The Heist (The Lagotti Family, #1)
Published by Sobriety Press, Kindle Edition
Jailbird thief Frank Lagotti dreams of robbing a bank in 1968 Baltimore and spending his fortune in California. He assembles an elite crew but after the long wait for the heist, how could he know that everyone will want to kill another gang member in this slow-burn thriller?
Frank's moll, Mary Lou wants a huge amount of money because she’s sick and tired of living a deadbeat life with her fella but is frozen with indecision. Should she stick with Frank or steal from the bank robbers and start a new life with the bank's insider?
To succeed, Frank must overcome the bank security, his distrust of Mary Lou and his feuding crew. If anyone survives, they'll have staged the biggest heist of their lives. Or die trying.
User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
UiThe Heist is the first novel in The Lagotti Family series. It is fast paced with some humor and characters that were purposefully written to be crude. This is a story about a bank robbery so it totally makes sense.
The one thing that I wasn’t really expecting was the amount of swearing, sex and violence the novel was filled with. The swearing and violence didn’t bother me as much (though be warned, it is graphic), however the sex scenes were a bit too detailed and I felt they disturbed the plot sometimes.
The plot on the other hand was really good. I liked how action-packed this was. There were moments with car chases and the like that had my heart pumping, which is exactly what I was hoping for.
Frank is a strong character, though not super likeable. He is written that way and I applaud the author. It isn’t easy to write a character like Frank as the main character, but again, this is a bank robbery. The secondary characters were all similar but each stood out. I didn’t find any cookie cutter characters at all.
Overall, I think the story is great with a bit of humor mixed in. Fast-paced and strong characters. I was not a fan of the descriptive sex scenes, but I would still read the rest of the series because this does end on a cliffhanger and I would like to find out more.
*I received a complimentary copy of this book as part of a blog tour with Damppebbles Blog Tours. All opinions are my own.*
Find this review and more on my blog: https://www.jessicabelmont.wordpress.com
3.5/5☆ rounded to 4☆
Rating: really liked it
Review contains Spoilers. I was provided an advanced copy for my honest opinion. The Heist is an intriguing storyline as a synopsis but fails to follow through on any level. I was highly disappointed by the lack of character development and monotonous storyline that rushed to an ending. The book begins with half developed characters portraying nothing more than 1960's stereotypes that do not develop any further. Every chapter is broken into character specific sections reflecting a month of planning the heist. While not a bad concept in chapter setup, the author uses the sections to share their side of the conversations that more often then not end up being repetitive of what has already been shared in other sections. This causes the chapters to be longer than necessary and fail to move the story along in a proper flow. The book clearly leaves an ending for a sequel and gives no sort of resolution even after the first 98% of the book before the heist actually occurs. The one positive I took from the book is the description of 1960's Baltimore itself. I currently live in Baltimore and it was an interesting take and description of what the city looked like in that time.
Rating: really liked it
Lots of very detailed sex, occasionally interrupted by story. The story itself is good, but the book ends before the story does, leaving the reader unsatisfied. As the action progresses, just about every character decides to kill one or more of the other characters. After consideration, the reader may root for all of the characters to by killed. actually, some do bite the dust before the book ends.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Rating: really liked it
Fresh out of jail, Frank Lagotti Jnr is looking for a way to get rich quick and escape all his worldly troubles, and he has just the people in mind to help him.
Frank's big idea is to rob a bank and he soon gathers the men he needs. His girlfriend Mary Lou is also central to the plan, as she is the ideal one to use her ample charms to get on the good side of Carter Reinfeldt, one of the bank's employees - and Carter falls hook-line-and-sinker, allowing the gang all the information they need for the job.
You would think all would be going swimmingly, with an inside man, a skilled group of compatriots, and the backing they need from Frank Jr's mobster uncle, Frank Lagotti Snr, but trouble lies ahead.
It is not long before the gang members are all plotting to kill each other; Frank Jnr has a score to settle with Frank Snr; Frank Snr has a plot of his own; and Mary Lou does not know where her allegiance lies now she finds herself attracted to the reliable Carter, who it turns out is planning to rob the bank too!
This is not going to be such an easy job after all...
The Heist is book one of the four part Lagotti Family Series, which tells the story of two generations and four decades in the lives of Frank, Mary Lou and the rest of the gang.
The action gets going straight off the mark and it is soon clear that trouble lies ahead, when the gang members rub each other up the wrong way.
Leopold Borstinski introduces us to the different characters in an explosion of diverse storylines, but the separate threads soon begin to weave together in a way that lets you know there is going to be a bloody reckoning sooner or later. As rivalries, petty jealousies and downright hatred breed between the characters, they are pretty soon either planning the demise of each other, or looking for a way out once the money is in their hands. This lends the story the air of a darkly comic farce, where you are party to all their evil schemes, while on the surface they are calmly biding their time and looking forward to the bank job as an apparently stable team, and I found this rather interesting.
My one issue with the book was the amount of sex. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with a bit of sex in a book - the characters in this book are all motivated by sex and greed, and it is interesting to see how their obsessions influence their behaviour. However, there is so much of it here that the sex gets in the way of the story and the gratuitous fumblings, fingerings and squirtings did little to advance the plot. I was here for the mob story and did not really care about how the characters got their all too frequent sexual kicks, although I think Leopold Borstinski was probably trying to convey that our less than intellectual cast of characters were looking for a way to pass the time. I found myself skipping over the rude bits just to find out what was going to happen next and less would most certainly have been more.
Looking past the sex, if you can, there is an engaging mob story fighting to get out and I became intrigued by how this would play out. The Heist forms a solid foundation for the other books, and book two, The Getaway, runs seamlessly on from the ending of book one - although I have not ventured far into the second installment. As predicted, things did not turn out as Frank expected and there are still plenty of trials and tribulations ahead for him and the gang - there is also an interesting development in the form of a snippet of Mary Lou's backstory right at the beginning, which is a bit of a shocker to say the least.
If you like a mob story, with an interesting cast of complex characters, and you are not squeamish about graphic sex, then The Heist offers an intriguing introduction to the world of the Lagotti family and tempts you to read more about the exploits of Frank and the gang.
Rating: really liked it
I've been cheated! The book is not complete. Yes, it was free but my reading time isn't. Lucky I'm a fast reader. The method of the story telling is unusual as it uses the pov of its various characters to progress the tale. Not a bad approach once I understood the tactic. However, there were times when this resulted in needless repitition that dragged out the plot. The heist doesn't happen until the very end and even though it appears to be successful, I'll never know. I won't let this book sucker me in to getting the sequel just to find out what happens. I do feel cheated. I don't think it is fair to treat your readers this way. You've lost me as a potential fan. I loved Mary Lou's character and even Lucy has her charm. Pete the Wheelman is crazy and Andrew and Brian are a strange couple. Do homosexual men really have this kind of relationship. Frank is the star of the story but his character is flat without any attempt made to flesh it out. Frankie and his two hoodlum bodyguards are completely stereotypical and cardboard cutouts of B-Grade movie hitmen. In my opinion, you've failed to deliver on your promise, Mr. Borstinski.
Rating: really liked it
A fast-paced story about robbery and love gone wrong.
How could things go wrong? Use your girl to rob a bank. Think she'll be the one to fall for the target she's supposed to seduce?
Use friends and family to help. That one almost needs no elaboration. But hey, put people of color and alternative gender roles in with bigots.
No surprises there, except how they haven't all killed each other yet.
Oddly, in the face of fast cars, killer guns, bank heists and some kind of Mafia,
the story has an underlying macabre humor.
I enjoyed reading an advance copy. I laughed, and almost felt like I should be dodging bullets in my living room.
If you like your love stories with a literal bang, and your car chases with guns and humor, be sure to check this out!
Rating: really liked it
I wasn’t quite sure what to make of this book at first, but as I read further, I found myself lost in the world of the Lagotti Family. The series is a no-holds-barred story of a crime family with the focus on Frank and Mary Lou. It was gritty and provocative; if you’re easily offended, you probably will not appreciate the realness of the world created by the author. But, if you’re a fan of hard-boiled crime (think Sopranos or the real-life Gambino family) you should pick up this series. For a full review, please visit my blog at Fireflies and Free Kicks Fiction Reviews. This review was written based on a complimentary digital copy of the book.
Rating: really liked it
I gave this a 3.5stars or 7/10.
This is the first of four stories that make up the Lagotti Family series. Centering around Frank Lagotti the ex-jailbird thief, who plots to carry out a bank robbery aided by an elite crew of gang members.
Mary Lou, his girlfriend is drawn into the action by him. She's rather fed up of her current life with Frank and has aspirations greater than him. Mary Lou, could be the sticking point in the plans as she forms an allegiance with the insider and is torn between the present situation with Frank and what she potentially could have with the insider. Will she stick with Frank or will she double cross him in the end?
This was a slow burner character driven story with some action thrown in for good measure, a lot of the action admittedly was of a sexual nature and was rather detailed. It sat well with the story though in my opinion. Told from multiple character POV's it gave you an insight into the workings of the main characters and it was quite easy to see, that things weren't going well for any of them. They all needed to learn to trust one another more. There are episodes of violence which suit the story, as it has a Mafia style feel to it.
The story does leave you hanging a little, but there are plenty of other stories that do this. The encouragement is there to get the reader to grab the next one in the series, in order to find out where you will be taken next.
I did enjoy the story and I have the other three stories in this box set to read in due course. Keep your eyes peeled for reviews of the other stories.
Rating: really liked it
I have read this author previously and this book was a bit too much, well, smut. I did find some interest in the hopelessness of the whole story, some humor, and intrigue but overall, I am not as happy with this book as I thought I would be.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Rating: really liked it
I think this book is in the wrong category. Sure it’s a book based on a crime, but way more dominant is the amount of sex! Kudos to the author for having such sexual knowledge and creativity in that department. As you can gather, it was not to my liking.
Rating: really liked it
Disappointing.
The book mostly covers a year of "planning" and takes a long time to doing that. The book finishes part way through the actual heist without story resolution. Presumably the second book in the series, the getaway, finishes the story.
Rating: really liked it
This is one thriller no one should miss out on. Jailbird Thief Frank is a strong character. Once you get involved in the story, there is no way you can stop reading.
Rating: really liked it
Please see blog for [K]'s review: https://thepturnersbookblog.wordpress...
Rating: really liked it
dnf (4%) Only read one chapter and decided that I've got other books that I can read instead.
Rating: really liked it
A series begins about the Lagotti crime family. The first book covers a Baltimore bank and how to rob it. Lots of sex and language, some violence.
