This is my fourth book in the series, Turning To Stone by Gabriel Valjan and each book got better and better.
If you like complex stories and characters that grow on you, this series is a must read..
MY REVIEW
The Roma Series continues in Turning To Stone by Gabriel Valjan and starts out with a BANG!
I am on familiar ground with Turning To Stone…The Mob. I have read a lot of organized crime novels, and Turning To Stone has everything I look for…corruption, betrayal, brutality, wholesale slaughter and assassins, female, no less. I love that twist and, for me, it doesn’t happen often enough.
But this is not the organized crime of Al Capone’s day. They are going legit and manipulating events through money, so be careful about investing in the stock market. LOL
Gabriel Valjan’s series keeps getting better and better. The writing flows smoother for me, the pacing and suspense picking up to a level that makes it hard to put the book down.
Some surprising turns at the end make me realize how strong and determined Bianca and her cohorts are. They have questions and WILL NOT stop until they have the answers, no matter the cost to themselves.
I enjoyed Turning To Stone the most…so far…and I am so glad I stuck with the series!
Action packed with OMG moments. The brutal, tragic ending left me feeling very sad and I can hardly wait to see where we go from here.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Threading The Needle from Gabriel Valjan.
4 Stars
SYNOPSIS
Alabaster Black aka Bianca Nerini returns as an investigation into a public official’s assassination pits Bianca and her friends against a backdrop of financial speculation, female assassins on motorcycles, and the Camorra—the most ruthless of Italian organized crime gangs—in Gabriel Valjan’s TURNING TO STONE, the fourth book of the highly praised Roma series (Winter Goose Publishing; June 2015; softcover $15.99; Kindle / Nook, $5.99).
En route to a secret meeting, Aldo Giurlani—the regional commissioner of Lombardy in northern Italy and a specialist on organized crime—is assassinated in the middle of a public square.
More mysterious is the package sent to Giurlani’s hand-picked team of five top investigators within the Guardia di Finanza (GdF), the Italian law enforcement agency that investigates illegal financial transactions, from money laundering to drug trafficking. Within the package are five copies of a book entitled Man of Smoke written by Aldo Palazzeschi.
Then there is Bianca’s tenuous online contact with a mysterious online contact known as Loki, who delivers a cryptic message to her, takes on a new twist with the appearance of a brilliant young obsessive-compulsive man who joins her team.
Complicating matters even further, old enemies and, more problematically, Alabaster’s former employer—Rendition, a murky covert U.S. government agency that does more than just investigate financial crimes—still have grudges to bear against her.
As new mysteries unfold, Bianca’s group quickly discovers that Naples might just be the most dangerous city in Italy.
ABOUT GABRIEL VALJAN
Gabriel Valjan lives in Boston, Massachusetts. He is the author of the Roma Series, available from Winter Goose Publishing. Gabriel has also written numerous short stories and essays found online and in print.
Connect with the author: Website ~Twitter ~ Facebook
.
.
GIVEAWAY
- 5 winners get a paperback copy of CC
- 5 winners get an ebook copy of CC
- 1 winner gets whole set of Roma series in paperback (signed)
- 1 winner gets whole set of Roma series in ebook format
- 12 winners total
- Print copies open to USA and ebooks open international
- Giveaway ends Dec 17
- You may see my Giveaways HERE.
- You can see my Reviews HERE.
- If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
Look on the right sidebar and let’ talk.- Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
- Problem commenting, look for the twitter, facebook…buttons.
- Thanks for visiting fundinmental!
My reviews for Gabriel Valjan
I usually don’t read mob books, though I love watching mob movies. Strange, I know! This book sounds very intriguing. Great review.
You’re really liking this series!
It’s getting better and better with every book. Maybe I’m just getting used to Gabriel’s writing style?
My husband is finishing his degree and had to take an organized crime class last semester. He found it really interesting and we’ve always enjoyed mob-related movies. However, I’ve never really read any mob books. Glad you like this series so much and it’s always fun when books start out so exciting!
That’s funny…ya know what I mean. 🙂 My favorite mob movie is The Godfather. It may be a bit dated, but nothing has beat it yet. That horse scene….I have read a lot of mob books…Starting out with a bang makes me feel there is a lot more coming and it did.