The Never Contract

Frank Cordolini #1

by David J. Gerrity

Frank Cordolini was the most feared hit man in the Mafia before he walked away from the killing game. Ten years later, the new don decides to clean house. Terrified that Frank will retaliate once the killings start, the don hatches a plan to take Frank off the board. The plan involves luring Frank into a trap by kidnapping his son. However the plan derails once it’s entrusted to low level thugs. The gray-eyed Wolf is back, and Frank will take on the whole mob to protect his family.

Genres: Crime

175 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 1, 1975

About the author

Gerrity also wrote under the names Garrity and Dave J. Garrity.

Reviews

[SB · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked this one. It's a Parker-esque all-criminal novel that just stacks colorful characters on top of more colorful characters. Dug it enough to immediately pick up and read the other two books in the series, which were just about as good.

[Josh Hitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, but I just didn't like the way it's set up. It changes viewpoints every two pages or less, which is annoying. It does this the entire book only to have an anticlimactic ending. There was a good story there. An aging hit man for the mob who had gotten out and started a family. Though the son of his once Don was scared, he would come back even 10 years later, and he needed the old hit man dead. So foolproof plan, after finally finding him, kidnap the kid to draw him out for an ambush. However, that just awakens the wolf in the old killer.

Can't recommend it. It was not a bad time, it just could have been so much more. I think he already had the ideal of sequels, and he had to add stuff to set them up, which just bogged this tale down.