John Reed "Winter Hill Exhumed" The Author's Lab/Collaboration series

Personally I didn’t know much of the backstory on The Winter Hill Gang till I had to do some research on it for this project. John Reed puts together a very compelling story filled with humor, suspense and plenty of information on Boston and the surrounding area. The picture he paints of “The Gang” is very vivid and definitely piques the interest of the reader, particularly if one has no knowledge of them. If you do, and have lived through it, then you will just find this to be a joy and walk down memory lane. I was fortunate enough to have John Reed on my blogtalk radio The G-ZONE a little bit ago; we discussed not just “Winter Hill Exhumed” but his new release, a full length novel, “Another Lousy Day in Paradise” (To be released week of August 20^th).Here is the link followed by the synopsis:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gelatisscoop/2011/08/04/author-john-re...

“The Winter Hill Gang is one of the most infamous crime organizations that hailed from Massachusetts. Based in the city of Somerville (just minutes from Boston), the Winter Hill Gang ruled the mob world in the state for much of the 60’s and 70’s until they were taken down by multiple arrests in the 80’s. One of its former leaders, Benny O’Doyle, is now retired and living a quiet life. While not all believe this, journalist John Reed takes it to a more dangerous level when he pursues O’Doyle to see if the old mob boss wants to talk about the “old days.” Reed’s curiosity gets the best of him and, with the help of Giovanni “The G-Man” Gelati, he tries to get O’Doyle to agree to talk to him. The planned interview turns into a night of chaos and makes him wonder if the long gone Winter Hill Gang has been resurrected.”    

*** Just as a preview, here is the synopsis for “Another Lousy Day in Paradise”:

“The years from 1978 to 1983 were an amazing, yet confusing, time.  Especially if you were a teenager and living in Massachusetts in the city of Waltham - and Jay Cody was a prime example of the rebellious Waltham youth living in a time when Disco ruled (and then died) and hair styles went from long to feathered.  A trip one night to a movie theater changed Jay’s life and put him on a road to what he thought was manhood. Mixed in with what would become Classic Rock, Drugs, Casual Sex, Fights, Concerts, Booze, and you have Waltham (and youth life in general), in the late 70’s and early 80’s.

A teacher once told Jay that Waltham was like a “Paradise.”  Living day-to-day during his coming of age years, he felt more like he was living just “Another Lousy Day in Paradise.”