[Quick programming note. I have a few of these themed posts I’m working on and I am undecided on whether to group all of the themed titles together in one post or to spread them out over a designated period of time. For the Dads & Daughters theme I’ve decided on daily posts all this week. That could change for other themed posts. If anyone has strong opinions on this let me know]

Plot Summary: At the height of the roaring twenties, the daughter of a mafia boss is determined to rise to prominence in her family's business.

Nicoletta has aspirations to join her brothers in the family business--an organized crime syndicate running the streets of Brooklyn. Though her father objects and a crisis ensues, Nicoletta takes it upon herself to prove she has what it takes, moving steadfastly into a world of brutality. New York has a new player in town, and they ain't seen nothing yet!

Review: Years ago, over at the Do Some Damage blog, I wrote about what I called The Connie Corleone Effect: “The Connie Corleone effect is when a female character is prevented from running a criminal organization because of inherent sexism in the organization itself, and the culture surrounding it, even though she is equally or more qualified than her male counterparts.” Examples cited were Connie Corleone and Brianna Barksdale.

Mafiosa takes that idea to heart. Nicoletta is tough and smart. She’s raised in the life of her family so she knows what they do. She’s got profitable ideas and the connections to bring them to fruition. Still, this is a patriarchal world and she isn’t taken as seriously as she deserves to be. Mafiosa has a lot of violence and gangland maneuvering.

My biggest problem with Mafiosa is that it winds up being a lot of set-up. Everything builds towards those final moments when she reaches the apex level of agency and fully comes into her powers. What comes next is the story proper except that’s where it ends.

For me this sits at the intersection of a couple different topics and discussions. I have a long standing grudge against most origin stories. That's just like, my opinion, man. I can’t help it. It’s also a small trend that I’ve noticed in some horror books: woman characters who come into their own as the climax of the book. I’ve liked a lot of these books, True Crime by Samantha Kolesnik comes to mind. An adjacent third thing to think about is structural: where to put big reveals. Big reveals can be front loaded or back loaded and neither is always the right or wrong way to go. A front loaded reveal gets you to the aftermath quicker and there’s a lot of story to ease things if it winds up being a bitter pill to swallow. Back loaded reveals can be tricky because if the whole story gets shaken up at the 80% mark, readers (or viewers, looking at you Sugar!) can feel burned. Now, to be clear, a story like Mafiosa isn’t building up to a reveal, but it’s worth asking if Nocoletta taking over the family as a plot point should be front loaded or back loaded.

Good stuff, for me it could have been better. I would expect that future stories, should we get them, will just let Nicoletta’s story rip.

Verdict: mixed/recommended

Availability: Print|Kindle|Comics Plus|Hoopla

Pair With: A new authorized Godfather universe (lol whut) novel about Connie Corleone was recently announced. Something to keep an eye on. There is a French language show with the same name, Mafiosa, that takes the same premise, a woman takes over a crime family. Except in the TV series, her ascension is front loaded and she takes over the family at the end of the first episode. Mafiosa ran for 5 seasons and 40 episodes.