‘The Jersey Death Squad: A Journey To Kill Jessie Freeman’ by Mark Meding
Alternately funny, harrowing, suspenseful and oh-so-Jersey to the max, Mark Meding’s The Jersey Death Squad had me up nights. It’s a hot, fast sizzle of a read, filled with the kind of Jersey colloquialisms that ring true, if not a little on the crude side. Thus, the humor.
Four friends. Always getting on each other. Loudmouths. Juvenile delinquents even. A cop they knew and trusted is killed. They witness it. Of course, that doesn’t stop them from wanting to get between the widow’s legs. Of course, it’s all talk. Boys will be boys. Especially boys from North Jersey. But the experience leaves them shattered enough to take a solemn oath: if any of the four should succumb to infirmity and become a burden on their family, the other three have to kill him. Sure, they make the oath in excessive juvenile enthusiasm for the love of one another. But decades later, the worst happens.
They drive out west where their friend lies in a hospital comatose. Are they really going to pull the plug on him? How will they get past security? Will they really have the guts to do it? Do they even still want to do it now that they’re all in their fifties? Does common sense or the law even enter into their thinking?
Author Mark Meding tells the tale with no regret, no surrender. These boys were always tough-talking punks. Sure, they’ve mellowed, but their bond has only grown stronger through the years. They’re determined to go through it with it no matter what the cost. Consequences be damned. Meding can really spin a yarn. Like John Grisham. Like Joe Wambaugh. Only in Jersey-style like The Sopranos.
For further information or to buy The Jersey Death Squad, visit https://a.co/d/0zaUao4
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