Customer Reviews

Forced Out (Wheeler Hardcover)

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(61)
3 star:		(68)
2 star:		(22)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I know a lot of readers will approach "Forced Out" as a fan of Stephen Frey's more business and/or financial related thrillers. While I understand this represents a change of pace, I have not been a follower of Frey's previous work. Others will undoubtedly be drawn to the novel due to its baseball content--right down to the metaphorical title. I am, also, no great lover of baseball. So while others may have approached this novel with built-in expectations--I was a relatively blank slate. I was looking for a reasonably entertaining thriller, and that's what "Forced Out" is.

The book tells the story of two men on different paths. There's Jack Barrett, a former baseball scout fallen on hard times. Reaching his golden years, Jack struggles with a past that has betrayed him while simultaneously looking to discover something redemptive--something that would provide a better life for he and his devoted daughter. Then there's Johnny Bondano, a mob hitman set on a mission that is counterintuitive to the moral code that keeps him sane. Both men are drawn to a minor league baseball player (who may or not be a phenom) for different reasons--and this sets up a major collision.

The characters of "Forced Out," both major and minor, aren't particularly likable or relatable--but nevertheless, I was fascinated by their character flaws. The story kept me interested and it is a pretty fast read. I was positive I was on track to a "4 Star" review as I followed the entertaining plot to its inevitable confrontation. The problem, then? The build-up of the whole novel comes to a stunningly quick resolution that lacks the tension I was expecting. And missing this major play in the final inning (I'm no good at sports metaphors), the book sort of fizzles. And after a somewhat unsatisfactory climax, the wrap-up is cursory, bizarre and unbelievable at best. I really liked 90 percent of this book, but the last thirty pages were a major let down. I've stuck with less interesting reads, but it's really disappointing to read something enjoyable that so completely derails in the end. KGHarris, 10/08.

I was a little leery of reading this book as I'm not a sports fan and typically find the topic boring as reading subject matter. I was very pleasantly surprised to find myself becoming quite involved and engaged with the characters, and the Mafia aspect of the story as it came into play.

It moved briskly along as we followed the story of a Grumpy Old Man and his spinster daughter trying to get their lives together, and their chance intersection with a promising young baseball player in the farm leagues in Florida. Meanwhile, in New York, a Mafia hit man is ordered by his capo to find and kill the man who killed the capo's grandson in a traffic accident while trying to escape the clutches of a loan shark. The hit man comes to realize the assignment violates his own set of moral values, and that as marginal as those are, they're the only things that distinguish him from the other animals in his milieu. He's faced with his own moral crisis, and in trying to resolve it realizes his own life is in need of redemption.

Interesting stuff! I'm thinking 4 - 5 stars.

Then last night I hit the last 60 or so pages of this book, and it turned into a train wreck.

Characters started acting completely OUT of character. The hit man killed someone he'd previously saved, and the way it was portrayed in the book was incredibly incompetent technically. One of the important but peripheral characters completely and inexplicably disappeared entirely from the story. MANY rookie errors along those lines.

So now, unfortunately, it's only a 2-star effort.

At best.

I loved the way the characters worked with each other. Once the main story lines merged, the book became much more engaging. I'd recommend reading Forced Out...especially if you are a fan of the game of professional baseball, which serves as the backdrop for this story.

The blurb for this book said that it explored the intertwining lives of an ex-scout for the Yankees, a mafia hit man, and a single-A baseball phenom. I am a baseball fanatic and also one of those people that likes to read "tell-all" mafia books so "Forced Out" seemed like a great choice for me.

The biggest problem with "Forced Out" is that it is so hoaky. There are so many ridiculous situations and conclusions that are just forced upon the reader. Characters sometimes point out how unbelievable these things are and, therefore, the reader is expected to accept them too. This device just served to remind me that I was reading a piece of fiction and kept me from "disappearing into the book."

The characters are largely unlikeable. Was I supposed to like the crusty ex-scout who is a bitter alcoholic? Was I supposed to care about his daughter who allows herself to be abused? Was I supposed to care about the hit man who has remained (kind of) faithful to his girlfriend who died 17 years ago? Or was I supposed to care about the baseball player who does not seem to care about making the most of his talent?

For the first half of the book I just couldn't believe all the clichés, stereotypes, and incredible coincidences. After I became accustomed to these contrivances I was able to find some enjoyment in "Forced Out."

I love baseball and enjoy reading mafia tales, but I have never been a big fan of soap operas. At its heart "Forced Out" is a soap opera that lacks credibility.

I don't know what Stephen Frey's readers ever did to him but he seems to have some serious hostility toward them and his characters alike. I listened to this book on CD and most of it got me through some tediously long drives. I liked the characters so I didn't mind playing along with the kind of suspension of disbelief that I soon found the plot required. But for tolerating this kind of cheese, the reader totally deserves a unicorns-and-butterflies ending. By the 7th disk, just as my suspension of disbelief was about to collapse, characters began dying off for no reason. I mean there was no deep life-lesson to be had here. Did Stephen Frey forget the kind book he was writing? By the time Kyle McClain (the story's main driver) got hit by a cab I felt like I had been had. My last sentiment was, "well what was the point of all that?"

To bad for you Mr. Frey. In my mind Jack, Cheryl and Kyle live happily in New York and MJ has a job with the Yankees.

"Forced Out" was not what I was expecting, not that I really knew what to expect from a book that attempts (and succeeds) at combining the NY mob and baseball. I believe that this book is largely successful because of the individual story lines that build away from each other, while constantly edging closer to a potentially explosive and unpredictable conclusion.

I will not say that it took me a while to get into this book (since I read half of it in my first sitting) but I did feel like it. The characters, being vaguely introduced and hardly compelling, became more so as every chapter ended. The individual story lines grew and evolved into people I did not think I could possibly care about to people I could not stop wondering about.

The story, although seemingly flat at the beginning, becomes more and more interesting as the plot unfolds. This book is not for everyone, and I think some may be turned off by it. I honestly can say I was only interested in reading this because it said "baseball" and "mafia" on the back. There is so much more to this book, and I truly have a difficult time describing the intriguing development of this story.

J.Stoner

Take the Mafia and Baseball, America's fabled bad guys and America's pastime and you've got FORCED OUT. Who could resist a thriller with a Yankee's and Florida backdrop. Not me, that's for sure.

Sixty-three-year-old Jack Barrett is a former Yankee's scout living in Florida with his daughter, because he was forced out of his job. He goes to a minor league game with his daughter and her sleazy boyfriend and discovers Mikey Clemant, a player who could be the next Mickey Mantle. If fact he's replacating the Mick's games, that's how good he is. And look at the names, Mickey Mantle and Mikey Clemant, see anything there?

As it turns out Mikey is on the run from the Mafia and one of their bosses has hired Johnny "The Deuce" Bondano to find Mikey and put him to rest, permanently. It's not surprising Mikey doesn't want to play for the Yankees, but if only he would, Jack could get the credit for the biggest baseball discovery in a generation. He could get back in the game big time. There is only that pesky little Mafia problem.

I liked this book more than I can say, though I have to admit the ending threw me farther than a throw from deep center to second base. Still this is a good book, well worth reading.

Stephen Frey strays from the field of financial thrillers to take on a crime novel that crosses baseball with the mob. Jack Barrett, a former Yankees talent scout dismissed from the club after allegedly altering the course of the 2004 series with the Red Sox, spies a A-league player in Sarasota who could be the "next big thing." Another Mickey Mantle. The only problem is that the player, Clemant, is hated by his teammates and is hopelessly inconsistent. When Jack approaches the player with promises of glory, he is told to mind his own business in no uncertain terms.

In parallel, a group of NYC mobsters are hot on the trail of a loan shark customer who defaulted on a $100,000 loan and supposedly died in a car accident. It shouldn't take readers long to figure out who the man they are after really is.

The story has some potential, but it is hindered by several flaws. First of all, Frey's characters come straight off the rack at Hollywood casting. The mobsters are just like every mobster you've ever seen in a third-rate gangster movie. Jack Barrett is the prototypical crabby old drunk. His protege MJ follows the archetype for smart young black kids struggling to emerge from poverty. At the ripe age of 16 he is wise far beyond his years. Jack's daughter Cheryl is every battered woman you've ever read about. Clemants isn't just a good baseball player--he's the best. Cheryl's boyfriend is purely evil. If he had a mustache he would be twirling it as he cackled and rubbed his hands together at his fiendish plan. The author doesn't seem to understand one of the basic tenants of storytelling--even the villains are trying to do the best that they can, and few people are purely and relentlessly evil.

There's nothing to distinguish the characters from the cliche. They lack nuance. Their behaviors are perfectly predictable and their dialog, ultimately, is simply a vocalization of their cardboard character descriptions.

Many of the situations are crafted for plot convenience rather than credibility. Clemant's feat of replicating particular outings from baseball history borders on the impossible, as it implies not only a willful and concerted effort on his part, but on everything else about the games in question falling exactly into place by pure happenstance so his at-bats occur in specific innings.

The characters are deeply self aware and constantly discuss each other, the plot and its implications in ways that human beings don't normally. Details are repeated over and over as if the author doesn't trust the readers to remember them. How many times do we really need to hear the story about the head in the box?

The stories of the various mobsters who will play a part in the book's climax are trite and predictable, and ultimately form prolonged diversions from the real story. Their various dramas with each other aren't terribly compelling because the characters are so despicable. Just because he has a moral code and is haunted by the loss of his true love years ago doesn't make the hitman a sympathetic character

The secret of Jack's fall is kept until the end for no real purpose other than to build curiosity. The story wouldn't have changed materially if readers knew the facts right from the beginning.

And, finally, Frey orchestrates several incidents at the end that serve no apparent purpose other than to demonstrate the caprice of the universe. The "adopted" daughter disappears from the book once the story moves back to New York. Every other loose end is neatly tied up--too neatly, in fact.

I wish I could find something positive to say about the book but, to be honest, if I hadn't committed to reviewing it, I would have tossed it aside after about 75 pages.

Save your money and pick this up at the library if you are a fan of this author and feel that you must read this book.

At first, I though this book had some potential. Yes, the first few chapters are boring but like many storylines, the action doesn't pick up until after the introduction of several of the main characters.

If you can suffer through the first couple chapters, you'll probably find yourself getting into the book, even if you are not a huge baseball fan. That is until you reach the last few chapters and whatever suspense was building quickly evaporates and the book takes a huge nosedive.

I have never read a book before that is so totally disappointing. There is actually one main character that literally disappears from the story line.....and I don't mean disappear as in an abduction, I mean, the story line just simply drops this character and there is no mention of her again. Overall, the conclusion simply progressed way too quickly and the sudden "killing" off of several of the main characters lacked any type of suspense. The ending was written so poorly that I was beginning to wonder if a different author had finished the book.

The author Stephen Frey should consider himself lucky that he was not "Forced Out" of his publisher's office for submitting such a disappointing book.

Mob boss seeking revenge? Check.

Mob assassin sent on mission for boss? Check.

Mob gofer looking for a way to get in good with the boss? Check.

Sexy dame with self-serving actions? Check.

Disgruntled middle-aged man who sees a chance at redemption? Check.

Young talented but misunderstood star with a secret past? Check.

Sensible plot, good writing, logical connections between events in the story? Absolutely nowhere to be found.

I like mysteries, and I like thrillers. Someone recommended Stephen Frey to me, and I thought this book would be a good opportunity to check out his writing.

Wow. I can only assume that his other books are much better. From the very start of this book, I was scratching my head trying to figure out why these characters were behaving as they were and trying to find at least a bit of logic between the thinnest of plot points that seemed to be thrown in only to provide an excuse to bring the characters together.

I can suspend disbelief in order to enjoy a work of fiction, but there were far too many incredibly unbelievable events - little Rosario is only one of these - that made no sense. Add in characters that seem more like stereotypes (Jack: I make all the rules in this house; Cheryl: Gosh I need a man for validation, and, Daddy, I'm a woman so of course I want a baby more than anything; MJ: I'm the poor minority youth who will bring enlightenment and wisdom to those who should have a better appreciation for what they have), throw in killers who really aren't all that frightening for a work of fiction, and this book just does not work.

My husband read this book on a weekend trip to Las Vegas. He held his opinion of it until I threw the book across the bedroom one evening. He looked at me and said, "That was my feeling, too." Obviously this book just isn't my cup of tea, and after reading it, I'm not so sure that I would read another Frey novel.