Adam Abramowitz has given life to the characters in this book. As you read, you can see and hear them as if you were standing next to them. It's a rare talent and usually takes a while to develop characters this well. I'm really impressed with his writing. This was really an enjoyable book.
Two brothers are barely hanging onto their businesses while trying to not get involved in "business" that can cost you more than a paycheck. Their lives are complicated by Boston's politics and their own relatives. The brothers enjoy the race and learn many lessons as they try to keep on the right side of the law and the mob.

The first few chapters were like being thrown into a pond to learn how to swim. Once I got used to the writing style it was much easier going. That said, I loved it from the start.,The characters were great and there's lots of characters. I love Boston so it was fun to read about areas I knew though I lived there before the Big Dig.

All in all, a really fun read and one I would recommend.

Yes I got a FREE copy to review but if it is JUNK I call it JUNK!

This is not junk as the author follows up the boys from bean town with street gangs, corpses, AWOL rock stars, casino chips, but this isn't really a bang-bang, shoot-em-up. It can be best described as a cerebral thriller with almost too much talk at the beginning but if you stay with it you will be quite pleased.

Zesty and Zero are back from "Bosstown" and find themselves caught up as they try to work up. I enjoyed this book a lot

This was a slow read for me. The plot seemed to meander all over the place and I'm afraid I couldn't get into the characters. I'm not familiar with Boston (though perhaps many people familiar with Boston wouldn't relate to THIS version of Boston). I'm sure many people will enjoy this book. It's just not for me.

I enjoyed this mystery that revolves around a Boston, Mass, based messenger service. The protagonist, Zesty, manages the service while his brother runs a moving business. Zesty happens to be the son of a reputed organized crime boss who has seen better days.

The sites and sounds of Boston resonate throughout and readers will be transported to one of my favorite parts of the U.S. The plot and mystery follows a twisty road and asks for patience. But the denouement is worth the read.

Zesty Meyers’s bike messenger is back ,back in Boston back in the middle of trouble.of the gritty underworld of dangerous characters of shocking twists and turns criminal acts.blood flowing,Second in the series drew me in again a mystery series an author to follow.#netgalley #st.Martins

This is a great book for those who enjoy this style of writing but it’s not for me. A bit too disjointed
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me this arc in return for an honest review

This quote (taken from the galley graciously provided by NetGalley and St. Martin's Press so therefore might not be in the copy of the book you end up reading) sums up the entire book: "Zesty has a proven track record of insinuating himself into situations, making things more complicated than they out to be." And if nothing else, that is what makes this series so good! It is like finding yourself eating a dish that you expect to be mediocre and then realize it is an incredible combination of quality products. Complex characters, deep back stories, convoluted plot lines all make for a dense mesh of a book. Sometimes that is a bad thing but in this case it is a very excellent thing. I only have 2 questions: Just how old IS Zesty? And did he actually deliver anything for his job during the course of the story?

Hard to review and it won't be for everyone but this is a hoot. Zesty, who runs a bike messenger business in Boston, is the son of an organized crime boss who may or may not have dementia. His brother Zero runs a moving company which is, to say the least, unique. Zesty has once again found himself in the middle of a murder mystery which involves places and people which will no doubt resonate with those who have lived or spent time in Boston. Although most of these were not familiar to me, I found myself wrapped into what sometimes feels a tad unhinged but I kept reading because I wanted to find out what happened. Zesty is a classic hero in some ways, defying his past and trying to build a future around it. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

Unfortunately this book is not for me, I’ve read 15% and it’s just not my style of writing, not to suggest it’s a poor book, it’s just not for me

Following up on the success of his debut book Bosstown, Abramowitz has given us a terrific sophomore follow-up with A Town Called Malice. There's a mystery or two here, investigations, street gangs, corpses, AWOL rock stars, casino chips, and more, but this isn't really a bang-bang, shoot-em-up kinda thing. Its got lots of chatter and, while much of the chatter seems unrelated to the main story, it all connects up in the end so have some faith that the train is not leaving the tracks. Zesty Myers is not a trench-coated, .45-wielding private eye.

Zesty is a bike messenger, tooling up the roads and byways of Boston and, anyone who thinks they can get through that maze, especially after the Big Dig, without taking a wrong turn is doing some wishful thinking. Zesty's brother Zero runs a moving and storage company. Their mother was a bomb throwing revolutionary bank robber and has been missing for decades. Their dad ran the best poker games in Boston and knew everyone who was to be known, a local fixer if you will. But, these days Dad is a little up there and Alzheimer's has got quite a stranglehold on him.

This book is about Boston from the inside like Campbell's Jimmy Flannery series is an insider's look at Chicago. This book is about the neighborhoods, the changing of the guard, the old rock clubs from the heyday twenty years gone, and the bars that are so authentic that most don't know them. There is homage paid to Will Hunting both in the setup of the working class bros and the uppity yuppies and the ivory towers across the river in Cambridge and in Zesty actually confronting a professor in front of the stunned undergrad lecture hall. That there is your working class genius.

A really enjoyable novel that I thought was far more about the journey than the ultimate destination, although if you follow the story there are some surprises at the finish line.

Many thanks to the publishing house for providing a copy for review.