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Paperback Pages: 424
Paperback RRP: $26.54
Paperback price: $15.93
Average 5.0 from 1 ratings
“A fascinating and lesser-known part of Mafia and WWII history, this
brilliantly-researched novel is quite an eye-opener!”
- Shelly Marsden
Irish World, London
"Dock workers shout and swear coarsely. You can almost smell the
creosote and tobacco smoke as they do while the impression of a New
York metropolis coming into its own is particularly potent. As a
narrator he never has us at a loss as to our location, and using
something of a film maker's palate, he lets the streets and docksides
of New York become a central character in their own right."
- Hilary A. White,
The Sunday Independent,
“Like a sunken treasure ship this intriguing wartime
story has now been well and truly excavated.”
- Irish Daily Mail, London
“I was a bit wary as I began reading, thinking the use of colloquial
speech and vocabulary would make the book hard going. However I was
wrong; instead it gives the book a distinctive flavour, alongside the
descriptions of a bustling New York."
- Annette Hart
Reviews Online
Some Reader Comments:
“I felt compelled to write and tell you that once into the last
fifty pages, on my way home one evening last week, I missed my train
stop by two stations reading the chase scene at the end."
Christina Rossi, Philadelphia, PA
Just a quick "Thank you" for Operation Underworld. Being a
girl, I'm usually not a fan of crime-related stuff, but I got this one
off my boyfriend's shelf to read something during a trip - and boy,
did the trip seem short!"
- Irene, Rome, Italy
"I have been a history enthusiast for many years, and was frankly
bowled over by the historical accuracy of the novel, as well as the
effectiveness of the device used to carry the story. Historical
fiction so often tends to be either too dry to capture one's interest
for long, or superficial fun to read, but at the expense of historical
accuracy. With Operation Underworld, Mr. Kelly seems to have found the
happy medium that balances both.
Now of course, we are all anxiously awaiting his next historical
novel."
- Lt. Geoffrey Meade, U. S. N.
San Antonio, Texas
“I am greatly enjoying Operation Underworld. The visual and
auditory image of the two guys in the hold of the ship striking the
water valve in unison to the choral strains of the Anvil Chorus made
me burst out laughing! That is such a great visual, in such a weird
context!
- Paul O’Connor, Dublin,
Ireland
5 out of 5 (visitor)
February, 1942. Free China is lost, the Battle of Britain has been fought and Hitler dines in Paris. World War II is nearly three years old, however the United States resists involvement. With an invitation from the Imperial Japanese Navy at Pearl Harbor everything changes.
In her first ten months of the war nearly 500 American ships are lost. The retooling of Her factories is estimated to take at least a year, and even before it is completed, the men who work in those factories must become Marines, sailors and soldiers.
The U.S. Navy is behind the eight ball, big time. They need help. To compound their problems, the most famous luxury liner in the world, T. L. S. Normandie, has just been set alight and burned to the water-line in New York Harbor initiating wide spread hysteria in fear of German saboteurs. All originating from a misguided sense of desperation, and a well planned feign.
Meanwhile, "The Boss of Bosses", Lucky Luciano at age 45, is serving a thirty to fifty year sentence in a maximum security prison in upstate New York.
In one of the most ironic decisions of the war, the Federal Government requests the founder of organized crime, Lucky Luciano, to join forces with America's most secret service, Naval Intelligence. Luciano, has been sentenced to life in prison for a crime that warrants ten years, and is concurrently fighting deportation to an enemy nation where he will certainly be put to death, when he is asked to help the government who condemned him. In addition, he is told he must remain in prison with no chance for compensation or parole.
Mike 'Doc' McKeowen, a New York P. I., leads us through the story.
Doc just wants to get his life back on track after his business partner ran off with all the top clients, and a long and painful divorce drained him of his house, his family and his dignity. Fate may have a plan for Doc, but he can't figure out what the hell it is.
Whether you believe the link between the Federal Government and organized crime is a slender thread, or as Mario Puzo wrote, '. . . contemporary America, where law and organized crime are one and the same.', you will learn how the foundation of the international drug cartel was laid. You will come to appreciate the saying, 'Due Facce della stessa Medaliglia'. Crime and politics, two sides of the same coin.
Titanic was an act of carelessness.
Lusitania was an act of war.
Normandie was an act of genius.
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Paddy Kelly, Dublin
Paddy Kelly immigrated to New York City in 1966 where he worked a number of jobs, finished secondary school and in 1971 attended the City University of New York on an athletic scholarship for gymnastics. It was here that he was first introduced to theatre and first became interested in writing.
In 1972 he was employed to coach the Icelandic National Olympic team, a post held for two years.
While in Reykjavik, Iceland he helped in the rescue efforts of Vestmannaeyiar Island following the eruption of the Heimaey volcano.
In 1973 he became a Hospital Corpsman in the U. S. Navy and, in 1975, assisted in the evacuation of Saigon and the resettlement of tens of thousands of Vietnamese refugees to Westminster, Orange County where he was first exposed to the world of film making, and later worked as a set carpenter.
Following naval service in 1976 Mr. Kelly returned to City University New York earning a B. A. While at C.U.N.Y. he became involved in drama and subsequently acted in over a dozen plays in and around the New York area, again gaining work as a set carpenter and sign writer on films.
Upon returning to California in 1982 Paddy further developed his interest in writing when he found employment as a script editor.
It was during this period that Mr. Kelly wrote his first novel, Politically Erect, (unpublished), a satire of the last days of the war in Viet Nam and the fall of Saigon. Mr. Kelly returned to the East coast and worked his way through graduate school earning his M.Ed. at Boston. He began writing plays and moved into writing and directing full time, focusing on farce, satirical and political comedy.
Mr. Kelly has to date directed two dozen professional theatrical productions, written half a dozen feature film scripts and is a regular contributor to various film industry publications.
He has just finished his third novel, The American Way.
In the course of his career Mr. Kelly has also written and directed a cookery television programme and teaches cookery classes as an aid to reducing stress in your life.
“A fascinating and lesser-known part of Mafia and WWII history, this brilliantly-researched novel is quite an eye-opener!”
- Shelly Marsden
Irish World, London
"Dock workers shout and swear coarsely. You can almost smell the creosote and tobacco smoke as they do while the impression of a New York metropolis coming into its own is particularly potent. As a narrator he never has us at a loss as to our location, and using something of a film maker's palate, he lets the streets and docksides of New York become a central character in their own right."
- Hilary A. White,
The Sunday Independent,
“Like a sunken treasure ship this intriguing wartime story has now been well and truly excavated.”
- Irish Daily Mail, London
“I was a bit wary as I began reading, thinking the use of colloquial speech and vocabulary would make the book hard going. However I was wrong; instead it gives the book a distinctive flavour, alongside the descriptions of a bustling New York."
- Annette Hart
Reviews Online
Some Reader Comments:
“I felt compelled to write and tell you that once into the last fifty pages, on my way home one evening last week, I missed my train stop by two stations reading the chase scene at the end."
Christina Rossi, Philadelphia, PA
Just a quick "Thank you" for Operation Underworld. Being a girl, I'm usually not a fan of crime-related stuff, but I got this one off my boyfriend's shelf to read something during a trip - and boy, did the trip seem short!"
- Irene, Rome, Italy
"I have been a history enthusiast for many years, and was frankly bowled over by the historical accuracy of the novel, as well as the effectiveness of the device used to carry the story. Historical fiction so often tends to be either too dry to capture one's interest for long, or superficial fun to read, but at the expense of historical accuracy. With Operation Underworld, Mr. Kelly seems to have found the happy medium that balances both.
Now of course, we are all anxiously awaiting his next historical novel."
- Lt. Geoffrey Meade, U. S. N.
San Antonio, Texas
“I am greatly enjoying Operation Underworld. The visual and auditory image of the two guys in the hold of the ship striking the water valve in unison to the choral strains of the Anvil Chorus made me burst out laughing! That is such a great visual, in such a weird context!
- Paul O’Connor, Dublin, Ireland
5 out of 5 (visitor)
