Laverne Zocco

Half-moon Meadow Laverne Zocco

Twenty years ago the first Silvio Amato died in the Half-Moon meadow when his beautiful beloved, Claudine Dees, was forcibly taken from him by the leader of the Black Hand (the forerunner to the Mafia) Vincenzo Rizoni, in their Sicilian village of Strega. Silvio had a handsome face, but a cold, calculating Sicilian heart that would never allow him to accept such an insult or forget his jealousy. He had a plan, and the plan worked though Vincenzo shot him dead. Now, two decades later, Silvio's nephew, also named Silvio, has promised his grandfather he will avenge his Uncle's death by killing the man who killed him. There's only one problem, Vincenzo Rizoni is now the mighty Don of the Mafia Organization in Silvio's neighborhood, and the one dream of Silvio's life is to become a hit man for the Don. Silvio's life is also closely tied to his best friend, Frankie Dees, who just happens to be the nephew of Claudine Dees who was Silvio's sweetheart and Vincenzo's hostage on the night Silvio died. The villagers say she went mad, never to be heard from again. Frankie wants to join the Don's organization along with Silvio to become a union president or a hotel boss for the Don. However, when Frankie and Silvio are in the bedroom of the Don's daughter Gina, they watch as she falls to her death off the balcony of her room. The Don wants the truth. He is convinced one of the young men killed his only child, but they won't talk. Now he is going to give them their wish of taking them into the organization until they tell him what happened. Sicilians can wait a long time for the truth to come out and seek revenge. From there to the end of the book you never know who is lying until the answer explodes and leaves you with a haunted feeling. Half-Moon Meadow is the thinking man's Godfather; but much more cerebral. The setting may be Italian, but this story is so universal anyone can relate and be surprised by the ending.