Brad Mason and Gabe Randinoli were friends. They grew up in the same Newark, New Jersey, Central Ward neighborhood, on the corner of 12th Avenue and Bruce Street. They were taught by the same nuns and teachers at Saint Joseph's Parochial School. Together they served as altar boys at Mass and participated in parish life. Mason became an FBI agent. Randinoli became a member of a New York La Cosa Nostra crime family. Both accepted their respective positions and rendered very different oaths affirming their loyalty and willingness to perform according to long-established but vastly different guidelines. How could it be explained? How could they remain adult friends when they held such different views of right and wrong, were so different concerning things that truly mattered? This novel captures Newark's slow decline, festering economic despair, and political corruption. As products of this environment, Mason and Randinoli are forced to contend with outside forces seeking to control and influence their friendship, but they will not willingly exploit each other. While their city is losing its soul and their friendship is under attack, the author introduces us to memorable, loving, witty characters, willing to share their lives and stories with the reader.
