Title: Murder Takes Time
Author: Giacomo Giammatteo
Publisher: Inferno Publishing Company
Buy Link: Buy Murder Takes Time Here!
Rating: 
You Need To Read
Reviewed By: Nicole
Blurb:
MURDER TAKES TIME grips you by the throat.
Nicky Fusco thought he knew right from wrong, living by an oath of friendship & honor with his three best friends. But life took them down separate paths, and the oath was broken. Secrets were kept. Years later they are reunited and the bonds of their friendship are brutally tested, putting them on a collision course set in motion long ago.
Murder Takes Time is not a typical murder mystery or mob story. It is a thriller, a romance, and a coming-of-age story that rips your heart out. By the time you’re done reading it, you just might find yourself rethinking the definition of friendship & honor–even right and wrong.
Three boys, one girl. Friendship, honor, love–betrayal. It ends with murder.
Review:
To summarize this story, a friendship had been built between three men- Frankie “Bugs” Donovan, Nicolas Fuscos and Tommy “Mick” Devin. The three were seen around the neighborhood running games and making money. Nicolas Fuscos met a girl that he liked very much. Her name was Angela, but Nicolas got in trouble with the law and was sent to prison. At the time he went to prison Angela was pregnant and an unmarried Italian woman. So she got married to another man and raised her daughter. Tommy Devin also called Mick got murdered during the time period before I believe Nicolas went to prison. Renzo and Nino lived normal lives for them during this time frame. After Nicolas got out of prison he met a woman with whom he fell in love with and who was murdered. Nicolas believed that Renzo might have had something to do with it. And Frankie Donovan’s DNA evidence was found at one of the murder scenes linking him as a possible suspect. Frankie is a police officer and doesn’t want to be implicated in the murders. He felt that as he knew the deceased or one of them that he may have been implicated because of that. So he had a vested interest in finding out the person who committed the crime and he was desperately hoping it wasn’t who he thought it was. In the end, when he figured out who it was, Frankie was disappointed but he gave him a chance to do what he, the person responsible, felt was necessary.
This is an interesting crime novel. I would like to classify as a mystery. A mystery is defined by the Merriam Webster Dictionary as “(4) a work of fiction dealing with the solution of a mysterious crime.” (P 486). The mystery being who killed Renzo and Nino. The murders occur early on in the novel within the first 45 chapters. The groundwork being laid is that of the actual methodical nature of the person committing the crime and the reason behind that methodicalness. Refer to his rules found on the novel on page 202.
The nature of the relationships between the characters introduced in the novel: Frankie “Bugs” Donovan, Renzo Ciccarelli, Nino Tortello, Nicolas Fuscos, Mama Rosa, Angela, Johnny Muck and Tommy Devin (Mick), is described. As I read the story comes together using the techniques of foreshadowing and of memory to bring a clearer picture to the events that led to the actual killing of those who died. The author also uses places that may actually be recognizable to those who live in the area that he writes about.
Why I gave this story 4 stars-because it kept me reading until the end trying to figure out the MOTIVE for the murders. No matter which way I turned, I didn’t or couldn’t find that reason until the reason became clearly apparent. I will not tell you what it was. I will just tell you that it is of course about a woman. Isn’t it always for some people? But you have to get I believe more than 2/3rds of the way through the novel to find that out. In other words, as I said, I had to keep reading to find it out. The set up of current day and past day moved together to bring the present into focus and the reason for certain behaviors. In the end I think that the story plays itself out, although we may not have thought it would have ended the way it did, but you can follow the clues, and set up a timeline and eventually solve it on your own, once you figure out the MOTIVE for the murders. I think you will enjoy the read.
Nicole: Thanks for the review, and I’m glad you enjoyed the book.