For example:

“Envelopes I don’t mind so much. It’s what’s inside them,” Mordy said.
Otto played along. “What’s inside them?”
Cock nosed assignments is what’s in these envelopes,” Mordy said again.
He took the card from the envelope and read it out loud with more attitude that the first time, “Dig a two and a half foot wide, eight-foot-long hole, next the fourth gravestone on the right.”
He counted the gravestones, one,
two, three and with a middle finger landed on four and shrugged back to Otto.
“That ain’t a gravestone,” Otto said.
“What do you mean it ain’t a gravestone?”
“That’s a boulder, dummy.”

Even though these two guys are not as high in the organization as they desire, they are familiar with the mob rules. Sallie the Horse, their immediate boss, has a distinctive personality, often referring to the boss above them as The Man with The Plan. Fast-paced and entertaining.

This story is a good listen with a surprising ending. The quality of the audio is good. The narrator is consistent with the voices, tone, and pace of telling the story. The voice of Kay Elusvian is well-suited to these characters. The style and emphasis enhance the thriller aspects.

Reminiscent of Gangster Wanna Be Guys

Reminiscent of Gangster Wanna Be Guys!

Author Michael Ciminera creates a compelling short story thriller with two low-level stereotype mobsters, aka grave diggers, as the lead characters. The dialogue between Otto and Mordy shows insight into these characters. Mordy clearly annoys Otto often.
There are some tongue-in-cheek moments that are essential to the storytelling. For example:

“Envelopes I don’t mind so much. It’s what’s inside them,” Mordy said.
Otto played along. “What’s inside them?”
Cock nosed assignments is what’s in these envelopes,” Mordy said again.
He took the card from the envelope and read it out loud with more attitude that the first time, “Dig a two and a half foot wide, eight-foot-long hole, next the fourth gravestone on the right.”
He counted the gravestones, one,
two, three and with a middle finger landed on four and shrugged back to Otto.
“That ain’t a gravestone,” Otto said.
“What do you mean it ain’t a gravestone?”
“That’s a boulder, dummy.”

Even though these two guys are not as high in the organization as they desire, they are familiar with the mob rules. Sallie the Horse, their immediate boss, has a distinctive personality, often referring to the boss above them as The Man with The Plan. Fast
-paced and entertaining.

This story is a good listen with a surprising ending. The quality of the audio is good. The narrator is consistent with the voices, tone, and pace of telling the story. The voice of Kay Elusvian is well-suited to these characters. The style and emphasis enhance the thriller aspects.

Disclaimer: This Audiobook was provided free of charge by the author, narrator, and/or publisher in exchange for a non-bias, honest review.

What a great fun read

Mardi and auto or too low level mafia guys and although Mardi dreams bigger and auto sometimes gets annoyed their next assignment will send them on a path that will see Marty’s dreams realized. Not before auto gets the job of having to kill Marty even though Marty is his first friend ever. They say you can’t trust anyone but in this Marty and auto will learn the only ones you can trust all your friends. I love this book I loved auto and Marty’s relationship and I love when they would just sit around and talk. Not to mention I listen to another book by this author and narrator and I thought she did an awesome job with the different voices, they are so distinct and you could tell who’s talking when they are talking. I can’t wait to listen to more by this author and hopefully with this narrator. I highly recommend this book it was such a fun read!