Ted Galdi

A Road To Nowhere is a short story, 25 pages, by Ted Galdi, so there isn’t a lot I can say about it. I was reading along, thinking I knew what was going on. A guy picks up an abandoned girl, offering her a truck ride to town. It’s all about the ending, and it was a surprise! Ted Galdi got me and I loved that. I do have another book of his, and after being caught off guard in A Road To Nowhere, I am eager to see what he has to offer in Lion On Fire, a novella.

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This story has a slow burn to it. Brian Rolson starts off as a good, but naive, fellow who is helping his younger brother Kip out. Their State Trooper dad has strict high expectations of both his sons and Kip has already had a mark against him. Now he’s gotten involved with some drug gangs and owes them $18k, which he can’t possibly pay off in time without help. So Brian, who’s been a limo driver for a while now, agrees to take up driving for this illicit casino business. Manhattan has strict rules about casinos but the Russian Mob has ways around them.

As the story unfolds, we get a few more characters, like Dusty who becomes Brian’s good best buddy in this illicit casino business. Then there’s Brian’s girlfriend (Samantha? maybe?) who reluctantly gets dragged into this and then unceremoniously kicked out. That spurs our duo on to what becomes a big flustercluck.

Igor is the Mobster that Brian has the most dealings with. He is calm, concentrated, and scary! One of my favorite scenes is where Igor, Samantha, and Brian are all crammed into a car having a heated discussion. It was intense and I wasn’t sure everyone was going to make it out of that car alive.

Dusty is lovable because he’s almost a Puck – so care free and full of life. He’s got this philosophy that you should take chances, live that life to the fullest, because death comes in an instant and then you’re not around to deal with any messy clean up (physically or emotionally). Brian isn’t sure he buys into that but it does intrigue him.

As wrapped up as I was in this tale, I did miss the ladies. There’s a brief appearance of Brian’s mom, a woman who runs the little bank at the casino events, and Samantha (plus some bar ladies and gamblers). Samantha has the most lines but she’s mostly there to provide emotional fuel for Brian and Dusty to hatch their plan. She hasn’t got a full personality like Brian or Dusty. So I would have liked more ladies and more from them.

I liked the underlying role of Brian’s dad. His strong expectations from his kids motivate Brian just as much as that event with Samantha. Both sons feel that they can’t go to their dad for help or guidance because they will forever be labeled Mess-Ups, never to crawl out from that black cloud.

While the heist attempt itself was full of riveting scenes, I could see all sorts of issues with their plan leading up to the attempt. Why oh why! Boys! So many ways for things to go wrong and for it to end in tears. But the ending was full of suspense and action, kept me hooked, and on the edge of my seat. 4.5/5 stars.

I received a free copy of this book. My opinions are wholly my own.

The Narration: Scott R. Pollak did a great job with this narration. He had the perfect voice for Brian, who is naive and a little too helpful to everyone. He’s eager to please. Then he also had the perfect care-free voice for Dusty. I also liked his strong, unforgiving voice for Brian’s dad (the state trooper). His few female voices were feminine. The pacing was perfect. There were no technical issues with this recording. 5/5 stars.… (plus d'informations)