Eugene Izzi / Nick Gaitano Books In Order

Publication Order of Jake Phillips Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Eugene Izzi was a renowned American novelist of mystery, crime fiction, and thriller novels. He was best known for his book called The Criminalist and for adopting the hard-boiled style to write his novels. Some of the popular standalone books written by Izzi include Invasions, The Take, The Booster, Bad Guys, Prowlers, Safe Harbor, King of the Hustlers, The Prime Roll, A Matter of Honor, etc. Izzi remained a citizen of Chicago throughout his life and set most of his novels in that city. He was deeply influenced by the popular hard-boiled style of authors Dashiell Hammett and Mickey Spillane and chose to use it in his novels as well. In spite of achieving moderate success in his writing career, Izzi became a popular named because of the unusual circumstances in which he died. He was an alcoholic and had a marriage full of struggles. The people who knew him well say that Izzi took to writing as a kind of self-therapy.

Author Izzi was born on March 23, 1953, in Chicago, Illinois. There are very few details about his personal life known to the public. Most accounts say that he endured a trouble-prone and struggle-filled youth. He did not finish high school and went on to join the army. While he served in the military, Izzi earned a degree equivalent to high school. When he returned to Chicago, he started living an ordinary life by working at a steel mill on the south side of Chicago. He even got married and settled down. But, after the birth of his children, Izzi started drinking heavily and got involved in several criminal activities. As a result, his name was registered at the local police station among other criminals. To divert his mind from unlawful activities, Izzi started writing stories. His writing career started flourishing after the success of a few of his initial novels.

In 1991, author Izzi attended a book-signing and promotional event of his novel Prowlers at Barbara’s Book Store located in Oak Park. At the event, he told the attendees how he ended up becoming a writer. After his separation from his wife due to his hard-drinking and depression, Izzi experienced a swift decline in his life. However, a portable typewriter was always with him. Izzi’s life hit rock bottom when he had to sleep in a barber shop’s back room in exchange for helping around and cleaning up the shop. On a lonely night, he started re-reading the material that he had been writing for a few months. It made him realize that all his stories were self-pitying in nature and appeared to be the parodies of the recent events of his life. Izzi always saw himself as a misunderstood person who was wrongly rebuffed by the lady he loved very much. Izzi understood that if he seriously wants to become an author, then he has to put an end to his self-pitying. Eventually, Izzi started writing stories based on the people from the neighborhoods of the steel mill in Chicago’s southeast side.

As he continued to write such stories, Izzi felt that his life had changed completely and he was no more the same man that he used to be. Also, he became confident about his writing and believed that he could make a great career out of it. Shortly after, Izzi reconciled with his estranged wife and children and brought them back to live together. During the initial days of his career, Izzi used to write in the layoff period of his work at steel mills. He faced rejection from publishers when he approached them to get his earlier books published. It was in 1987 that he was able to publish his first book, The Take, after St. Martin Press liked and accepted it. Izzi continued to publish novels in the subsequent years. With the increase in the sale and positive reviews of his books, he grabbed a lucrative offer from Bantam publication to publish his novel Tribal Secrets. The company also gave Izzi a substantial amount of money as an advance. But, the book failed and Bantam Books suffered a heavy loss. This led to a fallout between Izzi and the publishing company. A settlement was carried out in which Izzi was forbidden from publishing his book under his real name for a period of three years. So, he adopted the pen name of Nick Gaitano and wrote and released three books.

Izzi’s most successful book, The Criminalist, was published in 1998 posthumously. On December 07, 1996, Izzi’s body was found hanging from his 14th-floor office window in Chicago. The police found some unusual things from his pockets like brass knuckles, disabling spray, a computer disc that contained an incomplete manuscript, and there was a bulletproof vest on his body. Although Izzi’s death was officially declared as a suicide, which his family also accepted, several conspiracy theories about possible murder were making rounds for many years after his death. Some people believed that Izzi was murdered by a white supremacist group that he had infiltrated with the intention of detailing their activities in his future book. The bizarre scene was believed to resemble the one described in the incomplete manuscript.

A popular book penned by author Eugene Izzi is entitled ‘Safe Harbor’. It was released by Avon in 2000. This book revolves around the life of the main character named Mark Torrence. He is shown as a dedicated counselor, loving husband, and an honest man. He carries a secret with him about his former life as an associate of criminals that no one in his current life knows about. His real identity is that of Tommy Torrelli and after agreeing to accept the Witness Protection offer, he got the new identity of Mark Torrence. However, his former bosses succeed in locating him and send a hitman to kill him and his family. Mark Torrence decides to become the man that he was before to survive the attack and keep his family safe.

Another excellent novel penned by the author is called ‘The Criminalist’. It was also published by Avon in 1998. The main characters of this novel include Terry Moran, Frank Moran, Dominick DiGrazia, Janice Constantine, and Tommy Moran. Terry works for the Chicago PD, whose career gets destroyed after he faces the accusation of butchering the wife of his brother. This accusation never gets proven and Terry is left to live in despair. After 20 years, another woman is found murdered in a similar way and Terry is again seen as a suspect. Homicide Detective DiGrazia desperately tries to prove Terry as the culprit and is joined by his partner named Janice Constantine. The Moran brothers are forced to confront their demons and take inevitable, painful steps towards salvation.