Review: Another Great Read From A Great Collection
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 5, 2012
Virgin Heat is one of the books that don't involve the core characters of Shames' Key West books, though it's the same mafiosos and everything seems to tie in Bert the Shirt sooner or later.It's the same scene, though, and the same kind of people--but of course with Shames there is very little that's samey about his characters.Angelina is another of those young women pining to get out of her entanglements and find real love,  the kind of person he does so well, with a razor balance between tenderness, humor, and understanding.And as always, the men are a little flawed, but tend to work out.  And as always, don't let the concept of "funny side of the mafia" fool you.  This isn't a sitcom with cardboard wise guys: when the threat comes out, Shames doesn't lay it off: it's real danger and you feel it, as well as the exposure of much of the mean-spirited, small-minded brutality that underpins the fictional ideas of who the Mob really are.If you aren't familiar with Shames work, you should be.  And this is a good place to start.  But it would be even tastier if you were more situated in his version of Key West, had the whole picture on Bert and his friends.So get 'em all.  The reader-friendly pricing of these new ebooks offers the opportunity to dive into a world of stories as delightful as anything on the market.  They should sell them in six packs.