The Last Gig [Hardcover]

Norman Green (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 20, 2009

A teenage runaway from the Brownsville projects, Alessandra Martillo lived with an indifferent aunt who had taken her in when her mother killed herself, and later, after more than a year on the streets, a caring uncle found her, took her in, and showed her she had a chance. That was many years ago, and now Alessandra’s all grown up, working for a sleazy P.I., repossessing cars, and trolling for waitstaff on the take.  The cases aren’t glamorous, or interesting, but the work pays the bills.  And she’s good at it---if there’s one thing she’s learned since leaving the streets, it’s how to take care of herself around life’s shadier elements.

When an Irish mobster named Daniel “Mickey” Caughlan thinks someone on the inside of his shipping operation is trying to set him up for a fall, it’s Al he wants on the job.  She’s to find the traitor and report back.  But just a little digging shows it’s more complicated than a simple turncoat inside the family; Al’s barely started on the case when she runs into a few tough guys trying to warn her away.  Fools.  As if a little confrontation wouldn’t make her even more determined.

Norman Green, critically acclaimed author of four crime novels, debuts a fresh, edgy character in the streetwise Alessandra Martillo, a female take on the P.I.s of yesteryear.  Tough as nails and sometimes heartless, smart and altogether too brave for her own good, Al is one of the most interesting lead characters to hit crime fiction in years.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

While there's nothing particularly original about Alessandra Al Martillo, Green's new hard-boiled PI, this series debut suggests she may have a long fictional life ahead of her. Al works as the assistant to Marty Stiles, a New York City ex-cop turned PI, who does a fair amount of repo work. The ante gets upped for both of them when Daniel Mickey Caughlan, a leading Irish mobster, hires Stiles to find out who's using his trucking company to move drugs. Al soon learns that another mystery surrounds the death of Caughlan's 20-year-old son, ostensibly from an overdose, just six months earlier. Green (Way Past Legal) convincingly conveys the city's underbelly and keeps the action moving through various subplots, including a search for a sex tape that could destroy a pop diva's reputation. Some may quibble that the indestructible Al is a bit too larger-than-life, but she's well-rounded enough to help readers suspend disbelief at her surviving numerous violent encounters. (Jan.)
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From Booklist

Mobster Mickey Caughlan owns a more-or-less legitimate trucking company. When he discovers that his trucks are being used to move drugs, he hires more-or-less legitimate private investigator Marty Stiles and his formidable Puerto Rican assistant, Alessandra Al Martillo, to identify the traitor. The plot is fine, but the essence of The Last Gig is character, specifically Al’s. At age 12, she was homeless on the streets of Brooklyn after her mother’s suicide. Her absentee father’s only contribution to her development was to teach her how to maim anyone who threatened her. She’s tough, smart, cynical, untrusting, strikingly attractive, brim full of machismo, and deeply conflicted. At times, she’s almost feral. Author Green’s New York is hard-edged, gritty, and dangerous, and his other characters are well drawn. Al’s investigation touches on a rock band, and what is said about musicians and the music business sounds knowing. In fact, every bit of the book sounds knowing. But the biggest reason to recommend it is because lovers of hard-boiled PIs will love Al. --Thomas Gaughan

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (January 20, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312385420
• ISBN-13: 978-0312385422
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,719,192 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great New Character, February 1, 2009

By 

Gearoid T. OHagan "Gearoid T O'Hagan" (Elmwood Park, NJ, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Last Gig (Hardcover)

I really loved this book. I will admit that one of the "bad guys" in the book is named Gearoid O'Hagan, so I was somewhat interested to see how the whole story unraveled as that is also my name. Well, I was not dissappointed. Great story telling, strong plot and very well developed characters.

While there always is some 'suspension of disbelief' necessary to enjoy any work of fiction, I found a lot in this book real-to-life.

The central character is, of course, Alessandra "Al" Martillo. A street smart, tough as nails PI, who manages to get into and out of all sorts of trouble. Other people have mentioned that Al is just a little too tough, but there is one memorable scene where she gets the s*** beaten of her. She wasn't too tough there.

I highly recommend this book. Norman Green ties up all the loose ends and multiple sub-plots nicely and I look forward to Al Martillo having a long, successful literary career.

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun Reading, April 20, 2011

By 

Howard S. Stein - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Last Gig (Hardcover)

I like Norman Green's books. This book is not quite as good as Dr Jack, but its a good fast read, gritty, in the genre. It's noir, but not as ugly as lots of them are, and it has some of the same qualities as a good police procedural. Green can have a good way with dialogue, too, snappy and ethnic without being too contrived. Not "deep", but a quick, fun, book.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars terrific New York noir, January 24, 2009

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Last Gig (Hardcover)

Thanks to her street wise uncle, former Bronx runaway Alessandra "Al" Martillo learns to live off the street too. She obtains a job at a dumpy private investigative-repo firm working as an assistant to sleazy former NYPD cop Marty Stiles.

Irish mobster Daniel "Mickey" Caughlan hires Stiles to investigate who is using his trucking company to transport drugs while setting up the gangster to take the fall once the cops move in. Stiles needs an insider so assigns the anti Barbie tall, lean and tough Al to go undercover working at the trucking company. Al makes inquiries and learns of the mysterious death of Mickey's twenty year old son six months ago from an alleged overdose. As Stiles works other cases for his clients who hire him due to his silent shady investigations that cross the legal and ethical lines, Al courageously bangs heads placing her at risk.

This is a terrific New York noir starring a kick butt female whose attitude encourages fights as if her motto is "violence is as American as cherry pie" (H. Raps Brown). Although she is bit over the Empire State Building, fans will enjoy her antics and that of her boss as they trek the city that never sleeps. Urban noir fans will enjoy THE LAST GIG due to Al's approach to life from pool-halls to dives, cases from sex tape retrievals to mob traitor, and Manhattan from sordid to even sleazier scenarios.

Harriet Klausner