Customer Reviews

Jimmy Bench-Press: A Novel of Crime

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Jimmy Mangino, aka "Jimmy Bench-Press", is one of those characters that just gets under your skin. Author Charlie Stella does a great job of laying out the day-to-day ugliness that defines the real world of organized crime while at the same time showing that the characters that operate in this world aren't really so removed from the average guy on the street. Jimmy Bench-Press is everyman's worse nightmare -- a guy you wouldn't want to be your enemy or your friend for that matter. Great prose style, interesting story, plot twists and super dialogue made this a quick and entertaining read.

This take-no-prisoners follow up to Eddie's World takes you deep inside the life of street-level wise guys and the cops who chase them. Luckily, both sides of the justice equation get equal treatment in Stella's gritty prose.

When a loan goes south, a bit player with a big ego hires a couple of goons to shake down a hapless barber. This sets in motion the man's undoing, as Jimmy Bench-Press soon has the man's voluptuous girlfriend enthralled and double-crossing him. Meanwhile, the cops on the case, new to each other, recovering from bruises in their personal lives, set the wheels in motion that bring the roof down around the scam.

But this doesn't do justice to Stella's wickedly funny and blunt prose. This book is not for the faint of heart, but it will reward readers with a thirst to see an honest portrait of cops and robbers.

I'm usually too busy to finish a book quickly, but I finished this one in two days -- I just couldn't put it down! Who cares if I didn't get much sleep?! It was well worth it. What impressed me most was Stella's ability to keep the reader reading, despite the late hour. He really gets you involved with his characters, anxious to find out what will happen to them next. I also gave this book to a few of my friends to read, and they all agree with me. I was so impressed with Stella's work that I purchased his first novel, Eddie's World. I feel the same way about Eddie's World as I do about Jimmy Bench Press; they're both great novels. This would be an excellent read for someone who truly enjoys Sopranos-like entertainment, or for someone who merely appreciates really good writing.

This was the first Charlie Stella novel I have read, and intend to read more, which is about the highest level of endoresment I can give. This was a quick read, chock full of excellent dialogue, fast moving plot, and plenty of action. I am not a fan of police procedural mumbo jumbo, and the author does a great job of keeping the two detectives from getting to much into that. If you like stories about bad guys, doing bad things (like I do) this is a story you will love.

Stella has given us some characters that we probably would not invite to lunch. They are described in detail physicall, mentally and emotionally. Their motivations are spelled out. We understand these people without particularly liking them. Stella has brought them off the street and into our living room. Enjoy their visit
and use febreze afterward.

My first foray into Charlie Stella's writing, and I really enjoyed it. His voice and style are great -- I love how this book is so driven by dialogue, and each character, even bit players, are individual and memorable. Jimmy Mangino, aka Jimmy Bench-Press, may be the title character be he is just one in an ensemble of characters that tie this book together. I got a kick out of watching all the machinations and betrayals weaving through the story, and the tribulations in the lives of the characters who actually fill the roles of "good guys" that make them do things we wish they wouldn't. A fine, quick read. Can't wait to read more from Charlie Stella!

I read Eddie's World by Charlie Stella and was looking forward to more of his work -- I wasn't disappointed. Jimmy Bench Press, if it's possible, is even better than the first book. Charlie Stella just gets better and better. I recommend this new author's work to anyone who enjoys witty and fast dialogue and intriguing hooks. Jimmy Bench Press is one of the best crime fiction novels to grace the shelves in a long while. Excellent read!

Yikes! What a character! Jimmy Mangino (aka "Jimmy Bench-Press") is a two-time loser just out of the joint. He's an earner for the Vignieri crime family and this time round he wants his "button" and he's not going to let anything or anybody get in his way. Jimmy is a completely amoral character and watching him maneuver his way through the world of organized crime (extortion, pornography and murder) is like watching a train wreck happen -- it's ugly but you just can't take your eyes off it. Stella's dialogue is what distinguishes him from other writers in the genre . . . it's gritty, brutal, funny and real and it brings all his characters to life. Great read, you just can't put it down.

Stella editor clearly told him to lighten up his tone a bit and allow his characters to be a bit more zany than in his fine debut novel, Eddie's World.

Boy, did Stella listen to his editor!

Virtually every character is this book suffers a tragic breakdown between what he wants out of life and what his life experiences are tying to tell him back. The protagonist wants to be a made guy in the mob, but sees nothing wrong in getting involved in a number of zany schemes which could blow up on him big time and threaten his initiation. There's a fine continuance of a cop character from Eddie's world transferring to another squad to track Jimmy in this one, and it plays very well.

In this work, Stella has learned to shift from viewpoint to viewpoint while following a fast moving story line, and it adds a real improvement to his work.

As I have said in many reviews, this is not serious noir. However, it is damned entertaining.

I'm kind of reading Charlie Stella backwards, having started with his most recent "Shakedown", which I thought was terrific. "Jimmy Bench-Press", his second novel, was released a few years back. It is another smart, brutal, no-holds-barred tail of wise guys and mob wannabes on New York's mean streets, but having read "Shakedown" first, "Jimmy" reads more like a practice draft for greater things to come.

Jimmy "Bench-Press" Mangino bench presses 400 pounds, and can knock out your teeth, torture you with a cigarette lighter, or shoot you in the face. Not a model citizen, but hey - what do you want from a guy just out of joint with one goal: becoming a "made man"? Detectives John DeNafria and Alex Pavlik are with the NYPD Organized Crime division, looking to bust Jimmy and the mob lords who pull his strings. Like "Shakedown", this one is told with authority: raw, violent, and irreverent, laced with raunchy sex and Stella's apparent fascination with the length of male appendages. Unlike "Shakedown", it meanders precariously around DeNafria's and Pavlik's pasts and personal relationships almost to the point of tedium, and drifts to a mostly non-conclusive ending and a climax that can only be described as "anti-climatic".

Notwithstanding, a notch above the average pop crime fiction - a quick and dirty read that will likely whet your appetite for another 9mm dose of Charlie Stella.