My Ride With Gus

First published in 1996New Year's Eve, 1995. Rising young architect Jimmy Gambar is on top of the world, ready to pop the question to the girl of his dreams at a fancy restaurant. Ten minutes later he snaps and storms out, leaving behind the girlfriend, her ridiculous gift of a hot pink necktie and the precise way of life he's known for so long.Later that night, big trouble - a sleazy downtown bar, a shady lady with a switchblade in his SoHo loft, an accidental fall against a metal lamp. Now Jimmy has a dead woman's body lying on his rug, and only one person to turn to - a man he hasn't seen in twenty years. His big brother Gus ("The Ghost") Gambuzza. "What started out as a wild ride to get rid of a corpse ends up as a touching and believable story of family love and survival, a testament to Carillo's storytelling abilities."- Publishers Weekly "What a lovely book this is...a long night filled with happenings that should seem improbable but don't because Carillo's reality is so inviting...a tender tale, albeit knowing and funny too."- New York Daily News "Reminisent of the movie 'After Hours,' this nightmarish picaresque novel mixes elements of slapstick, the surreal, and the absurd, all delivered in rambunctious, wildly profane Brooklynese."- Booklist "Oddly heartwarming"-London Gentleman's Quarterly"A classic New York gangster story, replete with world-weary hoods, fruity dialogue and witty one-liners...the observations of Brooklyn life and the redemption of Jimmy's soul are warm and almost profound."-London Daily Telegraph "An inspired marriage of the pciaresque narrative and the road movie in which Gus, worldly wise and world weary, and Jimmy, his paranoid straight man, move through a series of hilarious near-disasters."- Newport News Daily Press "Carillo sustains his deliberately improbably narrative with elan, piling up the jokes in the best comic-thriller tradition."-The Times of London " 'My Ride With Gus' is a funny, touching, ultimately exhilarating trip with people who will stay with you long after the trip ends. It's a novel about the mob, about love, about family, one that could only come together in the hands of someone who knows how to tell a story, and knows New York City just as well."- Mike Lupica "...continuing suspense and snappy, wisecracking dialogue."-The London Independent "My Ride With Gus is at times hilarious, and at others it is a moving account of just what family and life and society is all about."- The Pilot, Southern Pines, N.C." 'My Ride With Gus' is outrageously funny, with Brooklynese molding the scnee...zany characters, bizarre predicaments, hilarious subplots and downright scary situations."-The Post and Courier
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