The Winter of Frankie Machine [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Don Winslow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 26, 2006

The author of The Death and Life of Bobby Z. and The Power of the Dog now gives us a fierce and funny new novel—and a blistering new take on the Mafia story.

Frank Machianno is a late-middle-aged ex–surf bum who runs a bait shack on the San Diego waterfront when he’s not juggling any of his other three part-time jobs or trying to get a quick set in on his longboard. He’s a stand-up businessman, a devoted father to his daughter, and a beloved fixture in the community.

Frank’s also a hit man. Specifically: a retired hit man. Back in the day, when he was one of the most feared members of the West Coast Mafia, he was known as Frankie Machine. Years ago Frank consigned his Mob ties to the past, which is where he wants them to stay. But a favor being called in now by the local boss is one Frank can’t refuse, and soon he’s sucked back into the treacherous currents of his former life. Someone from the past wants him dead. He has to figure out who, and why, and he has to do it fast.

The problem is that the list of candidates is about the size of his local phone book and Frank’s rapidly running out of time.

And then things go really bad.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Elmore Leonard fans who have not yet discovered Winslow (The Power of the Dog) will be delighted by his fourth thriller with its sympathetic antihero. Frank Machianno, a retired mob hit man known as Frankie Machine as a tribute to his efficiency, has put his past behind him and is living a tranquil life in San Diego running a bait shop and supplying restaurants with linens and seafood. When the son of a local mob boss asks for his backup in resolving a dispute with the Detroit mob, Frank agrees, only to find that he's been set up as the intended victim of a hit. Using his survival skills and street smarts, the executioner follows a trail of bodies to identify which of his past crimes has caught up with him. While the plot is familiar, Winslow has created plausible characters and taut scenes of suspense that will keep readers turning pages. Author tour. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Frank Machianno thought he had quit the Mob for good. The 62-year-old Vietnam vet has settled into a quiet life in his native San Diego: operating a bait shack on Ocean Beach Pier, running three other local businesses (all on the up-and-up), and catching a set of waves every chance he gets. But Frank's sharpshooting skills are legendary (he wasn't called "The Machine" for nothing), and when the head of the Los Angeles syndicate calls in a favor, he finds himself back in the game. Turns out Frank was set up, but it's too late to change course; he's already neck-deep in the world of the thick-necked. Winslow, a longtime private investigator, is no stranger to society's underbelly; his past thrillers-- including The Death and Life of Bobby Z (1997) and The Power of the Dog (2005)--vividly evoke the worlds of drugs, dirty politics, and organized crime. Although Winslow visits well-traveled Mafia terrain, his writing has a crisp, cinematic quality that refreshes the subject matter and will appeal to fans of Elmore Leonard (without alienating the Mario Puzo camp). No surprise that film rights have been sold to Robert De Niro; the actor, who earned an Oscar for his performance in The Godfather: Part II, is set to produce and star. Allison Block
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; First Edition edition (September 26, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400044987
• ISBN-13: 978-1400044986
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.2 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #232,027 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Don Winslow (b. 1953) is the New York Times bestselling author of thirteen crime and mystery novels as well as short stories and film screenplays. A Cool Breeze on the Underground, Winslow's debut and the first novel in his popular Neal Carey series, was nominated for an Edgar Award. Before becoming a fulltime writer, Winslow worked as a private detective in New York and California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE ABOUT FRANKIE MACHINE?, September 16, 2007

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Winter of Frankie Machine (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard) (Paperback)

How can you not like Frankie Machine? As he says, "It's a lot of work being me," and that's quite true. However, that's what makes him so attractive - he's a persnickety cook who drives to five different stores to get the exact brand of ingredients he wants for a single dish. Only the best for him. He's a man who believes that "Quality of life is about the little things - doing them well, doing them right."

He's 63-years-old, owns a California bait shop, the O.B. Bait and Tackle. Everyone who knows him loves him. Life is good,. He has time for surfing with a pal, even if some refer to them as geezers, and he hopes to put his daughter, Jill, through medical school. But that is now. Then is something quite different.

When Frankie is ambushed he gets away in one piece, but the big question is why? In a series of flashbacks we learn that Frankie was once a hitman for the West Coast Mafia. He was an A-1 assassin, true to the mob code, and true to his word. He never was a squealer, so why aren't they leaving him alone? His memory is darn good and Frankie knows there are quite a few who have reason to want to be sure he is permanently silenced.

It's not long before some killings occur and for a while Frankie finds himself running from everyone - the mob and the cops.

Don Winslow has created a killer with a very human face, a plot that surprises, and a narrative often filled with humor. Frankie is a true gent and we can't help pulling for him. The Winter of Frankie Machine will be a movie next year starring Robert De Niro, and this reader will be first in line at the box office.

Highly recommended.

- Gail Cooke

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Surfin' with the Goodfellas, October 12, 2006

By 

Gary Griffiths (Los Altos Hills, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Winter of Frankie Machine (Hardcover)

If "The Power of the Dog" and "California Fire and Life" were not enough to prove the talent and versatility of Don Winslow, then this hard-hitting and intelligently plotted tale of life in the Southern California mob should put any doubts to rest. This is a no-nonsense epic of crime, of loyalties honored and trusts broken. Frankie Machine, like his creator, has serious chops. And if this isn't one of the best books of 2006, well, I guess then I'm reading from the wrong lists.

Frank Machianno is a 60-something small businessman in San Diego, a simple working guy balancing his bait shop business with three other part time jobs. A doting father to his pre-Med daughter. A loving boyfriend to a gorgeous former Vegas showgirl. A former US Marine sniper extraordinaire. A steadfast handyman for his ex, and still surfing after all these years. Everybody loves "Frank the bait guy."

And "Frankie Machine" is a retired hit man - a mafia button man of legend - a stone cold killer with principals: "I'd never kill a civilian - only other players."

But when the local mob boss and Detroit's Vince Vena lure Frankie into a trap, he begins a stroll down a bloody memory lane that crosses four decades and stretches between San Diego and Las Vegas while trying to figure which of several eligible candidates has waited till now to want him dead. And a colorful stroll it is, traveled by an eclectic mix of characters on both sides of the law, the shrewd and the stupid, friends true and traitorous, of relationships forged and broken. But most of all, it is a lane clogged with violence meted out by Frankie's steady hand, sometimes for vengeance, others "simply as business." But while Frankie may have been out of the life for several years, he's definitely not out of practice as he leaves a new trail of bodies behind while getting to the bottom of the mystery that wants his life.

Winslow is a terrific storyteller, keeping the action moving while alternating between black humor, raw brutality, and ultimately, an unexpectedly poignant climax. Winslow's cast is painstakingly rendered and infinitely believable - so much so that you'll be easily swept up with Frankie's charm, forgetting that he is, after all, a serial killer with few regrets. In the end, "everybody loves Frankie Machine." And trust me on this - you'll love Don Winslow's latest.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars His Place Now Secure, October 18, 2006

By 

Richard B. Schwartz (Columbia, Missouri USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Winter of Frankie Machine (Hardcover)

THE POWER OF THE DOG and THE WINTER OF FRANKIE MACHINE have secured Don Winslow's place among the world's great crime writers. The former is epic in its influences and urgings; the latter is less ambitious but no less effective. The novel is the most pliable of forms; in his new novel Winslow's model is autobiography rather than epic, but this personal story carries larger cultural freight because Frankie is a retired Mafia hit man. His story is more than a personal account; it is also the story of the west coast mob and its relation to its older, more powerful midwestern and eastern antecedents.

The writing is pitch perfect; I wouldn't change a word. The key to the story is the central character and he is delightful in both his canny complexity and his dependable, standup simplicity. The role will be a delicious one. If DeNiro somehow changes his mind, one can imagine Gene Hackman or some other contemporary master relishing the chance to bring Frankie to life on the big screen. The constituent parts are all there: a great story, a great character, and a great theme--the old mob vs. the new and the attendant reflections it invites on larger issues of time, history, loss, and the shrinking possibilities of survival and redemption.

The Elmore Leonard influences--which others have noted--are clear, but Winslow's work is in no way derivative. He's simply working the same turf in his own sweet way. If Winslow isn't on your list of must-read, must-buy-in-hardcover writers, he should be.