Forced Out: A Novel

Three men. Three secrets.
One chance at redemption.

New York Times bestselling author Stephen Frey delivers a mesmerizing new thriller where life and death are played out against the backdrop of America's favorite game.

Sarasota, Florida: Forced to retire from his job as a scout for the New York Yankees, Jack Barrett is just getting by in a small Florida town when his daughter drags him to watch the local minor-league team play. It's a night that will change his life. Jack spots a remarkable player named Mikey Clemant, a kid whose amazing natural skill on the field is overshadowed by his bad attitude and solitary habits. In Clemant, Jack thinks he might have found his ticket back to the big time. But the young man has a secret that will put all of Jack's plans -- and maybe even his life -- in jeopardy.

Queens, New York: Johnny Bondano is the premier hit man for the Lucchesi crime family. Ruthless and cold-blooded but with a strict moral code, Johnny is given instructions to find and kill a man who took the life of a crime boss's only grandson. He suspects the family isn't telling him everything about his latest assignment, but to question his orders is tantamount to suicide.

As these three men's destinies converge, loyalties are tested and dreams collide with violent and unpredictable results. Forced Out is a nonstop, tightly wrought tale of suspense by a true master of page-turning fiction.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Outstanding novel!, 2009-01-09
Picked up this book more by accident than anything else. "Forced Out" is an exceptional thriller by Stephen Frey - the first I've read from him.

The story introduces us to two small groups of people - a Mafia organization in New York, and a former pro baseball scout retired in Florida with his daughter. The story bounces back and forth between the two groups, focusing on Johnny - a hit man for the mob - and Jack, the former scout. Johnny is a hit man, true; but he has a code of honor that makes him a likable bad guy. Jack is a gruff, old SOB who seems might be a nice enough guy if he can just seem to get a chip or two off his shoulder.

I won't spoil the story by explaining too much, but very quickly Frey starts to spin the fibers that will make a web connecting all of the characters of his fantastic story. He builds the story gracefully, carefully connecting when appropriate and never too soon or too abruptly. I will say that by about half-way through I foresaw the ultimate path of the story - but I was pleasantly surprised by his handling of the end of the story. It was polished and unexpected - something which is all too lacking in many novels.

This is an absolutely outstanding story. I was skeptical about the baseball theme since I'm not a baseball fan. But if Mr. Frey writes like this all the time, I've found myself a new source of reading material!




0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Slightly Disappointed, 2009-01-08
I have read most of Stephen Frey's books and was excited to learn that his new book was a departure from his usual financial industry thriller. I figured that baseball was probably a passion and my expectations were high (though not too high, classics these aren't). However, I found the plot predictable and the characters shallow sterotypes--the misunderstood father, the martyr daughter, and the mysterious stranger. There are no genuine plot surprises and no real character interest to make this book any more than an easy book to read on a plane, in a hotel room, etc.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Review, 2009-01-07
Jack Barrett was a scout for the New York Yankees for many, many years. He was one of the best. He could find talent like no other. Jack would travel to all kind of lengths to recruit someone if he believed in them bad enough. This includes almost getting arrested by the secret police in Cuba. Now, Jack is retired and living in Florida with his grown daughter. Jack's daughter and her boyfriend drag Jack out to see the Sarasota Tarpons play. Jack is reluctant to go but that all changes once Jack sees Mickey Clemant in action.

Mikey Clemant is one heck of a ball player. He is magic on the field. He plays in the minor leagues. He could play in the majors except for one problem...he has a major attitude. Not to mention that Mikey has a deadly secret. Jack wants to help Mikey get into the majors but by doing so; he will be putting his life in danger.

Johnny" Deuce" Bondano is a sharpshooter. He works for Angelo Marconi, who is the number two man in the elite Lucchesi organization or otherwise known as the mob. Angelo wants Johnny to locate his grandson and kill him.

With so much going on between all the characters and the storyline, it sometimes can get a little muddled but luckily; Mr. Frey was able to keep everything in order, so that this didn't happen. Two of the great things about this book was the characters were so likeable, even if they were playing for the other guys and two the story kept my interest the whole way through it. Forced Out by Stephen Frey is the first book I have read by this author. Now that I have discovered Mr. Frey, I will be checking out more of his books.




0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Slightly more interesting than the Cardinals / Tigers World Series, 2009-01-05
I've enjoyed Stephen Frey's books for years. His writing is a lot like Grisham's, but smarter and with Wall Street finance guys instead of lawyers. For this book, he broke his cookie-cutter approach. There isn't a brilliant but surprisingly naive young MBA that finds himself at the top of Wall Street with his morals somehow intact, who finds himself in physical danger and can only be saved by a strong and stunning woman.

Instead, what we have in Forced Out is an unlikable "hero" with way more character flaws than any hero should have, a mysterious young athlete with a shadowy past, and a very likable hit man. The surprises are surprising but not very interesting, the twists in the plot appear at random and seem to be the result of an editor demanding "seven more cliffhangers" or something, and the ridiculous amount of bloodshed seems to be a way to handle not being able to close up the various subplots.

Most of the book was fun to read. However it was my ninth Stephen Frey book, and I have to rank it a distant #9 to the other eight. By all means buy a Stephen Frey book, they're usually fantastic. If you've read all of his other books then pick this one up. It may entertain you while you wait for Hell's Gate: A Novel to come out this summer.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

More lightning bugs per page than any book I've ever read, 2009-01-05
And if you don't understand the reference, then this review isn't for you. I don't read much contemporary fiction. And this highly reviewed, multi-city-book-toured, authored-by-writer-of-many-other-books dud reminds me why. There are more things worng with this book than virtually any other I've ever read. Attention aspiring writers: owning a word processor and a thesaurus does not make you an author. Ouch.

Why did I finish then? Well, I actually enjoyed the set-up and the characters. And I was curious how he'd pull his many strands together. But he didn't pull them together; he dumped them in a blender and whizzed a good plot into a silly, messy, ugly, and uninteresting blood-red puree. Enough said.

Except, please, please, please Mr. Frey, please learn how to use "as" and "as if" instead of like.

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