There's no better beach read for this summer, than a "Jersey Noir" story taking place at the Jersey Shore, principally Wildwood and Cape May, with a little Cape May Point thrown in for good measure

John McGinty is a down on his luck "Mick" who agrees to run a Wildwood Restaurant as a favor to Lou, a South Philly wannabe gangster. Even before he gets down the shore, trouble finds "Ginty" on the Garden State Parkway and his problems snowball when he learns that the previous Manager was skimming from the restaurant and Lou tasks him with finding out what happened. He also is tasked with finding out what is going on with Lou's wife Concetta when she goes down to Cape May.

Written in the style of Raymond Chandler or James M. Cain, the more Ginty looks, the deeper into trouble he gets as he encounters drug dealers, a gorgeous French Canadian Paralegal on vacation, crooked cops, tough guys and junkies, including Lou's Son Davy. Eventually he has to help unravel a blackmail scheme that could cost him his freedom, or the life of someone close to him.

Having gone down to the NJ Shore for decades, and having a summer home in Cape May Point, I truly enjoyed this hard boiled thriller going to many of the places that I've gone to, or driven by all these years.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good beach read, especially anyone with a soft spot for the Jersey Shore.

I give this book 3.5 stars. I immediately was interested when I saw Wildwood in the title. I grew up in new Jersey and seeing a book about the Shore peaked my interest. The writing was not always the easiest to follow, but overall I really enjoyed the story. The ending was to abrupt for my taste. I think this is a great beach read with mystery, likeable characters, and comedic relief.
Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion/review.

I decided to give this book a try purely because I go to Wildwood, NJ every June to attend Barefoot Country Music Fest.

I found the writing style to be very choppy and disjointed. There were times when I had a difficult time following along with what the author was trying to say. It was very obvious that this book was written by a male author. It lacked descriptions, back stories, and "fluff." The writing was very much "to the point."

The cast of characters was very colorful, and for the most part, the characters were likable. I really wanted to know more about Concetta and Lou's relationship.

I felt that the ending was very abrupt, and it just came out of nowhere.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion/review.