A Family Heirloom

Rating:
Summary: Keeps you wondering what's going to happen next
Review: I throughly enjoyed reading this book and could not put it down for the 2 days it took me to read it! If you are looking for suspense and exciting twists - this is the book. You really can't wait to find out what going to happen with the main character next and become very interested in the life of the characters involved. A Family Heirloom is a great book that I would recommend to anyone!

Rating:
Summary: "A Family Heirloom" is a 24 Karat Gold story
Review: I've read many books that capture my interest from the beginning as "A Family Heirloom" did. And I've read books that can keep me turning pages for the entire story as "A Family Heirloom" did. What makes me rate this book so highly is that the ending was truly ingenious and inspiring. What else can I say about this book? The characters were interesting, the dialogue entertaining and realistic, and the author created tension not with murder and bloodshed, but the hard way . . . with good writing!

Rating:
Summary: "A Family Heirloom" is a 24 Karat Gold story
Review: I've read many books that capture my interest from the beginning as "A Family Heirloom" did. And I've read books that can keep me turning pages for the entire story as "A Family Heirloom" did. What makes me rate this book so highly is that the ending was truly ingenious and inspiring. What else can I say about this book? The characters were interesting, the dialogue entertaining and realistic, and the author created tension not with murder and bloodshed, but the hard way . . . with good writing!

Rating:
Summary: Great Book for the Beach
Review: Joe D'Aniello departs from his baseball musings to deliver a thoroughly suspenseful and ultimately satisfying tale about a man confronting both his present and his past in attempting to learn the truth about an 18 year old college student named Shawna Henderson. Readers will enjoy the exploits of Andy Lathrop, an over-educated beer-distributor driver with a flair for magic, gambling, and reflections on male/female relationships. D'Aniello displays an excellent sense of dialogue and guards the book's climax as effectively as Mariano Rivera would guard a lead for his beloved Yankees.

Rating:
Summary: "Family Heirloom: One of the Best in a Crowded Field"
Review: Joseph D'Aniello's A FAMILY HEIRLOOM is that rare case of a fast-paced "popular mystery" that is written with intelligence and humor. The reader is challenged by D'Aniello's liberal use of flashbacks in the narrative, as well as some scenes repeated in multiple viewpoints. Having his protagonist, Andrew Lathrop, be a former Yale graduate, and currently employed by a trucking firm, allows D"Aniello to comment surreptitiously on some issues of social class. The author also has an astute ear for the dialogue of his mostly Italian-American working class characters in Connecticut. In the book's unique and engaging opening scene of Andrew's truck driving buddies holding a contest to see who can hold their breath longest underwater, Vinne attempts to insult co-worker Wendy: "When God was passing out ____, she must have thought He said Zits and said 'Don't give man any';" only to be humiliated by Wendy's retort: "When God was pasing out ____, he must have thought He said clocks and said, 'give me a cuckoo.' "

None of the above, however, can obscure the fact that A FAMILY HEIRLOOM succeeds best as an intriguing mystery. D'Aniello's premise is Andrew looking for the enigmatic Shawna Hutchinson, presently a college student, but also supposedly killed in a fire at age 3. What D'Aniello continues to do best (including in his first novel GUILT BY ASSOCIATION) is to arrange a series of puzzling events that are seemingly incongruous and sometimes even impossible, only to "pull the rug out" from under the reader in the last few chapters as the mystery unravels. I can't tell you much more than that without revealing an extremely clever ending, only to reiterate that D'Aniello has peopled Andrew's world with a group of considerably vivid characters: Andrew's vivacious girlfriend Rita, an ex-waitress looking for the right man, Glenn Hutchinson, a small-time crook who has married for money, and Carla, Andrew's practical niece and Shawna's roommate. Above all, Andrew Lathrop himself is an appealing combination of crude humor, educated sophistication, psycholgical insight, and apparently a man "running from his privileged past" by immersing himself in a working class world - a la the Jack Nicholson character in FIVE EASY PIECES. A FAMILY HEIRLOOM also benefits from D'Aniello's considerable knowledge of New England geography, particularly Connecticut. Anyone who has ever lived in the Nutmeg state will recognize many familiar landmarks, and enjoy the book even more.

But A FAMILY HEIRLOOM doesn't need geography to succeed with readers. This book exemplifies that old cliche: "I couldn't put it down!"

Neither could I until I had finished it!

Ed Menta, Ph.D.

Kalamazoo College

Professor and Director of Theatre

Rating:
Summary: "Family Heirloom: One of the Best in a Crowded Field"
Review: Joseph D'Aniello's A FAMILY HEIRLOOM is that rare case of a fast-paced "popular mystery" that is written with intelligence and humor. The reader is challenged by D'Aniello's liberal use of flashbacks in the narrative, as well as some scenes repeated in multiple viewpoints. Having his protagonist, Andrew Lathrop, be a former Yale graduate, and currently employed by a trucking firm, allows D"Aniello to comment surreptitiously on some issues of social class. The author also has an astute ear for the dialogue of his mostly Italian-American working class characters in Connecticut. In the book's unique and engaging opening scene of Andrew's truck driving buddies holding a contest to see who can hold their breath longest underwater, Vinne attempts to insult co-worker Wendy: "When God was passing out ____, she must have thought He said Zits and said 'Don't give man any';" only to be humiliated by Wendy's retort: "When God was pasing out ____, he must have thought He said clocks and said, 'give me a cuckoo.' "

None of the above, however, can obscure the fact that A FAMILY HEIRLOOM succeeds best as an intriguing mystery. D'Aniello's premise is Andrew looking for the enigmatic Shawna Hutchinson, presently a college student, but also supposedly killed in a fire at age 3. What D'Aniello continues to do best (including in his first novel GUILT BY ASSOCIATION) is to arrange a series of puzzling events that are seemingly incongruous and sometimes even impossible, only to "pull the rug out" from under the reader in the last few chapters as the mystery unravels. I can't tell you much more than that without revealing an extremely clever ending, only to reiterate that D'Aniello has peopled Andrew's world with a group of considerably vivid characters: Andrew's vivacious girlfriend Rita, an ex-waitress looking for the right man, Glenn Hutchinson, a small-time crook who has married for money, and Carla, Andrew's practical niece and Shawna's roommate. Above all, Andrew Lathrop himself is an appealing combination of crude humor, educated sophistication, psycholgical insight, and apparently a man "running from his privileged past" by immersing himself in a working class world - a la the Jack Nicholson character in FIVE EASY PIECES. A FAMILY HEIRLOOM also benefits from D'Aniello's considerable knowledge of New England geography, particularly Connecticut. Anyone who has ever lived in the Nutmeg state will recognize many familiar landmarks, and enjoy the book even more.

But A FAMILY HEIRLOOM doesn't need geography to succeed with readers. This book exemplifies that old cliche: "I couldn't put it down!"

Neither could I until I had finished it!

Ed Menta, Ph.D.

Kalamazoo College

Professor and Director of Theatre

Rating:
Summary: JBentley Review
Review: Mr. D'Aniello's book is a very good read. It was suspensful, and had just enough plot information delivered each chapter to keep me wanting to read more. I found myself routing for the main character wanting to know the secret behind is actions. You won't want to put is down !!