Paperboy by Dan Romanello Book Review

About the Book:

Raised by a single mother in affluent Fairfield County, Connecticut, Dylan Tomassi grew up poor. As a boy he is befriended by a reclusive widow he meets on his paper route. She mentors him with sage advice on matters facing a young man growing up without a father. She never pays for her newspapers, and he never asks for the money because of all the good advice she dispenses. When she finally does square up, it changes his life forever.

Dylan relocates to Florida and becomes a successful private investor, but people and events affecting his exciting new lifestyle on the Sunshine State’s west coast cause him to realize, with the help of his old friend, that many things going on in the world simply don’t make sense. He vows to use his wealth to make a difference in the world when he’s not sidetracked running into nefarious characters or busy keeping his best friend, wealthy playboy Alex Malloy, out of hot water. With corruption, debauchery, deception, and murder swirling around him, Dylan proves nice guys can finish first.

My Review:

I have mixed feelings about this novel. It is a good coming of age type novel with a young Dylan learning how to be a fine man, responsible and successful. He has a great mentor in an elderly woman. The plot has some clever aspects, like accusations against the relative of a powerful politician and a missing laptop. I always like to learn something when reading fiction and there was quite a bit about investing, the newspaper industry and the myth of objectivity, crooked insurance practices and crooked politicians. Characters are drawn well, both the nice ones like Dylan and the horrible ones.

Romanello's writing style is predominantly prose, something I find not very engaging. There is much detail when giving the setting and initially describing characters. The historical setting is done well with things like period television shows and clothing mentioned. What I liked least about the novel was the amount of descriptive sexual encounters. There were just too many. Some were just way too explicit and that was not needed at all to move the story forward.

This is a good debut effort. It would appeal to readers who like lots of prose and less dialogue and action and don't mind too many explicit sex scenes. I look forward to another novel featuring Dylan as a capable hero. I just hope the sex will be toned down.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

About the Author:

Dan Romanello worked in the newspaper industry before attending law school at the University of Florida. After serving as an assistant state attorney, he spent more than 20 years as a partner in a boutique firm, running the trial practice group. An accomplished trial lawyer, he has litigated cases in courtrooms throughout the state of Florida. After retiring from the active practice of law, he wrote the first book in the Dylan Tomassi series, PAPERBOY. He resides on Florida’s gulf coast. You can find out more at authordanromello.com. 

Sanitas Publishing, Inc., 338 pages.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this book through Partners in Crime Book Tours. My comments are an independent and honest review.

(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)