Purgatory Gardens

A Novel

By: Peter Lefcourt

Narrated by: Noah Michael Levine

Sammy Dee is a mid-level Long Island mafioso in witness protection. Didier Onyekachukwu was the corrupt minister of finance of the former Upper Volta. Both men find themselves in middle age, living in the Southern California version of genteel poverty in a down-market condo complex called Paradise Gardens. Enter Marcy Gray, a "mature" actress barely getting by on a meager SAG pension. She is looking for a guy to help her through the duration and, frankly, at this point her standards are not as high as they should be; she'd settle for someone who doesn't pick his teeth at the table and who drives at night. Occasional sex and some travel wouldn't hurt. Her search has narrowed to two fellow residents: Sammy and Didier, who, being male, are mostly interested in getting into Marcy Gray's pants. Though a little of the money they mistakenly think she has wouldn't hurt either.

Once both men realize that the other is the primary obstacle to Marcy's affections, each decides to put a hit on the other, and winds up unknowingly hiring the same father-son demolition squad. As the contract killers play both of their clients against one another, Marcy manages to keep both men out of her bed until one or the other of her prospects passes muster. Poisoned pizza, blown-up cars, sex in the sauna, and media madness ensue. It's Elmore Leonard meets Carl Hiaasen as directed by the Coen brothers. With Purgatory Gardens, Lefcourt is back at the top of his game as one of America's leading comedic writers.

©2015 Peter Lefcourt (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Cute story

In the middle I thought oh this is ridiculous but the author managed to pull it off in a cute way.

Very satisfying

What a great story...I definitely couldn't stop listening to it..
I would definitely recommend the story to anyone!!!

Very tongue in cheek

I thought this was funny and cynical- about every one
You get so you love all of the very flawed characters and you don’t know why
Ended a bit too soon

An Entertaining Book!

This is my first time listening to this author's books, but it won't be my last.
I enjoyed the story, the characters, and the writing style.
The narrator was great even if some of the "accents" weren't spot on. Overall an enjoyable story, well read, well done!

Surprising, very well done

I didn't anticipate how much I would like this book. I tend to gravitate towards longer books that I can listen to while multitasking, so when this came up and was free, I had low expectations but would have been happy with anything halfway decent. What surprised me was that it was such an interesting story, and I felt so interested in the characters that I had to stop and not multitask so I could focus olistens! Solidly good listen!