Unyielding Destiny by Spiros Gratsias
What's It About?
“A fascinating novel in which a mobster’s story intersects with that of a district attorney’s, leading to questions about what it means to be a person of honor.” —Clarion Reviews“A swift, thoughtful thriller … as fast-paced as it is philosophical. … Great for fans of Leonardo Sciascia, Tod Goldberg’s Gangsterland. … Grittily realistic.” —BookLife
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The average person might not realize that in the 1960s, some 300 civilians lived on the maximum-security federal prison known as Alcatraz, in the waters off the coast of San Francisco. During a routine pickup baseball game among some of the children, young Scott Easten, a guest on the island, drills the ball straight through a window of the warden’s residence.
The ball is picked up by an inmate doing gardening work in the warden’s yard. As the kids come to collect it, the inmate tosses it back, but also notices a shiny dog tag around the boy’s neck with the name of Scott’s deceased father.
The connection between the inmate, Frank Morris, and the former soldier Ray Easten, who saved Frank’s life during battle in the Korean War, is the coincidence that sets in motion various storylines in the intriguing crime fiction Unyielding Destiny by Spiros Gratsias.
ANTIHERO WITH HIS BACK AGAINST THE WALL
This is one of those books where you find yourself rooting for a hardened criminal: member of a New York crime family, convicted of two armed burglaries, prisoner in Alcatraz.
As a young child, Frank lives in a darkly lit tenement in New York’s lower east side. Shortly after his parents die, he is visited by mafia family head Don Cabineri, who explains, “I have come to take you with me … Starting today you will be like a son to me … I am your family now, and in time you will understand and accept the hand of destiny.”
Frank enters the family business, bringing strength, intelligence and unmatched loyalty to every task. He also is reflective, remembering every detail of the day Ray Easten, the consummate soldier and leader, took his own life in an effort to save Frank’s. What is my destiny, Frank ponders, that would keep me alive and take away a great man like Ray?
When Frank escapes from Alcatraz, he resumes activity in the family business but again crosses paths with Scott, who is now an assistant district attorney whose mission is to crack down on New York’s organized crime.
A GLORIOUS CHARACTER STUDY
Gratsias has given us a glorious character in Morris, certainly flawed in many ways but a thinking, sensitive person who tries to live his life on an honorable course, and naturally overwhelmed with loyalty — whether to his gangster father or a man who years ago shaped his destiny by saving his life.
The author has written a story with great insights into his venues which range from the depressed lower east side in the 1930s, to the field of war, to the streets on New York infiltrated with crime and gangland territorial conflicts. He knows his settings well and crafts a fast-moving story one suspects will come full circle but not sure how it will resolve in the end.
Was Frank Morris a victim of his circumstances? Was he a victim at all? Was he one of those characters who on the surface is a bad guy but inside has a heart and a conscience? Or a man simply looking to fulfill his unyielding destiny? It’s worth your exploration.
Learn more about Gratsias on his BookTrib author profile page.
