The Suite Life
Samantha Bonti longs to escape her life of poverty in Brooklyn and live as a happily married, successful novelist in Manhattan. But an abusive, mobster-wannabe ex-boyfriend serving jail time finds ways to derail her aspirations. Fourteen years later, Samantha meets her dream man, wealthy Wall Street broker Alec DeMarco. Instantly smitten, Alec proceeds to court Samantha lavishly, and soon she is living the “suite life,” but she is unhappy. She doesn’t fit into his world, and her publishing goal is lost in the process. The story, drawn from Corso’s real life, focuses on the excessive Wall Street lifestyle and its effects on those who live it. Also in excess are descriptions of Alec’s massive presence and immense appetite. Samantha, unfortunately, comes across as passive, acted upon by outside circumstances rather than motivated from within, until the final chapters, when Alec’s empire crumbles. Some dramatic moments are lost, told in narrative rather than fleshed out in scenes. This follow-up novel to Corso’s Brooklyn Story (2011) reads like a tell-all about the seedy lifestyle of Wall Street’s elite. --Diane Holcomb