Book Review: Crime in the Country

Title: Crime in the Country

Author: Victoria Kosky

Date: 2021

ISBN: 9798544080916 

Quote: "Something bad happened. Years ago, before you were born. I saw something and now he wants to kill me."

Part of the trouble with being a Mafia family is the need to tell "little lies everywhere," which is the subtitle of this novel. Joe, the son to whom Gabriella makes the explanation quoted above when he's protesting yet another sudden change of address, doesn't know that his mother is hiding from his father--or was he the father?--anyway, Gabriella's ex-husband who killed Gabriella's other man and is still "after" Gabriella. Gabriella doesn't know who her real father was, either. During the stay in Nabangie, the small town they move to at the beginning of the story, both mother and son will find out lots of things about their family. 

Violence: relatively low, considering that this is a story about professional criminals (only Gabriella really wants to do honest work and marry an honest man). We're told of several murders. Only one shoot-out takes place "on stage," and one of the shooters is old and the other one thoroughly deserves what he gets.

Sex: not lingered on in graphic detail, but when Gabriella finds a law-abiding man some of the kissing and petting take place "on stage."

Language: remarkably polite for a story about criminals. Even the Italian words into which people lapse, under stress, are mostly polite. (The nastiest criminal does call a woman something rude before hitting her.) 

Sense of humor: Kosky describes herself as writing crime novels with a sense of humor. The characters aren't exactly clowns; they don't seem to know that they're stereotypes, either, but Kosky does and is having a good time with the stereotypes.