"We all go the way of the dodo bird."
Chicago. 1926. Prohibition is in full effect, leaving the Windy City under the rule of the warring Irish North Side and Italian South Side. Johnny De Luca is a soldier in the Beer Wars, struggling to forget his past and its demons. But once he meets the charismatic Paris Dawson at The Moonlight Hotel, he is forced to confront all of the tormenting questions, harrowing answers, and defining memories he has spent his life suppressing. Johnny and his loyal friends, Tomato and Hotsy, spend their days collecting payments, guarding shipments of booze, and chasing away rival gangs who encroach on their territory; while their nights are spent at The Moonlight, in a haze of drink, dance, and debauchery. But when they are ordered to cross the ruthless North Side gangster Mickey Diamond, they spark a bloody chapter in the Beer Wars.
Gone the Way of the Dodo Bird is a riveting look at the violence that kept the beer and liquor flowing during Prohibition as well as the damaging effects men returned home with from The Great War.
Sit and relax, tip your fedora back, play some jazz, grab an Old Fashion, and prepare to go back in time.
"This book will have you cheering for the bad guys, craving an Old Fashioned, and praying for happy endings..."-Amazon Review
"Gone the Way of the Dodo Bird was an excellent read from cover to cover and is an outstanding second novel for Bret Kissinger. The reader becomes caught up in the emotions of the characters both as they interact with one another and as they collectively navigate the world of prohibition. Typically, I am a fan of fiction and, as with Bret's first novel Forever Fleeting, I was once again surprised at how much I enjoyed historical fact interwoven into a fictional story line. I not only enjoyed the novel, but I also gained some historical knowledge as well. Excellent."-Amazon Review
"This novel was incredibly well done. After reading Forever Fleeting, I had very high expectations from this new novel and was thrilled that it exceeded all those expectations. Mr. Kissinger has a way of making all his characters very complex, yet easily relatable. The amazing chemistry between Johnny, Tomato, and Hotsy was a pleasure to read. Johnny was a tortured soul, tortured by PTSD, which at that time was not even a blimp on the medical radar. Mr. Kissinger was able to show the terrible side effects that war brings and show that even with dealing with flashbacks and reminders of th