Review of The Wicked Wives
Posted: 19 May 2024, 16:26
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Wicked Wives" by Gus Pelagatti.]
In the true crime spirit of Dateline and Snapped comes The Wicked Wives: A Novel Based on a True Story by Philadelphia attorney Gus Pelagatti, who was born and raised just blocks from where this real-life story unfolded in 1938. This reviewer was born forty years later and about forty miles away and never previously heard this wild story, a murder scandal in which seventeen wives were tried for mariticide.
The story centers on a conflict between two male leads. Hero and Assistant District Attorney Tom Rossi seeks to solve these crimes, imprison the offenders, and climb the prosecutorial ladder with his victories. Villain and tailor Giorgio DeSipio seduces the wives and conjures the dastardly plots that result in the demise of their fraudulently insured husbands.
There is richness and empathy in the telling of Giorgio's illicit romances and their consequences, more than a reader might expect. The gorgeous Joanna truly loved DeSipio; the bewitching Eve saw him merely as a tool; the icy Lillian enjoyed both DeSipio and another physically as part of achieving her ambitions. In contrast, Rossi's romance with Hope, the biracial nurse and love of his life, is banal and ploddingly conflictual, even during detailed bedroom scenes - until it's not; I'll leave that one there so as not to spoil one of the book's inventive plot twists.
A reader who enjoys vividly-told legal drama, American history, and an occasional twist of humor will love this book. The courtroom scenes are thoughtfully written and authored by a gentleman well familiar with Pennsylvania law. Trial content can notoriously be very dry, but in Pelagatti's hands, it's delightfully dynamic and strikingly sexual. This is notably not a book for a sensitive reader offended by graphic language.
The high point of this book is elderly neighbor Bertha's courtroom description of Giorgio's lothario successes. This cleverly written scene is funny enough for readers to laugh out loud, and I would rate the book highly just for that scene, but the entire book is strong enough to warrant a 5 out of 5 rating. Gus Palagetti deserved to be incredibly proud of his first and only published book; he passed away in 2021 at the age of 82, and was lauded after he died for his legal, political, and literary contributions to the Philadelphia community. He left a tremendous legacy of which Wicked Wives is deservedly part.
******
The Wicked Wives
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
In the true crime spirit of Dateline and Snapped comes The Wicked Wives: A Novel Based on a True Story by Philadelphia attorney Gus Pelagatti, who was born and raised just blocks from where this real-life story unfolded in 1938. This reviewer was born forty years later and about forty miles away and never previously heard this wild story, a murder scandal in which seventeen wives were tried for mariticide.
The story centers on a conflict between two male leads. Hero and Assistant District Attorney Tom Rossi seeks to solve these crimes, imprison the offenders, and climb the prosecutorial ladder with his victories. Villain and tailor Giorgio DeSipio seduces the wives and conjures the dastardly plots that result in the demise of their fraudulently insured husbands.
There is richness and empathy in the telling of Giorgio's illicit romances and their consequences, more than a reader might expect. The gorgeous Joanna truly loved DeSipio; the bewitching Eve saw him merely as a tool; the icy Lillian enjoyed both DeSipio and another physically as part of achieving her ambitions. In contrast, Rossi's romance with Hope, the biracial nurse and love of his life, is banal and ploddingly conflictual, even during detailed bedroom scenes - until it's not; I'll leave that one there so as not to spoil one of the book's inventive plot twists.
A reader who enjoys vividly-told legal drama, American history, and an occasional twist of humor will love this book. The courtroom scenes are thoughtfully written and authored by a gentleman well familiar with Pennsylvania law. Trial content can notoriously be very dry, but in Pelagatti's hands, it's delightfully dynamic and strikingly sexual. This is notably not a book for a sensitive reader offended by graphic language.
The high point of this book is elderly neighbor Bertha's courtroom description of Giorgio's lothario successes. This cleverly written scene is funny enough for readers to laugh out loud, and I would rate the book highly just for that scene, but the entire book is strong enough to warrant a 5 out of 5 rating. Gus Palagetti deserved to be incredibly proud of his first and only published book; he passed away in 2021 at the age of 82, and was lauded after he died for his legal, political, and literary contributions to the Philadelphia community. He left a tremendous legacy of which Wicked Wives is deservedly part.
******
The Wicked Wives
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
