The Heist (The Lagotti Family #1) by Leopold Borstinski

Welcome to my stop on the Blog tour for The Lagotti Family Box Set by Leopold Borstinski. The Lagotti Family Box Set comprises of four books: The Heist, The Getaway, Powder and Mama's Gone.

My thanks to Emma Welton of Damppebbles Blog Tours for the opportunity to take part in the Blog tour.

I read the first in the series and look forward to reading the other three in due course.



From Goodreads

Jailbird thief Frank Lagotti dreams of robbing a bank in 1968 Baltimore and spending his fortune in California. He assembles an elite crew but after the long wait for the heist, how could he know that everyone will want to kill another gang member in this slow-burn thriller?

Frank's moll, Mary Lou wants a huge amount of money because she’s sick and tired of living a deadbeat life with her fella but is frozen with indecision. Should she stick with Frank or steal from the bank robbers and start a new life with the bank's insider?

To succeed, Frank must overcome the bank security, his distrust of Mary Lou and his feuding crew. If anyone survives, they'll have staged the biggest heist of their lives. Or die trying?

My thoughts

I gave this a 3.5stars or 7/10.

This is the first of four stories that make up the Lagotti Family series. Centering around Frank Lagotti the ex-jailbird thief, who plots to carry out a bank robbery aided by an elite crew of gang members.

Mary Lou, his girlfriend is drawn into the action by him. She's rather fed up of her current life with Frank and has aspirations greater than him. Mary Lou, could be the sticking point in the plans as she forms an allegiance with the insider and is torn between the present situation with Frank and what she potentially could have with the insider. Will she stick with Frank or will she double cross him in the end?

This was a slow burner character driven story with some action thrown in for good measure, a lot of the action admittedly was of a sexual nature and was rather detailed. It sat well with the story though in my opinion. Told from multiple character POV's it gave you an insight into the workings of the main characters and it was quite easy to see, that things weren't going well for any of them. They all needed to learn to trust one another more. There are episodes of violence which suit the story, as it has a Mafia style feel to it.

The story does leave you hanging a little, but there are plenty of other stories that do this. The encouragement is there to get the reader to grab the next one in the series, in order to find out where you will be taken next.

I did enjoy the story and I have the other three stories in this box set to read in due course. Keep your eyes peeled for reviews of the other stories.