Wednesday, May 27, 2009

~Book Review - Painting the Invisible Man by Rita Schiano~


I finished this book in less than two days....I just couldn't put it down.

Anna Matteo is a writer, who delves into her past looking for answers to her father's untimely death. This is a historical fiction novel, loosely based on true events. Her father, Paulie Matteo, has ties to the mob, and is linked to some criminal activity in Cranston, Rhode Island, where the story takes place. Anna is in college at the time. When she comes home for Christmas in 1976, she is confronted with the news of her father's demise.

Some thirty years later, Anna is overwhelmed to find out the truth about her father's murder...who ordered the hit, who did it....who was directly involved? She begins researching the trial of the accused murderer, Angelo Capraro, and she goes as far as dressing incognito to visit one of her father's oldest friends, Joey Cassella, the suspect that ordered the hit on Paulie... a man that was her first secret crush as a young girl....a man that she thought she could trust....a man that she could never envision hurting her father.

Rita Schiano truly has a gift for writing, and captures the characters and time frames perfectly. I am Italian, so that is another reason I enjoyed this story.

Painting the Invisible Man is a true glimpse of the life of Anna and her family in the 1970's, her relationship with her father, mother and brother, and the grown-up Anna; ready to face her fears and live her life without boundaries.

Read this book - you won't be disappointed.
My Rating: Five Stars

For more information about Rita, please visit www.ritaschiano.com.


Publisher: The Reed Edwards Company
223 Pages
ISBN: 978-0-9795347-0-6

****I just visited Amazon.com to find out more about Rita's previous book "Sweet Bitter Love" and saw that it had been reviewed recently! Go to http://wynsbooks.blogspot.com/2009/04/sweet-bitter-love-by-rita-schiano.html for the review. Oh, and I am putting in an order for this book. :)


9 comments:

Cecile Smutty Hussy said...

Nice book... Great review!
What parts of the story are true; the characters or the actual story line? Just curious.
**writing in my notebook (that seems to be busting out with tooo many TBB books) this new author and book down**

Missy B. said...

Cecile: I think mostly all of it is true. In the press release that was sent to me with the book, it says; "The disclaimer on the copyright page states that the work is based on a "known event" and stands somewhere between a work of historical fiction and a roman a clef (a novel in which actual persons and events are disguised as fictional characters) which allowed the author to merge "memory with imagination to create and recreate some of the scenes" It really is a good read. I know you will enjoy it!

serendipity_viv said...

This sounds fabulous. Will definitely look out for this one. It has hints of The Godfather about it.

Cecile Smutty Hussy said...

Thank you for letting me know that... I have a preverse mind that needs to know things... lol! Yea, I know... crazy! You can laugh, I do! LOL! Book is now in the book of all books... Cecile notebook that she takes to Borders or online orders, lol~ Thanks Missy!

Missy B. said...

A noteboook! I really ought to do that. I now jot down books or authors that I want to read on little pieces of paper, then throw them in my purse....never to be found again. I am starting a notebook - thanks for the idea. :)

Anonymous said...

I read this book a year or so ago. I felt the same way. The book totally blew me away. This author rocks!

Missy B. said...

She has another book....Sweet Bitter Love...which was published in 1997. I am going to check that one out!

Rita said...

Thank you, Missy, for such a lovely review of my book.

To answer Cecile: About 90% of the book is factual.

Jess said...

This sounds like a great read. Plus, it takes place in RI! How can I not read it?

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin
 
Blog Design by Use Your Imagination Designs Enchanted Neighborhood kit by Irene Alexeeva