Marco Carocari threads together a mystery that works well with vivid characters in Blackout. The book is engaging and well written with fully fleshed storyline and characters that keep you gripped into them until the end. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Franco DiMaso is your average forty-something-year-old gay New Yorker. He’s a talented photographer who cannot live on his photos alone, so makes ends meet by working in the restaurant of his best friends Gino and Carmine and also tending bar in another friend’s nightclub. He works out in the gym, and he hooks up with other guys thanks to what modern mobile apps provide. His last long-term relationship ended up in disaster some time ago, and his last lucrative photo shoot, although successful and lauded, hasn’t been followed up by any new contracts. Late one night, he meets up with an anonymous lover on the rooftop of the Manhattan flat he rents for next to nothing. The sex turns out to be quite underwhelming, probably because the joint Franco shared with his hook-up must have been laced. He has little recollection of what really happened; he isn’t even sure what he witnessed in a flat across the street is more than a figment of his imagination. But somehow he’s sure he wasn’t dreaming. No, there were two men struggling in the window, and one of them did strangle the other to death.

The police officers he somehow manages to alert despite his being so dazed are less sure, though. Mostly because there’s no body to be found. And because Franco still seems to be under the influence of the drugs. But things become stranger still. Some days later, someone breaks into the town house where Franco is living and hurts one of his landlords downstairs. This time, the two NYPD officers do believe him. More or less. Detective O’Shea, an obnoxious and homophobic drunkard, immediately inclines towards suspecting him, of course. But his partner, handsome Aidan Torrance, is more willing to believe Franco’s version. Even more so when some days later the mutilated body of a millionaire is found hidden in a corner nearby. The problem is, the same millionaire was the one who commissioned Franco’s last photo job. Moreover, Franco’s fingerprints are all over the flat where the supposed murder has taken place. And then there’s the money Franco suddenly discovers he has been bequeathed by the murdered millionaire, and Franco’s past resurfaces: his father, a NYPD officer, was killed in his presence when he was a kid. Nothing seems to add up, everything seems to be just an incredible mess all of a sudden…

If I had to summarize this book in only a couple of words, I’d say: a stupendous surprise because it’s stupendiously good. A clever page-turner plot, authentic-feeling and engaging characters, great writing style, witty dialogs, turns and twists aplenty, and a whodunnit so well constructed and multi-layered that I never saw it coming who might be the culprit. To a certain extent, the book had the feel of a film noir-classic like Hitchcock’s “Rear Window”, from which the idea of involuntarily witnessing a murder from across the street might have been borrowed. But this novel is no pale copy-pasting nor a simple contemporary remake of a well-known story. It offers so much more. I really loved this book, which I consider a must-read for any aficionado not only of M/M murder mysteries but of murder mysteries period.

Franco is a sweet and sassy young man (at forty we are still young, right?) who tries to be a good person and to live his life as best he can. I loved his repartees and his droll bantering not only with his besties (a bunch of endearing side characters who form Franco’s family so to say) but also with the police force. He is not disrespectful, but never awed or cowed by authority or money either, which made for some truly delicious scenes.

Detective Aidan Torrance comes with a past, which I discovered toward the end, and seems very wary at the beginning. Yet, it was obvious almost from the get-go that he and Franco are meant to find each other and fall into each other’s arms, investigation rules be damned. I won’t tell you if they do or not—don’t want to spoil your reading pleasure—but theirs is one of those “relationships” that add even more tension to an already tension-laden thriller. That Torrance’s partner O’Shea is simply a pain in the a**, pardon my French, amplifies this further. The ramifications of the storyline are just another thing that made me read on with bated breath. In fact they lead way back to Franco’s traumatic childhood experience when his dad was shot dead by a drug junkie whose identity was never found out.

Whatever further details I could give would be spoilers as one thing leads to another in this book, and everything is connected even though I couldn’t see why and how until the author deigned to present me with an explanation that was as unexpected as it was obvious. Everthing fell into place at last. Which is as clever as you can get when writing a thriller, so kudos to Marco Carocari for not falling into the traps of an easy or unbelievable solution nor producing a last-minute deus ex machina who takes all the blame. Enjoyable from start to end. Lovers of well-written, well-paced murder mysteries with a pinch of sass and romantic feelings, treat yourself to a copy—you won’t regret it!

I really enjoyed reading this book.

Impressive for a debut novel, I can tell an extraordinary amount of work went into it. The tense and action-filled moments are written masterfully, keeping me on edge of every page. The overall plot is full and rounded, it all makes sense and there are few to no plotholes (however the blackout mentioned in the blurb seems more important to the plot than it actually is). It survives my 'is-this-chapter-necessary?' test.

But here's what's holding me back giving it a full 5 stars. The book could use a little more revision work; I noticed a few typos (e.g., Terri is once referred to as Terry). There are also multiple characters that are introduced at the beginning that don't come up at the later stages of the novel, and many tertiary characters who are introduced and are hard to keep up with (many of the protagonist's friends who work with him at the restaurant and their family, like Pina, Filomena, Carlo). This is a personal gripe because I think it’s an unnecessary, no-pay-off burden to the reader.

Overall I truly enjoyed the heck out of reading about the gay protagonist and his gay, superhero-like, sexually charged but emotionally unavailable cop partner. I could read a more adult version of this novel if it ever came to that...

3.5*

Although the book starts with an interesting premise, it took me several weeks to read the first half of this story because it didn’t grip me in the following chapters. I persevered and once I got to around the 60% mark I started to enjoy the story and read to the end quite swiftly. The overall plot idea is interesting and not too complicated.

Although Franco and Aidan are the main POV characters, there are several chapters told from other points of view. The story is not told entirely in chronological order. The backstory chapters are there to explain current events/characters and to fill in gaps for the reader.

I liked the main character, Franco. Although he was supposed to be forty-three, based on his behaviour and speech, I kept imagining him to be more like twenty-three.

The story is more murder-mystery than romance. Although there is a connection building between Franco and Aidan from about the mid-point we never really see it bloom.

The book I read (from NetGalley) needed another round or two of edits. There were spelling mistakes, missing words, and loads of run-on sentences.

Quite a few negative points here, but I would recommend a read of this debut book.

Unique thriller with a gay main character named Franco, who lives in New York City and one night witnesses a murder. Then, his life begins to unravel, uncovering some childhood trauma and Italian family drama. It reminds me of The Sopranos meets Law & Order meets Will & Grace?? It was a little predictable, but I enjoyed the ride.

Although this isn’t a police procedural, the author focuses a lot on the cops investigating the case and the turmoil within the police department, so readers might want to know that going into it. I personally started to get lost in all of the officer names because there is such a big supporting cast here. The dialogue was a little cheesy at times but it helps to lighten the tone of an otherwise serious topic. There’s also a little romance thrown in, which isn’t usually something I enjoy in thrillers. Finally, there is a lot of testosterone in this book, with almost no meaningful female characters besides maybe Franco’s mom, so that was another negative for me. Overall, I did like the plot and the set-up, but obviously had some issues with the writing and tropes.

To begin, I am not one to read crime mystery, but I wanted to give this title a try.

The writing style is subpar. It felt choppy and unsettling. I could tell the author often tried to sound witty or humorous, but it landed empty. The author could have done better as far as detailed writing. The details that were given were not useful, nor did they add to the plot or setting in any manner.

As far as the plot, it took about 30% into the book for anything to happen. By 50% into the book, you finally reach the part of the plot mentioned in the summary.

No, I did not finish this book. I stopped at about 55% because there are honestly many other books on my shelf and this one felt wasted.

This was a great debut! The mystery was well paced and the characters very interesting. I was surprised at how complex the plot was for a book in this genre. I loved the structure of the novel and think the mystery really benefits from this style.
I do wish that some of the more minor characters were more developed, there were times when I felt like they could have given us much more information that was instead provided by the narrator. This could have absolutely been intentional but didn't work so much for me.
Overall I really enjoyed this one and sped through it. A great mystery with a queer protagonist is always a win for me.

DNF
Unfortunately, while the premise gripped me and I do want to find out what happened...I just really struggled to get into this book. Perhaps it's because the MC lived such a wildly different life to me that I just couldn't connect with him at all. I think the book was decently written but not enough happened that made me want to turn the page and continue on with this book. It's unfortunate and maybe one day I'll go back to it, if only to skip to the end to find out what happened. As it is, I just cannot continue with this book.

Marco Carocari threads together a mystery that works well with vivid characters in Blackout. Mystery is not my go-to, but I found much to enjoy in the way this author constructed the story.

This one started off a bit slow for me, it took me a little while to really enjoy Franco's character. At the beginning he's a bit bumbling, but as the story goes on, you see that he's really just a hot mess stemming from witnessing his father's murder at the age of 4. It turns out that his father was a cop, and there's questions about his honesty, and his murder was never solved. Then, Franco witnesses a murder but no one believes him. This novel is full of suspense and turns, and holy cow, I didn't see that ending coming!! By the end, I was fully invested in this mystery and I hope to see more from this author!

"Blackout" starts with Franco, a gay man in his 40s, on his roof with a man he met through a hook-up app. A little stoned (did his "date" drug him?), he thinks he sees a murder in the building across the street. The only problem: the cops don't believe him, his date disappeared and there is no evidence of a crime, so Franco begins to investigate on his own.
As a gay man myself, I liked how the book treated Franco' sexuality. It was an honest reflection of gay culture and wasn't judgmental of Franco's actions or choices, nor was writing overlty sexual or graphic just for the sake of adding some 'hot scenes'
As Franco's search deepens, it eventually leads to an event that happened during the NYC blackout of 1977. It was here the momentum slowed down and, for me, the plot got a bit bogged down with too many characters and plot lines that were a bit difficult to follow at first. I wanted more of Franco in peril in the present day and less of character's telling us what happened back in the 70's to move the story along.
That being said, there were enough twists and turns to keep me entertained throughout, and I will keep an eye out for Carocari's work in the future.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

In his debut novel, Blackout, Marco Carocari takes a number of familiar crime fiction tropes and skews them ever so slightly, thereby breathing new life into each of these familiar constructs, and ultimately leading readers to a fresh and unique conclusion.

The opening scene of Blackout takes place in Manhattan on July 13, 1977. Historians will know this is the date most of New York City suddenly lost electricity for almost twelve hours. It is at the beginning of this chaos that Marco Carocari introduces readers to Francesco DiMaso and his young son, Franco. In a city that is about to devolve into a dangerous and unpredictable pandemonium, Francesco – an off-duty police officer – finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, desperate to keep his child safe. With this extremely evocative opening tableau, Carocari hooks readers immediately and leaves them longing for more.

From here, the action jumps forward to 2016 with a scene that echoes Alfred Hitchcock’s classic Rear Window and/or the many works that film has already inspired (among them The Bedroom Window and The Girl on the Train.) A now adult Franco is “entertaining” his latest trick on the rooftop of the building where he resides, when the hot stud he found via the MeatUp app offers him a joint. Unaware that his mind has been altered by the possibly-laced drug, Franco believes he sees an extremely violent argument taking place in one of the apartments across the street. Before he knows what hit him, the police are questioning why he is passed out on the street and Franco has no memory of his actions following the rooftop tryst the night before. He tries to convince the authorities of the possible murder he witnessed, but their investigation fails to turn up any evidence of a commotion or, for that matter, a body.

Days later, things take a turn when a body is ultimately discovered in a different location and traced back to the apartment Franco highlighted. Only problem: Franco knows the victim and it turns out his fingerprints are all over that crime scene. Now Franco is an everyman, tangled up in a mess that is far beyond his control. As the investigation into this current crime advances, Marco Carocari weaves flashbacks to the night of the NYC blackout into the narrative like walnuts in a trendy vegan brownie. Crime fiction fans will know that these two cases will eventually converge – fortunately in completely unexpected, but absolutely plausible, ways.

Marco Carocari populates his story with likeable characters who are realistically flawed and infinitely relatable. Peppering the narrative, Carocari provides just enough humor and romance to keep things from becoming too heavy or morose, without leaving any doubt that crime and corruption are the centerpiece of the novel. All of this action takes place against the backdrop of New York, a city that experienced unfathomable change between the late-seventies and the modern-day.

Blackout is the chance for readers to jump in on at the starting point of Marco Carocari’s career. No matter whether he continues Franco’s story as a series and ventures into more stand-alone territory, this is an author to keep your eye on.

Great debut from a writer I will keep my eye on in the future!
Franco di Maso may or may not have seen a murder during a disappointing sexdate on the rooftop of his appartment building. The guy he was with didn't see anything and blames it on a bad reaction to a joint.
This sets off a series of events putting him in the line of fire of the police and a killer when on top of that it brings to light secrets from the past.

A very well written book with a main character who feels real in his emotions and interactions with friends, just trying to make it through life, find someone to love and gets sucked into a situation that spirals out of his control by trying to do the right thing. Marco Carocari is juggling a couple of balls, moving back and forth from the 70's to 2016 and manages to move the story forward at a solid, logical pace ultimately leading to the explosive ending where all balls come together and you can close the book with a satisfying thud.
A must try for the character driven mystery lovers out there!

***An ARC was provided by Netgalley in exchange for a honest review. ***

This was a fun read. I was quickly sucked into the plot, and invested in Franco as a character. I found myself really looking forward to picking up my kindle to continue with this story.

However, I’m reallllly not a fan of this writing style. There’s a lot of repetition bogging it down, for example, Carocari tells us three times in almost as many pages that Franco’s work is only a short walk from his flat. There’s also quite a lot of focus on small, inconsequential details that don’t really add much to the story, such as the description of his morning routine. I also wasn’t a fan of the pacing. There’s so much focus on details in the start of the book, yet the ending felt very rushed and left me unsatisfied. I would have liked less time spent on Franco’s showering and more spent on the ending.

That being said, this is a solid 3 star read. I’ll keep my eyes open for more from this author in the future. I would actually quite like to read a follow on from Blackout! I really wanted more Franco and Aidan!

In a stunning debut from Marco Carocari, dark secrets from the past envelope Franco DiMaso after witnessing a murder. He goes from unreliable witness to prime suspect and nothing is as it seems. The mysterious death leaves a trail to the decades-old violent murder of his own father. He faces resistance from the authorities and his own family in his search.

Carocari evokes the sights and sounds of the New York club scene and describes the struggles a young gay man experiences dealing with trauma, both old and new. A gripping, well-plotted, page-turning read.

Queer own-voices murder mystery? Yes, Please! I loved watching Franco, our protagonist and tortured soul, grow as a character, learn more about the past that shaped his present, and discover just how strong he truly can be. Death has followed Franco since he was a child who witnessed his father's murder, and now that he thinks he saw a murder across the street, he's found himself wrapped up in the underbelly of the mafia, dirty cops, and a race against time to discover just how connected these murders truly are. A wild ride with a twist of an ending I didn't see coming, I rooted for Franco from page one!

This novel was the perfect mystery, crime book.
I was on the edge of my seat the whole novel, and literally gasped a few times wanting to talk about it with my roommate.

Franco is the only witness to murder across the street, while on a laced joint. When he reports the crime still high on the joint the police can’t help but think he is could be a suspect. When Franco realizes he knew the victim. It reopens a murder case that happened 40 years ago.

It was interesting getting a look into the cop's lifestyle and thought process, and I loved that the protagonist was apart of the queer community. This book was so exciting to read. I thought the novel was going one way and then it went in a totally different direction.

I am excited to read more of Carocari's novels.

On his website, Marco Carocari says that as a child he fell in love with mysteries after seeing an adaption of the classic Christie novel “4:50 from Paddington”. He quickly began to read as many crime books as he could. I imagine him as a ten year old boy, curled up on a chair reading a dusty, yellowing paperback with a pulpy cover.

Carocari’s new novel, Blackout, clearly demonstrates his love his love of the mystery genre. He is knows the genre well and know how to work within it. The novel is both original and a great homage to the classics of crime fiction.

The novel begins with a tragedy. It’s the summer of 1977 in New York. New York is broiling and smelly. A man is out with his son, trying to give him one fun day before a terrible storm hits. He has to do something that is earth shattering. Something that could potentially destroy him and his family. But before he can take these actions, he is shot and killed in front of his son.

Thirty-nine years we are plunged into a scene from a modern Hitchcock film. The young boy, Franco, has grown up and is still living in New York. One night he witnesses another violent crime. He’s up on the roof of his building, having a quick hook up with a guy from an app. The hook up is going now where. Franco is feeling woozy from a hit joint brought by his date. Looking across the street he sees into an apartment. In the apartment he sees a man attacking and killing another man.

If you know any of the conventions of mysteries you know what happens next. Franco reports the crime, the police arrive and investigate, no body is found, and the police suspect that Franco hallucinated the incident. Cue the body being found days later and the introduction of another crime classic, the hard boiled NYPD detectives. One detective is old school and gruff, the other is younger, empathetic, and handsome. Of course, Franco ends up having a connection with one of the cops.

Carocari keeps on hitting the crime beats. The police can’t track down Franco’s date thus threatening his alibi. Franco’s DNA and fingerprints are found at the crime scene. Franco quickly becomes a suspect

Franco is forced to get involved even further when the victim is identified. I won’t go further except to say that there is a connection with his father’s murder.

Carocari continues to use the conventions of crime fiction skillfully throughout the rest of the novel. As I read, I became excited at what would appear next. Although Carocari used many elements of crime fiction it was always skill-full and never cliched.

Overall this novel was great. It’s a wonderful homage to crime fiction. I loved the LGBTQ aspect of the novel. Carocari wove in many aspects of queer life that felt affirming. Not only are most of the characters gay but other aspects of queer life are presented such as chosen families, fetishes, and polyamory. I would, though, have loved to see him expand the novel to include more of the broader queer community.