It Was Like This

Diana Rubino

Review by Molly

It is March 1932 when Billy McGlory’s girlfriend Pru tells him she is pregnant. Musician Billy owns, plays piano in and helps run a speakeasy. His dad is Tom McGlory, Chief of Police. Mom Vita cooks mean Italian, sister Susan provides strength when he needs it and younger sister Tess insists she must read his fortune whenever he comes around. Billy dreams of having his own swank supper club and marries artist Pru.

Billy becomes involved with the mob, loses a half filled truck to a hijacker and about gets his brains beat out, and this is just the beginning. Billy and another leading musician write the music for a Broadway play based on the book written by old friend Greta Schliessmayer. He pushes aside the fact that it is the mob who has underwritten his hit musical. Underworld figures including Capone, artists and assorted others move in and out of McGlory’s life. Assassins sent to do Billy in manage to shoot Sid Cunningham, bad cop who was supposed to be keeping an eye on Billy and his family, but in reality hijacked the truck. More threats, Pru’s dependence on heroin and it is payback time for mobster boss Louie Q and his buddies.

It is abundantly clear that Writer Rubino has done her homework in this sequel to I Love You Because. Her New York City during the height of the Depression and the Prohibition comes alive under the accomplished pen of this clever writer. The spectacle, noise, aroma of the city leap from the page as the reader moves from setting to setting in this commanding read.

It Was Like This is a gripping, fast paced account filled with ingeniously interwoven, suspenseful scenarios. The reader is drawn straight into the narrative from the opening lines of the prologue when we find Billy McGlory laying bleeding in the street and interest is held fast down to the last paragraph of the epilogue as we read McGlory’s final journal entry. Rubino’s obvious talent is evident on the pages of this intricate narrative, in which potent motivations, generously drawn characters, and gritty hard hitting dialogue abound. Strife is copious and fittingly resolved. Billy, his family, Pru, mobster Rosie all come across as real people suffering many of the same ups and downs as do we all. Billy’s determination to protect his family despite the facts of his life on more than the edges of the underworld is something we can admire.

Watch the red herrings. Writer Rubino just may catch you napping with her most fitting ending as she brings It Was Like This to a close. This is a fine addition to the home library if you enjoy historical fiction filled with a touch of romance, and a whole lot of action.

The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld