A VERY complex man

He NEVER had a chance. Richie was a dangerous mother but also a great guy and amazing, at times towards his wife and his own kids. Amazing towards children that were suffering or in danger. The fact he could be such a great guy at times, in my opinion, proved that he wasn't born evil. This was a man who was made evil after suffering horrific, unimaginable abuse as a child. This book was WELL WORTH the money!

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good read

loved it.... narrator did an amazing job. looking forward to reading more from this writer

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The Ice Man

Keeps your interest. Well written and narration matches context. Highly recommend if you like true crime.

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very interesting

over all a good listen. narrator does a good job. story is quite revealing as to the history of organized crime.

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pretty good

good story, however somewhat repetitive I found. Also, the author likes the word gregarious.

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Fascinating

Oh my God, I couldn’t stop listening to this! This book goes into so much fascinating detail. The stories are so interesting and suspenseful. It also ties into so many other mob stories and movies. He’s responsible for some of the most famous mob hits in history. Don’t watch the movie, it sucks.

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Way Too Much Artistic License

Richard Kuklinski is a most interesting Sociopath. As a cold-blooded murderer and self-proclaimed hitman for the Gambino crime family, he participated in chilling and horrific crimes. He was convicted of Five murders, but claims credit for up to 200 - starting at age 14. His entire life skirted the margins of the worst aspects of society (abusive parents, criminal colleagues, drug-addict friends, murderous siblings, terrorizing/beating his own family) but this legitimate monster contributed to that world, rather than being a product of it. I am glad this POS is dead.
Philip Carlo reveals a complete picture of the man - by the end of the book I think I know who Kuklinski was - but chooses to present events like a poorly-written, glaringly dramatized screenplay. The too-violent descriptions and out of place expletives (swear words appear to be haphazardly inserted here and there) detract from what should be a fascinating exploration of a man with obvious clinical Psychopathy.

I mean come on.. a press-loving serial killer and almost mythical Mafia Hitman? How do you screw that up? Apparently by giving the project to Philip Carlo so he can turn it into a cartoonish pulp fiction interpretation of testimony.

Michael Pritchard compounds the outrage by giving a weak reading performance. I have heard work from him before and Pritchard is usually excellent. He couldn't fairly be expected to elevate material this bad, but in this book he seems disinterested (Pritchard sounds like he's collecting a check). He also sounds like he's fighting a cold (he's somewhat phlegmy) and has a too-slow pace (I had to speed the recording to 1.10X to render the book tolerable).

All in all, this badly-written farce is made worse by a sub-par reading. The book gets considerably better when it gets into the police investigation that led to Kuklinski's arrest and imprisonment, but with the weak writing and narration, it's still only worth 3 stars out of 10. There are far better exposés published (Anthony Bruno's 'The Iceman' is available on Audible). Don't waste the Credit on this one.

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stopped at chapter 36

audio stopped abruptly half way through the chapter. I never got to finish this crazy story

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I disagree with all the big reviews.

Unlike all the other reviews here, I very much dislike the narration and the writing. There is so much content and the writer misses an opportunity to make it truly riveting. The repetition in phrasing and descriptions of the Kuklinski is very distracting and solidifies that the writing is weak. The narrator makes me distracted with visions of 1960's reporter with a suit and cigarette sitting on a desk simply reciting word for word interview details....for 19 hours. Philip Carlo is not an analytical interview / writer of true crime, rather he is obviously a FAN of the killers and just wants their approval. He's a tag along. He's trying to be to the criminal what Richard was to the crime bosses. HIs typewriter is to the criminal is Richard's gun to the mob boss. Yes, he got a great amount of detail in 200+ hours of interview...but he ruins it with such out dated reporting style and the narrator - with the same monotone delivery - just drags it on and on for 19 hours. Back in the 60's, a report written this way with this monotone delivery, would make a short news story dramatic to the audience for a 5 minutes....and then thankfully it would be over. Carlo is a fan of the criminal and thus only a town crier of a writer. I am left thinking that Richard had a great imagination versus really killing 200 + people. No one is that lucky to not have more time with police early in his criminal actions.

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