Crime, Espionage, and Conspiracy Energize New Thriller, ‘The Grandfather Clause’

Philip A. Genovese Jr., the grandson of Mafia crime boss Vito Genovese, makes a remarkable fictional debut with “The Grandfather Clause” (published by AuthorHouse - http://www.authorhouse.com), a suspenseful thriller only he could write.

Genovese’s novel has received accolades and recognition, winning the Santa Fe Trail Creative Arts Council 2008 Book Contest First Prize for Fiction and named as an Eric Hoffer Award for Independent Books 2008 semifinalist in the Suspense/Thriller category. Bill Handleman, Asbury Park Press columnist, applauded the novel as “a fast-paced thriller teeming with indelible characters.” One reviewer suggested “you get lots of sleep before starting this book.” Another declared it “a great read … loved the twists, turns and well-developed characters.” Another said it reads “like the Sopranos on steroids … think Nelson DeMille meets Brad Thor meets Mario Puzo.”

The story begins in March of 1963 in a quiet New Jersey shore community. Joseph Napolo is a young boy who cherishes his Pop Pop Carmine’s Sunday visits. Joseph has come to understand that there is something special about his grandfather - the stories he tells, his friends that visit after dinner, how they kiss his ring and call him Don Carmine.

This Sunday, however, Joseph is the sole witness to sinister and dramatic events. Young Joseph and his grandfather pledge to keep a dark secret.

Over time, Joseph learns his grandfather had been the boss of a New York crime family - one that the media continues to illuminate as the most powerful Mafia organization in the country. Joseph has shunned his grandfather’s ways, but he will forever share the family name. He understands that fame is fickle and fleeting. Infamy is not.

Now the spring of 2001, Joseph is a husband, father, and with his best friend, Michael Cogan, co-owner of a successful trucking company. However, trouble with the Teamsters Union, Cogan’s gambling debts, and a hijacking that is more than it appears to be create a scenario where the past and the present reconvene.

Seemingly unconnected events bring together several nefarious entities. Teamster officials, a high-tech defense contractor, the Napolo crime family, and an ex-U.S. intelligence operative collude and collide. Reluctantly, Joseph penetrates his grandfather’s world to protect his own family and save his friend, only to find himself a key player in a conspiracy that redefines patriotism and his grandfather’s role in history.

“I was immediately drawn into the world created by the author and the very real decisions made by all the characters. At times I had to literally put the book down and breathe because I had been holding my breath or squirming in my seat, lost in the world of this book,” one reviewer wrote. You can join others who have been “pulled in from page one (and) couldn’t put it down” and wrote that “The Grandfather Clause” is “an amazing page turner with crisp detail and dialogue. I found myself laying awake thinking of how I would end the book if I was the author. Now that I’ve finished, I genuinely miss the story. I miss the characters.”