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The Old Turk's Load
Acclaimed writer Gregory Gibson offers a tight, fast, and funny debut crime novel set amid the Newark riots of 1967. When a load of high-octane heroin goes missing in the melee, criminals, cops, do-gooders, and lowlifes scramble to possess it. But the heroin has ideas of its own, leading its frantic pursuers on an increasingly deadly chase.
Angelo DiNoto, a ruthless New Jersey crime boss, supplements his ill-gotten gains by importing blindingly pure artisanal smack produced by an old Turkish farmer. When a five million dollar shipment disappears, DiNoto can think of nothing better to do than go on a murderous rampage until he recovers it.
Richard Mundi, in whose lap the drugs have landed, is a burned-out Manhattan real estate developer who plans to use the unexpected windfall as capital to revive his crumbling business empire. His gorgeous daughter, Gloria, in bed—literally—with a band of wannabe revolutionaries, sees the heroin as a way to escape her father’s looming presence and impress the woman she truly loves. “The Mailman” is a longtime postal clerk who has survived the worst that life has to offer—until throat cancer robs him of his voice and the will to live. To him, the drugs are a ticket to a better place. Topping off the cast is Walkaway Kelly, a private eye and Hell’s Kitchen barfly who teeters continually on the brink of redemption.
Stir in Kelly’s lovelorn sidekick, a pair of closeted gay hoodlums who work as DiNoto’s enforcers, Mundi’s conflicted protégé (a slab of muscle with a moral conscience who also serves as Gloria’s nanny), and you have an Elmore Leonard-esque cast of characters running rampant in a convincingly wrought historical setting. Gregory Gibson weaves a thrilling, twisty plot in an unforgettable showdown over the Old Turk’s Load.
Angelo DiNoto, a ruthless New Jersey crime boss, supplements his ill-gotten gains by importing blindingly pure artisanal smack produced by an old Turkish farmer. When a five million dollar shipment disappears, DiNoto can think of nothing better to do than go on a murderous rampage until he recovers it.
Richard Mundi, in whose lap the drugs have landed, is a burned-out Manhattan real estate developer who plans to use the unexpected windfall as capital to revive his crumbling business empire. His gorgeous daughter, Gloria, in bed—literally—with a band of wannabe revolutionaries, sees the heroin as a way to escape her father’s looming presence and impress the woman she truly loves. “The Mailman” is a longtime postal clerk who has survived the worst that life has to offer—until throat cancer robs him of his voice and the will to live. To him, the drugs are a ticket to a better place. Topping off the cast is Walkaway Kelly, a private eye and Hell’s Kitchen barfly who teeters continually on the brink of redemption.
Stir in Kelly’s lovelorn sidekick, a pair of closeted gay hoodlums who work as DiNoto’s enforcers, Mundi’s conflicted protégé (a slab of muscle with a moral conscience who also serves as Gloria’s nanny), and you have an Elmore Leonard-esque cast of characters running rampant in a convincingly wrought historical setting. Gregory Gibson weaves a thrilling, twisty plot in an unforgettable showdown over the Old Turk’s Load.
245 pages, Hardcover
First published April 2, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
April 14, 2015
I received an audible copy of this book from the narrator (R. C. Bray) in exchange for an honest review.
The Old Turk's Load by Gregory Gibson is a throwback to the dark days of noir, the kind of books that used to be called pulp fiction, with wisecracking lingo, indelible characters, and plenty of action stuffed between lurid covers.
The plot about a drug shipment gone wrong is wild and implausible, just like in the classics, and serves mainly as a framework for Gibson's hardboiled imagery and striking insights into the social climate of the 1960s, when The Old Turk's Load takes place. It all works.
The Old Turk's Load is a guilty pleasure, the kind of book we can lose ourselves in for a few hours, savoring Gibson's crackling, fast-paced prose like lobsters crawling on a carcass on the bottom of the ocean (which is one of his similes!). Sam Spade, Phillip Marlowe, and Travis McGee would have recognized Gibson's anti-hero, Walkaway Kelly, as a kindred spirit: a man with a code of his own. He rates a sequel!
The audio was great, too. R. C. Bray has the right raspiness to his voice for a book as "pulpy" as this one, and the characters were easily recognizable. I especially like his take on the mailman, who, because of cancer, had a tracheotomy and was left without a true voice. I'll be looking for more books narrated by Mr. Bray, too.
The Old Turk's Load by Gregory Gibson is a throwback to the dark days of noir, the kind of books that used to be called pulp fiction, with wisecracking lingo, indelible characters, and plenty of action stuffed between lurid covers.
The plot about a drug shipment gone wrong is wild and implausible, just like in the classics, and serves mainly as a framework for Gibson's hardboiled imagery and striking insights into the social climate of the 1960s, when The Old Turk's Load takes place. It all works.
The Old Turk's Load is a guilty pleasure, the kind of book we can lose ourselves in for a few hours, savoring Gibson's crackling, fast-paced prose like lobsters crawling on a carcass on the bottom of the ocean (which is one of his similes!). Sam Spade, Phillip Marlowe, and Travis McGee would have recognized Gibson's anti-hero, Walkaway Kelly, as a kindred spirit: a man with a code of his own. He rates a sequel!
The audio was great, too. R. C. Bray has the right raspiness to his voice for a book as "pulpy" as this one, and the characters were easily recognizable. I especially like his take on the mailman, who, because of cancer, had a tracheotomy and was left without a true voice. I'll be looking for more books narrated by Mr. Bray, too.
August 23, 2019
Funky
Quite a funky loose investigation tale. Many many seemingly unrelated characters involved in chasing a "rainbow" of possible wealth in the form of five million in hijacked heroin. Not sure if anyone is a " good" guy in this story....funky ramble
Quite a funky loose investigation tale. Many many seemingly unrelated characters involved in chasing a "rainbow" of possible wealth in the form of five million in hijacked heroin. Not sure if anyone is a " good" guy in this story....funky ramble
August 28, 2019
Updated RAYMOND Chandler set in Newark N.J A good fun read
July 16, 2015
Mysterious Book Report No. 105
by John Dwaine McKenna
If you’re old enough to remember the late sixties, you’re certain to have memories of the so-called “Summer of Love”, the hippie movement, the birth of the drug culture, movies like Panic in Needle Park, and The French Connection, and the heroin epidemic that raged in many of the world’s cities . . . but most notably in New York City. RhyolitePress Logo
Heroin is an opiate derived from the alkaloid resin secreted by poppy flowers. The vast majority of opium poppies come from the golden triangle in southeast Asia and Afghanistan. The bulk comes from Asia, but the best opium comes from eastern Turkey. It, and it alone, makes the highest grade pharmaceutical-quality opium and thus the most desirable heroin. Sometimes called “China White,” the opium/heroin from eastern Turkey is the best there is, ever, at any price. It’s the subject of this week’s Mysterious Book Report No. 105. The Old Turks Load (Mysterious Press, $24.00, 245 pages, ISBN 978-0-8021-2113-4) by Gregory Gibson is a quick time trip back to 1967. The Vietnam War was raging, flower power was about to come into full bloom and in New York City the battle for the streets was raging between the pushers and users of heroin and the cops trying to eradicate it. The civil rights movement and civil unrest were morphing into radical organizations like the Black Panther Party and the SDS, or Students for a Democratic Society, responsible for blowing a couple of buildings to smithereens. Into this maelstrom of unrest mafia henchmen Vince and Woody come to the docks at Newark, New Jersey to pick up new, customized Porsche sports car shipped in from Marseille, France for a wealthy U.S. businessman. The businessman is Angelo DiNoto, “a ruthless New Jersey crime boss,” and the Porsche—while it was being customized—has been outfitted with ten kilos of “blindingly pure artisanal smack” which was grown by an elderly Turkish farmer. It is the Old Turk’s Load . . . worth five million dollars. After a long afternoon filled with customs agents and customs forms, the two thugs drive away in the car and right into the Newark riots that erupted when a black cab driver was arrested by white Newark police. The two white guys are pulled from the Porsche and beaten, the car wrecked and overturned by the rioters and Vince and Woody are taken to the hospital. In the aftermath, the car, and the heroin wind up in the hands of Richard Mundi . . . a near-bankrupt land developer with extensive, and worthless, Newark property holdings
. . . a man who’s also willing to skirt the law in the pursuit of profits. Searching for the missing heroin, DiNoto sends Vince and Woody on a murder spree in an attempt to recover it. In the midst of the mayhem, we’re introduced to a cast of characters who’ll keep you shaking your head and laughing out loud when you meet people like the mailman, a zoned out surgically mutilated drug addicted cancer survivor, Gloria Mundi, Richards’ daughter who thinks she’s revolutionary, Julius Roth, Mundi’s tough guy enforcer, and my personal favorite, a private investigator named Walkaway Kelly, a barfly from Hell’s Kitchen and on of the most inept PI’s to ever grace the pages of crime fiction, but one with more ability to survive than Wile E. Coyote . . . and all of them are trying to steal the Old Turk’s Load. This one’s a gas from the first page to the last. By turns, it’s as funny as the Pink Panther movies or as hard-boiled as Mickey Spillane, with a double dose of Elmore Leonard thrown in for good measure. This one’s perfect for a lazy summer day. I’m putting Greg Gibson on my list of notables to keep my eye on because The Old Turk’s Load is an outstanding debut.
www.Facebook.com/JohnDwaineMcKenna
www.Goodreads.com/JohnDwaineMcKenna
by John Dwaine McKenna
If you’re old enough to remember the late sixties, you’re certain to have memories of the so-called “Summer of Love”, the hippie movement, the birth of the drug culture, movies like Panic in Needle Park, and The French Connection, and the heroin epidemic that raged in many of the world’s cities . . . but most notably in New York City. RhyolitePress Logo
Heroin is an opiate derived from the alkaloid resin secreted by poppy flowers. The vast majority of opium poppies come from the golden triangle in southeast Asia and Afghanistan. The bulk comes from Asia, but the best opium comes from eastern Turkey. It, and it alone, makes the highest grade pharmaceutical-quality opium and thus the most desirable heroin. Sometimes called “China White,” the opium/heroin from eastern Turkey is the best there is, ever, at any price. It’s the subject of this week’s Mysterious Book Report No. 105. The Old Turks Load (Mysterious Press, $24.00, 245 pages, ISBN 978-0-8021-2113-4) by Gregory Gibson is a quick time trip back to 1967. The Vietnam War was raging, flower power was about to come into full bloom and in New York City the battle for the streets was raging between the pushers and users of heroin and the cops trying to eradicate it. The civil rights movement and civil unrest were morphing into radical organizations like the Black Panther Party and the SDS, or Students for a Democratic Society, responsible for blowing a couple of buildings to smithereens. Into this maelstrom of unrest mafia henchmen Vince and Woody come to the docks at Newark, New Jersey to pick up new, customized Porsche sports car shipped in from Marseille, France for a wealthy U.S. businessman. The businessman is Angelo DiNoto, “a ruthless New Jersey crime boss,” and the Porsche—while it was being customized—has been outfitted with ten kilos of “blindingly pure artisanal smack” which was grown by an elderly Turkish farmer. It is the Old Turk’s Load . . . worth five million dollars. After a long afternoon filled with customs agents and customs forms, the two thugs drive away in the car and right into the Newark riots that erupted when a black cab driver was arrested by white Newark police. The two white guys are pulled from the Porsche and beaten, the car wrecked and overturned by the rioters and Vince and Woody are taken to the hospital. In the aftermath, the car, and the heroin wind up in the hands of Richard Mundi . . . a near-bankrupt land developer with extensive, and worthless, Newark property holdings
. . . a man who’s also willing to skirt the law in the pursuit of profits. Searching for the missing heroin, DiNoto sends Vince and Woody on a murder spree in an attempt to recover it. In the midst of the mayhem, we’re introduced to a cast of characters who’ll keep you shaking your head and laughing out loud when you meet people like the mailman, a zoned out surgically mutilated drug addicted cancer survivor, Gloria Mundi, Richards’ daughter who thinks she’s revolutionary, Julius Roth, Mundi’s tough guy enforcer, and my personal favorite, a private investigator named Walkaway Kelly, a barfly from Hell’s Kitchen and on of the most inept PI’s to ever grace the pages of crime fiction, but one with more ability to survive than Wile E. Coyote . . . and all of them are trying to steal the Old Turk’s Load. This one’s a gas from the first page to the last. By turns, it’s as funny as the Pink Panther movies or as hard-boiled as Mickey Spillane, with a double dose of Elmore Leonard thrown in for good measure. This one’s perfect for a lazy summer day. I’m putting Greg Gibson on my list of notables to keep my eye on because The Old Turk’s Load is an outstanding debut.
www.Facebook.com/JohnDwaineMcKenna
www.Goodreads.com/JohnDwaineMcKenna
July 10, 2013
I read half this book, put it down to read something work-related, and picked it up again.
The opening chapters each introduce different characters, plus a load of herion. As the story, set in the 1960s, moves along, the separate characters, all chasing the herion for various reasons, start becoming tied together, and once the herion surfaces, come apart again as the story closes. There's the Mob faction which buys the load, then loses it during the Newark riots of 1967. It comes into the hands of crooked developer, who wants to sell it to shore up money-bleeding enterprise. His daughter, Gloria, playing at being a revolutionary wants it for her boyfriend Kevin and his cause.
Mundi worried about the company his daughter keeps hires a private eye to follow her and discredit Kevin. But Kevin is more than he seems. Meanwhile, Mundi has become a Mob target because it wants the heroin back; his second in command, believing Mundi has totally lost his grip, want dsto return it, and save want remains of the company.
And there is the Mailman, a cancer-ridden addict who wants the drug so he go out with a bang.
Gibson can write, and this is amusing crime caper with memorable characters. Plus Gloucester, Mass., were I work plays a role. It was fun recognizing the ways things here have changed from the '60s.
I kept thinking while I read this that it reminded me of Donald Westlake, in a good way.
The opening chapters each introduce different characters, plus a load of herion. As the story, set in the 1960s, moves along, the separate characters, all chasing the herion for various reasons, start becoming tied together, and once the herion surfaces, come apart again as the story closes. There's the Mob faction which buys the load, then loses it during the Newark riots of 1967. It comes into the hands of crooked developer, who wants to sell it to shore up money-bleeding enterprise. His daughter, Gloria, playing at being a revolutionary wants it for her boyfriend Kevin and his cause.
Mundi worried about the company his daughter keeps hires a private eye to follow her and discredit Kevin. But Kevin is more than he seems. Meanwhile, Mundi has become a Mob target because it wants the heroin back; his second in command, believing Mundi has totally lost his grip, want dsto return it, and save want remains of the company.
And there is the Mailman, a cancer-ridden addict who wants the drug so he go out with a bang.
Gibson can write, and this is amusing crime caper with memorable characters. Plus Gloucester, Mass., were I work plays a role. It was fun recognizing the ways things here have changed from the '60s.
I kept thinking while I read this that it reminded me of Donald Westlake, in a good way.
February 24, 2017
In 1967 a crime boss is waiting for the delivery of his half-million-dollar order of heroin. The delivery is interrupted by the Newark riots, and a businessman sees his opportunity and collects the package. The heroin soon becomes the fulfillment of a dream for just about everyone who hears about it--the businessman's daughter, her revolutionary boyfriend, a drug addict who's running out of money, a lawyer for the downtrodden, homeless, and other dispossessed, and a few crooked cops. Gibson leads the reader on a romp through noir literature and its many tropes as one character after another plots to gain control of the old Turk's load. The writing style is clean, snappy, and sharp; the characters vivid and surprising. The locations immediately identifiable in a few deft strokes--Newark, New York City, Gloucester, MA. The ending is one surprise after another, with a few additional twists that will leave the reader feeling all is right with the world but still off center just enough to imagine what might come next.
June 3, 2015
3.5 / 5
Gibson's novels is a enjoyable story set in 1960's New York, following a number of people as they all try to find or deal with a large shipment of drugs. The opening of the book drops you right in the middle, with two street thugs transporting the drugs being accidentally caught in the middle of the 1967 Newark Riots. The drugs then go missing. We then, in rapid succession, get introduced to a ensemble of characters all of whom shall get pulled into the story due to the missing drugs.
Gibson moves the story along at a rapid pace, which keeps it interesting. The story interweaves the different characters paths well, ensuring that it is difficult to work out where the story is going next.
My biggest issues is that due to the volume of chracters and the shortness of the story that I didnt really felt I knew or cared about the characters that much. I was interested to know where it ended and how it was resolved but did'nt overly care about which characters came out on top.
Gibson's novels is a enjoyable story set in 1960's New York, following a number of people as they all try to find or deal with a large shipment of drugs. The opening of the book drops you right in the middle, with two street thugs transporting the drugs being accidentally caught in the middle of the 1967 Newark Riots. The drugs then go missing. We then, in rapid succession, get introduced to a ensemble of characters all of whom shall get pulled into the story due to the missing drugs.
Gibson moves the story along at a rapid pace, which keeps it interesting. The story interweaves the different characters paths well, ensuring that it is difficult to work out where the story is going next.
My biggest issues is that due to the volume of chracters and the shortness of the story that I didnt really felt I knew or cared about the characters that much. I was interested to know where it ended and how it was resolved but did'nt overly care about which characters came out on top.
August 1, 2013
A criminal operetta involving vicious mob bosses, crooked cops, a shady private eye, a bent businessman and a group of incompetent anarchists all intent on manipulating for their own ends the Macguffin of this entire sordid affair: the "Old Turk's Load", namely a shipment of uncut Afghani heroin destined for the dank streets of Newark.
The Turk here refers to Mr. D, a mob boss who has his stash stolen during the Newark riots of the late sixties. He is peripherally involved in the goings-on, and remains an evil force on the outside constantly threatening our heroes (if they can be called that).
The rest of the characters wouldn't be out of place in a Hammett novel, or a midcentury dime mystery. I guess that was the author's intention. The story is interesting but the characters unmemorable. Still an easy and entertaining read for a day or two.
The Turk here refers to Mr. D, a mob boss who has his stash stolen during the Newark riots of the late sixties. He is peripherally involved in the goings-on, and remains an evil force on the outside constantly threatening our heroes (if they can be called that).
The rest of the characters wouldn't be out of place in a Hammett novel, or a midcentury dime mystery. I guess that was the author's intention. The story is interesting but the characters unmemorable. Still an easy and entertaining read for a day or two.
June 30, 2013
Nice noir-ish mystery set in 1960's New Jersey with a complex circle of naïve and not-so naïve characters circling around a lost load of heroin. A somewhat stupid private eye is hired by a real estate developer to track his revolutionary daughter. They all want to get or keep access to the heroin and use it for their own ends, but the mob wants it back. Desires and happenstance combine to create havoc. It mostly works out in the end and there's a teaser about maybe another mystery. I'd give it a shot if you don't mind low-lifes, dirty businessmen, mobsters, and the occasional journalist.
August 19, 2013
A gripping neo-nior thriller set in Newark, New York and Gloucester, MA in 1965. The Old Turk's Load is a quick read, with a clean and crisp style reminiscent of Horace McCoy. The chapters are brief scenes focusing on one or more characters at a time, giving the reader access to multiple narrative threads in a quick and fast-paced form. The beginning moves along at a moderate pace, but once all the elements are aligned, the pace quickens and I was hard pressed to put the book down for the last 100 pages, as I needed to see how The Old Turk's Load shook out.
December 15, 2013
I considered abandoning this book early. Too many characters are introduced, and I had a difficult time getting into any of there stories. The book began to pick up after the introductions were completed, but only enough to keep me wanting to know how it ended.
Despite the promise in the description of an Elmore Leonard-ish crime noir mystery, I found no trace of Leonard in the novel, least of all in the characters and dialogue. It is written well-enough; I think the biggest problem is that there are too many characters.
Despite the promise in the description of an Elmore Leonard-ish crime noir mystery, I found no trace of Leonard in the novel, least of all in the characters and dialogue. It is written well-enough; I think the biggest problem is that there are too many characters.
April 3, 2016
The prose was pretty good, pretty hard boiled and descriptive. The story was okay. I thought that there were to many characters and not many of them were very well developed. But what really irked me about this book was the ending. We are led in a fashion, that I can only relate to China Town, towards an end and the discovery of a secret only to discover that there is no secret. Nothing happens. Lame. Gibson, at the very least could have tacked something on, it wouldn't even have taken that much work. But to say in the end "there was no secret" gets him deducted another star.
May 15, 2013
A rollicking Chandleresque chase. Odd characters, kookie plot, Sixties milieu, good bad guys and bad good guys and bad bad guys all juggled with skill and humor, albeit it dark.
A good time, first time neo-noir by an old hand at writing.
Recommended.
A good time, first time neo-noir by an old hand at writing.
Recommended.
October 21, 2013
An interesting noirish romp revolving around a misplaced load of uncut heroin that the former owners (mafia) and several other interested parties decide to get their hands on. Somewhat like a Tarantino film. Short choppy chapters that move the story along.
May 24, 2013
Quirky crime books have grown in number (see P. G. Sturges). Gibson is a good example. He's a good writer, but reading about a dozen quirky people makes me a little crazy.
August 13, 2013
Quit listening to the recorded book because it was too predictable.
August 25, 2013
Good flavor of the times and the drug scene. A bit of humor lightened the more serious aspects of the novel.
September 7, 2013
This was a slog to read. A number of false-starts and bad characterization.
December 18, 2013
Has a certain pleasure to the crime caper, bit soon gets very crowded with too many characters and asides. Also, it is one of those rare books that suffers from being too fast-paced.
February 12, 2014
Witty and amusing at best.
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June 22, 2013Various schemers via for stolen mob heroin during 1967 Newark riots
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