I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Inside the tony suburb of Scarsdale is New York’s worst-kept secret: The mob runs everything, and the Nicastro family is at the center. Seventeen-year-old Tasha Nicastro lives a life of glitz and glamour, but she has no idea her family harbors a dark truth.

Tasha might look like your classic high school mean girl, but behind the designer clothes is a sharpshooter who knows how to bring anyone to their knees. The only person who has ever gotten under her skin is her former best friend, Leo Danesi, the youngest son of the Nicastro family’s rivals. After Leo returns to New York older and more handsome, Tasha thinks he’ll be the worst of her problems—until the life she thought she knew takes a violent, shocking turn. When her father and beloved older sister are murdered before her eyes, Tasha learns the dark truth: Her family runs the most powerful Mafia branch in New York, and now she’s set to inherit it all.

Tasha vows vengeance on the mysterious new mob behind the hit, but she can’t do it alone. She needs someone who already knows the underground world to help track them down. And that person is none other than Leo, the heir to his own family’s dangerous empire.

But Tasha is a Nicastro. She’s been raised in the company of killers, and there’s absolutely nothing she won’t do to avenge her family. That is, if the enemy doesn’t put her in gold chains first.

Short and Sweet Review

In the Company of Killers follows our main character Tasha as she navigates becoming the new Mob Boss after the death of her father and older sister. Tasha just thought the Nicastro name was powerful but it isn’t until another Mob kills her father and sister that she learns what was really going on behind the scenes. Tasha doesn’t know much about this world so she asks her former friend Leo to help her get revenge on the new mob behind the hit.

I don’t usually read books about the mafia and I think this might have been my first one on the topic, I thought I would venture out and try new things and unfortunately I ended up hating this book. Tasha is our main character and she may have been oblivious about the fact that her family is involved in the mob but she does know that her family has a powerful name and she uses that to be a mean girl and treat those around her as less than. She also wasn’t very bright and most of the decisions she made were infuriating. She would take unnecessary risks and put herself and those around her in danger, her family was killed in front of her eyes and she’s acting like she can go wandering around town without a care and evading her security guards. I’m also not sure why she wanted Leo’s help because whenever he would offer sound advice she would just do the opposite. I will say the only thing that I liked about her was that she knew how to defend herself the only downfall was when she would say things to come across tough but it was just very cringey. We also get Leo’s POV and he’s an okay character nothing special but he was better than Tasha. Leo’s father was killed in a hit and he really wants nothing to do with the mob but he’s being forced into the lifestyle by his mom. We see these two try to work together but they always say little things to get under the others skin and then the partnership is off and then a chapter later it’s back on. The romance between the two was a waste of time especially with that ending. Also the mystery about the other mob wasn’t too shocking I had an inkling about what was going on.

Overall, this was a hard book for me to get through. I didn’t like the characters and I honestly just want to forget about this book and the time I spent reading it. I would try to read another book by this author but not if it takes place in the same universe.