“Transgressions” is a masterfully–written collection dripping with delicious irony!
Once again, former Brooklynite John Greco has treated his readers to hard-hitting tales dripping with delicious irony, comeuppance, violence, and twisted morality. His opening salvo, “The Hitchhiker,” a Hitchcockian tale, plays on the “not everyone is what they appear to be” as a screwdriver becomes a gruesome murder weapon. A drive-in theater playing two Roger Croman classics and a smoking addiction brings a fiery death to the main character in “Emily Has Risen.” In another story, a car plunges off a bridge, and an Officer and a girl are found drowned, all with a delicious twist of irony.
One of Greco’s best stories is “Knock Knock Knock,” a fabulous Edgar Allan Poe/Fargo hybrid, in which the wood-chipper in the latter envisioned. One might think of Boris Karloff’s Thriller “A Good Imagination” in “The Anniversary,” where the wife is smothered with a pillow, and an alligator appears. “Dream Lover, partially set in Anton’s Trattoria and involving a meal scam, will have some of us craving gnocchi and broccoli rabe.
Greco’s love for felines shines through in ‘The Orange Tabby,’ a delightful story with a rare happy ending. This heartwarming tale will leave readers with a sense of warmth and connection.
“The Librarian” features Greco’s excellent knowledge and appreciation of film noir and James M. Cain. In “Lenny the Lip,” bullets cut down Joey’s Barber Shop customers. My favorite of the 30 stories is “Family Tradition,” which I consider Greco’s descriptive writing masterpiece in the distinguished batch. Moon Lake is the setting, and the finding of Corrine’s body recalls the Tim Hunter film “River’s Edge.”
Greco is a master of dialogue and end-of-your-seat suspense. This collection could not be more strongly recommended!
Order here!
John Greco Author/Photographer 