A Wisconsin cashier is forced to become part of a Mafia plot to blow up a wealthy Bear fan's estate with an exploding DVD.
Trapped in a loveless marriage and a dead-end job clerking at a Madison,WI supermarket, die-hard Cubs fan Mark Crizlanek is convinced his life can't get any worse. Then one night during a raging blizzard he meets up with an old high school friend Trevor Gates who brags about his new job with the online movie rental service ReelSpeedy. He later finds out this is a front for a terrorist operation run by the Cappellas, the most ruthless Mafia family in the Midwest who control their supermarket empire with an iron fist and eliminate anyone who stands in their way with exploding DVD's. Shortly thereafter, his lover Crystal Logan and his manager Stuart Pearson turn up brutally murdered in a store restroom and he finds himself implicated in their deaths.
While awaiting trial, the Cappellas' lawyer makes him an offer he can't refuse: A guaranteed acquittal in exchange for his unconditional participation in an unspecified scheme. Mark, who believes the Cappellas are to some degree responsible for Crystal and Stuart's deaths, agrees to the lawyer's proposition. Unfortunately, despite the attorney and Trevor's best efforts, he is convicted of first degree murder and given 75 years. On the way to the state pen, the Cappellas hijack the prison bus and free Mark. They take him back to Madison where he is ordered to team up with fugitive school shooter Erik Stockton and assassinate Jared Mendota, Mark's former employer and proud owner of the Midwest's largest private collection of Chicago sports memorabilia.
Excerpt
The image dissolved to Brett Favre holding a news conference at Lambeau Field, a usually mundane spectacle that normally would have been saved for the tale end of the six o'clock news, except for the crawl on the bottom of the screen that read FAVRE RETIRES. Erik's face grew as white as the sheet of paper in Number Four's trembling hands as the King of the Packrats tearfully announced his abdication. His reaction caught Mark off guard. It had never occurred to him until now that a kid whose motivation for breathing revolved around manipulation and violence had just as much Cheese Whiz flowing through his veins as the hordes of Brett's loyal disciples that swamped Mendota's every football Sunday. Mark picked up the wastebasket and held it under the kid's chin just in case the sudden ghostliness of his features meant the effects of his forced binge were kicking in.
"No, I'm not gonna puke," said Erik as he pushed the trash bin away,"but that still doesn't make what I gotta do any easier."
"Kid, it's not like God just quit," reassured Mark, still not quite ready to believe that someone like Erik could become so distraught over the retirement of an over-the-hill quarterback.
"No it's not that," contradicted Erik, his eyes level with the floor. "It's just that now I don't have an excuse to hide the name of your girlfriend's killer any longer." Mark's initial impulse was to dance around the room shouting Thank you Favre for accomplishing what torture could not! However, his skepticism at the kid's unwarranted change of heart kept his feet firmly embedded in the floor.
"Why?" he asked. Erik hurled himself into the couch with the limp exhaustion of someone who'd just been through the emotional tae bo workout from hell.
"About a month before I shot the principal, I was asking my uncle how much he'd pay me if he gave me a summer job and he told me that if I delivered five hundred signs, he'd get me Packer tickets. Now that Favre's gone, the Pack are gonna be the bottom feeders of the NFL for the next ten years, so what the hell do I need tickets for? There's no reason for us to go to Tomah and there's no reason why I shouldn't tell you who killed the Logan girl."
Professional Reviews
Strangely Fun and Addictive!
Greg Przywara has a successful future ahead of him in my opinion. IVD shares today's world in a madcap, explosive way--literally! Yet the main character is able to retain his basic integrity, at least during most events. Which is hard, since...
Mark Crizlanek is just an ordinary guy. He's a cashier at a local store where the formal but loose environment places him in difficult situations. He doesn't care that pressure is on the supervisor to keep a bad employee on--all he knows is that he constantly causes him trouble. Especially when he must endure a similar situation at home, only the players are different--his money-hungry wife and her dog!
His only happiness is the friendship of another employee, Crystal. But one day she asked if he would mourn her if she were dead, a weird kind of question. Except that, soon after that, she was. And so was their supervisor.
And Mark was the number one suspect based upon the lies told by, you guessed it, the bad employee!
Depending upon how you look at it, Mark was saved by the appearance of an old buddy who was willing and able to support him--sure he was, by helping him escape from a prison bus, introducing him to a high school killer and getting him involved with mob enterprises! As a hitman!
Of course, using him as a hitman in this case was possible; no weapon needed. An IVD would be used.
What is an IVD? Think DVD "garnished" with just a touch of powerful explosives...
Seriously, there is more action in this book than in many others, but there is one big difference, the chosen characters for all this action makes for times when you don't know whether to laugh at their ineptitude or to just go along for the thrilling ride! It's fairly hard to become sympathetic for a young murderer, yet somehow you do, especially when he actively works to help Mark through the nightmare in which he's been thrown.
Mark's one goal through all this was to find the man who had murdered Crystal. Who knew he loved her?! But through all that he went through, I never would have guessed what happened to Mark. A great ending for this multi-genre novel that will undoubtedly find many readers who will thoroughly enjoy what just might happen to change the life of a mild-mannered ordinary guy...
IVD by Greg Przywara is highly recommended for those who find enjoyment in having no idea where and how a novel is going to take you! I thoroughly enjoyed it! Cool!
G.A.Bixler, IP Bookreviewer
This book has a little of everything, especially action
This book has a little of everything. But, mostly action and a lot of plot twists that will make you pay attention trying to keep up with the various characters and what they mean to the story. Best of all, the author has a sense of humor. Example: in the first few lines of Chapter One when Mark is on his way home and is hampered by a girl in another car who is on a cell phone and does not notice him. Mark states that "It seemed like the entire stretch of highway between Madison and DeForest had been transformed into a fifteen-mile-long mobile phone booth." I can sympathize with that as I have had many a cell phone addict aim at me on the highway.
The main character, Mark Crizianek has a dead end job as a cashier/clerk in a local supermarket. Mark is a regular guy whose wife does not appreciate him except on pay day. She has demanded a house in a fancy neighborhood and a watch dog as Mark sometimes works late. Instead of getting a good watch dog from a shelter, Mark's wife decided to buy a "neurotic", as Mark calls her, Golden Retriever who is no great shakes as a protector. She really needs protection herself. Mark is not happy with his work and has to go home to his money-grabbing wife and her crazy dog. His only friend is another employee, Crystal. A high school friend of Marks shows up one night and is boasting about a job he has with an online movie service. Mark is extremely resentful until he finds out that Trevor's job is really run by a very cruel Mafia family called the Cappellas. These folks get even with people who wrong them by sending them DVDs that explode. I have to say that that is very original. One day Crystal asks if Mark would mourn her if she died. A very odd question to say the least. But, sadly, soon after she made that statement she was dead along with the store supervisor. And, of course, Mark is the number one suspect. This poor guy cannot get a break and is sentenced to 75 years. On his way to prison the Cappellas hijack the prison bus and Mark gets away. But, Mark is definitely not free. His old friend has set him up to be a mob hitman using exploding DVDs instead of a gun. Mark is now wanted by the police and the mafia and has to go along with both sides to avoid getting killed himself.
As I said before there is so much action in this book that it is sometimes difficult to figure out who's who. But, if you pay close attention to what you are reading things make sense. Mark's one purpose in all of this is to find out who killed Crystal. This is a very fast paced book and I highly recommend it to mystery/thriller/mob fans. My advice: If you can read it in one sitting you will enjoy it more. Also, football fans will love it. I enjoyed the book and really appreciated the ending.
Mary Lignor,BookPleasures.com
"The Great Teen Fruit War, A 1960 Novel" involves conflict between the Blues (sons of blueberry farmers) and the Reds (sons of peach growers) in a southern New Jersey agricultural community.
