By Harry Hallman
Genre: Crime Fiction
While serving as a pilot during the Vietnam War, Gerry Amato, the grandson of Jacob Byrne, the head of a powerful North Philadelphia Irish crime family, seizes an opportunity to create a lucrative marijuana smuggling operation. It's 1967 and under the secrecy of a classified military operation and with the assistance of a French Marseille Mob, who owns plantations in Cambodia, he is able to send tens of thousands of pounds of marijuana a month to Philadelphia. His grandfather's criminal enterprise distributes the drug to a population who has developed and insatiable appetite for the marijuana.
A rival French from Paris gang tries to force Amato to buy their product and this triggers war between the Byrne family and the Paris mob. From the steamy jungles of Vietnam and Cambodia, to the streets of Saigon, Paris and Philadelphia the ruthless actions of the Paris mob threatens to destroy the Byrne family. Gerry Amato orchestrates merciless campaign of retribution against his foes in order to save himself and his family.
My Review:
In this third in the Mercy Row Trilogy, Harry Hallman has really hit his stride as a world class writer!
This book follows the legacy of a north Philadelphia crime family into the 60s, specifically Gerry's
exploits during a tour as a pilot in Vietnam, and his impact back home in his Philadelphia
neighborhood. Mr. Hallman's vivid and descriptive prose keeps you burning through the pages
of this book, and his ability to tell a tale is beyond compare! Action packed, epic, and a number of surprises. I believe that this third book is his strongest yet, and I am anxiously awaiting the next! Very much worth the time it took to get this one, Harry! Knocked it out of the park. Highly recommended!
Hallman was born in 1944 and raised in the Kensington section of North Philadelphia. Hallman's father was Harry Hallman, Sr., a champion pool player who also owned a poolroom called Circle Billiards, located at Allegheny Avenue and Lee Street in Philadelphia. The younger Hallman spent many hours after school at his father's poolroom and watching his father play in other poolrooms in Philadelphia and New Jersey. The people he met, some belonging to the real K&A Gang, influenced his writing of the Mercy Row series.
After a year of being an apprentice plumber he served four years in the U.S. Air Force, including two tours in South Vietnam as a photographer. His first tour was at Ton Son Nhat Airbase where he processed film shot by U2 Aircraft over North Vietnam and China. He returned to the same place for his second tour, but processed film shot by U.S. fighter recon aircraft. He is married to Duoc Hallman, whom he met in Vietnam, and has two children, Bill and Nancy, and one grandchild, Ava.
Hallman is a serial entrepreneur who has created several marketing services and digital media companies and continues to work as a marketing consultant.
Email Hallman at harry@mercyrow.com. Keep informed at www.mercyrow.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mercyrownovel.
Other Links:
twitter.com/mercyrow1
On Amazon: http://amzn.to/1nmuigR
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