Even a Pandemic Can't Stop Love and Murder: Vol. 1

Break the Bank

By: A. E. S. O'Neill

Narrated by: Sean Pratt

Based on a true story!

It’s the mid-2020s. The pandemic is becoming endemic. Alby O’Brien is hiding in his cave-like garage apartment in Southern New Jersey to escape the wrath of terrorists who are after him. Believing he is safe, he supports himself on under-the-table fix-it work with his nephew, Stephen, while wrestling with terrifying nightmares of what happened in Iraq. Now, however, his minimalist existence is about to end with very dire consequences.

Within the first 24 hours of this one-week, fast-paced thriller, Alby becomes the unintentional instigator of a major robbery; encounters Ginger, a gorgeous, fast-talking woman with a mysterious past; and collides with a psychotically polite and vicious killer named Jagger. Something very valuable has been taken from a mob-run bank, and now, everyone is after Alby. Despite being hunted down by terrorists and a hired assassin, he can’t stop thinking about the alluringly volatile Ginger. As it all comes to a head, Alby knows that his fate could go either way—the end of his life or the beginning of his redemption through love.

Break the Bank—volume one of three—is based on a true story told to the author by his father about a heist at a mob bank and its violent consequences that lead to love. How did his father know the story so well? He was there.

©2021 A. E. S. O'Neill (P)2022 A. E. S. O'Neill

Excellent first volume

Even a Pandemic Can't Stop Love and Murder: Vol. 1: Break the Bank audiobook cover depicting a stained glass like background with a huge lightning bolt across the sky Break The Bank is Volume 1 in the Even A Pandemic Can’t Stop Love and Murder Trilogy by professional writer, public speaker, and travel writer Alfred O’Neill.

With a hefty duration of a little over 12 hours and a half, Break The Bank, is a promising and timely first novel in this trilogy, smartly-written with dark humor and set in Southern New Jersey.

Even more interesting is the fact that this captivating work of fiction is based on a true story. The action is set a few years in the future and follows Alby O’Brien, who is hiding from terrorists that have sworn vengeance upon him due to an event that’s revealed in the early pages of the manuscript.

Our unlikely hero thinks he is safe in his small apartment in southern New Jersey, but things will quickly take a turn for the worse. What follows is a thrilling and entertaining adventure featuring mobsters, dangerous women, robberies, and, of course, murder.

Well-written, fast-paced, witty and funny, Break the Bank will keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. Audiobooks industry legend and multiple award-winning narrator Sean Pratt expertly performs this audio production, perfectly capturing the feel of the story, with a spot-on delivery for the quippy dialog reminiscent of movies from the 1930s. Sean is one of the best narrators out there and thanks to his considerable skills, this novel is even better as an audiobook.

Break the Bank is suspenseful and tantalizing, I enjoyed it a lot and I am looking forward to the next two volumes of the trilogy, Paying the Price and Checking Out. Hopefully, I’ll be able to review them for you as well. Until then, if you like mobster stories filled with colorful characters, funny dialogue and a lot of action, I recommend that you give this book a try!