Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: You Had One Job
AUTHORS: Cari Z and L.A. Witt
NARRATOR: Michael Ferraiuolo
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 7 hours and 24 minutes
RELEASE DATE: January 14, 2022
BLURB:
Nikita Ravenov
It was supposed to be a simple job: Tail the Italian for an evening, see if he was up to anything shady, and report back to the Bratva.
But I didn’t expect him to go into gay bars. Is someone trying to out me to the Bratva? Am I being set up?
And what the hell do I do, now that my mark knows I’m following him?
Lorenzo Ferrari
It’s insulting, really. My organization wants to do business with the Russians, but they’re putting tails on me? That’s just bad manners.
But when that tail gets a beating from his own and for failing to tell them everything he knows about me, I know something is up.
Now, we’re both in way over our heads. Our only hope is working together.
And even then, I’m not so sure we’re getting out of this.
Content warnings include drug use, active addiction, graphic violence, suicidal ideation, domestic abuse.
REVIEW:
Nikita’s manipulative secret ex Yakov has given him a bizarre assignment. He’s supposed to be tailing some New York Italian mob guy, Lorenzo Ferrari, to see who he’s meeting with and report back. Well Lorenzo’s out with a very young guy hitting the gay bars. And when he catches Nikita tailing him, Nikita does the only thing he can think of so as to not give up the ghost. He hits on the guy pretending to be “Nick” the American out for a good time. And the guy takes the bait! Nikita can’t believe it because the guy is kind of amazing even in a gay bar bathroom hookup 😉
Cut to the next day when Lorenzo has to meet with said ex, and he runs into Nikita strictly by accident as he’s leaving the meeting. He doesn’t give it away, but Nikita ends up getting a beat down from Yakov’s men when he gets the feeling Nikita hasn’t been truthful with him about “losing” Ferrari while tailing him the night before.
After he’s dumped out by the Russians, Nikita has a better run of luck when Lorenzo comes to the rescue. But things aren’t good and Nikita’s been roughed up pretty bad – and he’s jones for some more cocaine. Both Lorenzo and Nikita realize that there is something a lot more sinister here than meets the eye. It’s pretty obvious that Yakov is up to something and the head of the organization doesn’t know what is going on either.
After a series of meetings and calls and a bit of undercover sleuthing by both Lorenzo and Nikita, they have an idea of just what the game might be. But they are damned if they can figure out a way for them to play both ends against the middle and get out with their skins. They also get closer and realize that this may not be just business. It might be more personal for each of them than it’s ever been. But before they can figure that out, they have to find a way to stay alive when nobody trusts anybody and much of what they think they know could also be a setup 😉
Oh boy. This one is a wild ride from the get go. Nikita and Lorenzo’s sizzling hot introduction and subsequent reluctant partnership leads them down a road that is fraught with danger, intrigue and betrayal. Then there is that little issue of Nikita’s cocaine addiction (is that still a thing?). Lorenzo’s a stand up guy – for a mobster 😉 Nikita has been drawn into this life by his awful ex who basically has blackmailed him into his role with the Bratva which is as a top level hacker and tech guy, not a surveillance specialist. Yakov is horrid and I hoped for him to get his just desserts. Lorenzo does have backup in his brother Roberto – who while he is in New York, does have a few aces up his sleeve. There are a lot of twists and turns and surprises as all leads to a major confrontation. I loved how Lorenzo was able to leverage people and places to his advantage 🙂 Thankfully Nikita and Lorenzo are smart, fearless and also a little bit lucky or this could have turned out a LOT differently.
Michael Ferraiuolo’s Russian mobster accent is perfect. If you’re a fan of Michael’s, you know that he has performed a Russian accent in a number of other books he’s narrated and it’s always a treat. The voices here were so distinctive – with a lot of various accents from New York and beyond. All were spot-on for the characters. The story is told from both Lorenzo’s and Nikita’s POVs so there was no question as to who was doing the talking and thinking. I was engrossed in the story from start to finish. The suspense is ratcheted up the whole way and I just kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, as it were. Fantastic job of keeping the tension high during the majority of the story while still allowing for the tender moments between Lorenzo and Nikita to shine through. Highly recommended, especially for fans of mob stories driving a lot of action and suspense with a surprisingly tender romance thrown into the mix.
RATING: 
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