The offices of Jackie "Disaster" DeSoto's Allegation Sciences are in Atlantic City's Golden Prospect Hotel & Casino. In addition to his own company, he handles the "problems" of the casino, of which there are very few as word is on the street that he still employs some of the "old ways" of the Mafioso. Actually he rarely needs to, because of this advance publicity, but I must warn the "cozy" type of mystery reader, this isn't Jessica Fletcher or Miss Marple. There are a few graphic scenes which may not be your cup of tea.

Jackie is contacted by Sally Naturale to help in a law suit against her health food empire. He calls in the "Imps," Nate The Great, Teapot Freddy and the Lord, the T-shirt and jeans wearing one, to help figure out the scam

By the time he sorts out all the monkey business, he's been run through the mill by would-be nasties like Petey Breath Mint and Frankie Shrugs, throw-backs to the good old bad days.

There's a bit of love interest with Angela Vanni, his landlord and client, so there is a soft side to Jackie -- well, almost.

While Jackie may not be "mobbed up," readers will certainly get a crash course in life on the South Jersey streets. The book has smart dialogue, a good mystery and a character who I want to meet again.

• • •

O’Dwyers

DEZENHALL PENS FICTION NOVEL
(June 2003, A Thomas Dunne Book for St. Martin's Minotaur, 354 pages, $24.95, $17.47 from Amazon.com)

Jackie "Disaster" DeSesto, a forty-year-old ex-welterweight boxing champion and former Atlantic City Police Department spokesman who now runs a crisis management firm in Atlantic City, is the subject of PR pro Eric Dezenhall's new novel, "Jackie Disaster."

From an office overlooking the boardwalk and the casino floor in Atlantic City's Golden Prospect Hotel & Casino, DeSesto operates Allegation Sciences, a firm billed as the ultimate go-to for clients with serious public relations problems

Dezenhall is co-founder and president of Dezenhall Resources, a crisis management firm based in Washington, D.C.

Jackie, whom one could picture being played by Bruce Willis in a movie, will do anything to get the job done for a client. So when Sally Naturale, CEO of Naturale's Real Living, who is described as "America's deliciously loathsome doyenne of good taste and wholesome living," calls him because a woman has blamed her miscarriage on Sally's organic soy milk, Jackie agrees to take on the case.

The title character PR pro, who's suspicious of everyone, has doubts about the woman's story and Sally Naturale. And when after taking the case, someone tries to kill him, it becomes his mission to discover the truth about Sally, her company and the woman suing her.

Dezenhall has created lots of colorful characters in the book, notably calling the men who work for the PR pro, "The imps." They are Artie Lord, who is described as, "a thief who had never been caught," Teapot Freddy, "a former hairdresser, who had also been the shore's greatest shill," and Nate the Great, "a former Philadelphia plastic surgeon, who may have been muscular, but he was also short, which gave him the aura of either a former varsity wrestler or a little dude spoiling for a fight."

The book also features storylines about Jackie's 10-year-old niece Emma, the daughter of Jackie's brother Tommy who died in the boxing ring and whom Jackie is raising; Jackie's father, Blinky Dom, and the love of his life Angela Vanni, who runs the Golden Prospect Hotel & Casino and whose father was a mob boss.

Dezenhall describes Murrin Connolly, the woman who is suing Sally Naturale, as someone with "dirty blond hair; tiny hyena eyes, the kind that mistook resentment for justice; pasty, white-gray skin and a hefty body." At one point, he says she looked like, "the love child of Hulk Hogan and a poodle."

Other characters in the book include Bebe Naturale, Sally's younger brother, the thug Petey Breath Mints, Fragile Merrill, Jackie's friend, stock analyst Chris "Moonpie" Byers, also Jackie's friend, and bad guy Frankie Shrugs.

The story line gets more complicated as the book progresses and provides plenty of twists and turns for the reader.

As a crisis management PR pro, Dezenhall provides insight into what it is like to take on difficult clients facing bad publicity. As Jackie says in the beginning of the book, "My job was to make bad news go away, which, in the age of the fabled spin doctor, was thought to be eminently doable with the right trick."

He continues: "Not that my clients appreciated what I did for them. People hate it when you save them, because it reminds them that they couldn't do it themselves." Dezenhall adds, "Fact is, when facing a lynch mob, the businessman has nowhere to turn. The media hound him, the government extorts him, and the courts rob him. In my experience, while my clients are often flawed (and occasionally guilty), their critics are invariably worse, something that rarely gets out because, after all, they're each the virtuous 'little guy' who always cries foul when I go after him."

Large corporations will be able to relate when Jackie says about his clients: "Not only do I come up against blatantly awful corporate stalkers and extortionists, I was increasingly encountering an even more insidious predator among America's chronically violated, folks who wrapped up their dirty agendas in the mantle of the sanctified whistleblower. My clients are the biggest companies in the world, and they live in mortal terror of a nun with a guitar showing up at a shareholders meeting."

Because this is a work of fiction, the book features incidents not likely to be part of the PR plans of most crisis management people. For example, at one point Jackie takes extreme measures to help a refinery client get rid of a huge, black balloon set up by union protestors in front of its entrance. There's also lots of references to the Mob (it is Atlantic City, after all), along with a killing and other violent aspects of the book.

However, "Jackie Disaster" does provide insight into the serious problems many companies face today including the proliferation of rogue websites set up against them and the thousands of people who sue them for millions of dollars for one reason or another.

So, with its descriptions of Atlantic City along with Medford Landing in South Jersey's Pine Barrens, where Sally's corporate headquarters and estate Cricket Crest are located, along with colorful characters and storylines, "Jackie Disaster" takes the reader to a different place while offering insight into the world of crisis communications.

Dezenhall, who served in President Ronald Reagan's White House Office of Communications, is also the author of the novel "Money Wanders," and the non-fiction book, "Nail 'em!: Confronting High-Profile Attacks on Celebrities and Businesses."

• • •

Courier-Post

Disaster: Speaking Phlersey downashore
Eric Dezenhall's new novel, Jackie Disaster, is like a South Jersey diner. It has more than a little bit of everything on the menu and serves it all up with plenty of attitude. Or "atty-tood" as the characters in Jackie Disaster might say. After all, they don't speak standard English but rather "Phlersey," the author's term for the pungent indigenous dialect of the Philadelphia-South Jersey region setting.

A lively and entertaining story of spin doctors, gangsters, reporters and a Martha Stewart-like figure named Sally Naturalle, Jackie Disaster features the same shore, suburbs and wise guy milieu Dezenhall (who grew up in Cherry Hill) skewered with exactitude in his 2002 debut book, Money Wanders. The title of his follow-up novel is the nickname of his narrator, Jackie DeSesto, who's hard-boiled in an appealingly postmodern sort of way. He's not unacquainted with pain or regrets. He has doubts. Has friends

A former boxer, Jackie also is familiar with the worlds of organized crime and the media. He heads up Allegation Sciences, an Atlantic City public relations firm that tackles tough clients and tougher issues. That's how Jackie comes to know Sally, whose company — housed in a glitzy dome in, of all places, Medford - sold the soy milk that may or may not have sparked the miscarriage of a woman from Salem County. It turns out neither Sally nor her company may be what they appear. And there's more to Jackie than meets the eye, too. A tough-but-tender guy who's bringing up his orphaned niece, Jackie has a flamboyant gay man on his payroll and a Mafiosi's daughter for a girlfriend. He also has enemies, including a pair of mysterious would-be assassins and a thug named Petey Breath Mints.

Skillful writer
Dezenhall, a respected private spin doctor based in Washington, D.C., is a witty and skillful writer. He tells his complicated (and occasionally, convoluted) story well and his familiarity with the book's geographic, professional and emotional territory adds ballast to what might seem like facile observations: "We were in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, home of the great highway water tower bearing its name, and a trophy to America's capacity for metamorphosis."

There's a tad too much macho bluster in Jackie Disaster, as well as a violent scene or two. And the book's ethnic humor, while good-hearted, may not be to everyone's taste. But enough with the carping and the diner analogy. Fast, funny and stylish, Jackie Disaster is the perfect book to take to the beach. Or "downashore," as they say in Phlersey-speak.

• • •

Booklist

Dezenhall's second novel shows the author growing as a storyteller...the story itself, concerning a lawsuit over a miscarriage that may have been caused by an organic milk product, is serious and delicately handled. It's almost as if, having tested the waters in Money Wanders, Dezenhall (himself a crisis management expert) has decided to plunge into the deep end. Highly recommended for fans of the first book and for those who like their comic mysteries to possess serious undercurrents.

• • •

Ethical Corporation Magazine

Jackie Disaster is a little like combining the movies 'Wag the Dog' and 'Analyse This' with corporate America and class action lawsuits. Corporate crisis management, public relations expertise and the mafia all take centre stage in Dezenhall's second novel, combining in a complex darkly comic tale involving false lawsuits, dirty companies, mobsters and sinister activist groups, with a former pugilist damage control consultant with a mean right hook stuck in the middle.

Dezenhall provides no mercy in his assessment of modern America. The cynical subtext is clear, everyone wants something, most 'victims' aren't innocent, crisis managers will do what they have to, and even the community activists have some seriously dirty laundry. Throw in some aging overweight gangsters and you have recipe for a successful satire.

The central character, Jackie 'Disaster' De Sesto, a Jersey ex-boxer turned crisis management consultant, is hired to investigate claims that soy milk produced by a leading local company built by local heroine Sally 'Doyenne of Good Taste' Naturale caused a Jersey woman's miscarriage. De Sesto immediately smells several rats, and his investigations lead to an attempt on his life. Thereafter the tale becomes ever more complex and suspenseful as De Sesto tries to figure out the truth behind it all, while staying alive with his gang of subversive helpers, and collecting his fat fee from the client, who may also be trying to kill him.

Dezenhall displays a deft touch in knitting together the disparate strands of American society - the worlds of the class-action-happy unhappy consumer, the large 'local' company, the crusading investigative journalist, the outdated local mobsters, the extremist campaign groups and the murky world of the damage control and PR consultant are all revealed to be almost as bad as each other in theirsearch for glory and greenbacks.

You can't fault his research - as a native of Jersey, a former White House aide and a corporate crisis consultant with a personal penchant for Italian and Jewish mob history, Dezenhall knows his stuff, and combines them well in a plot so complex it is reminiscent of South African Novelist Tom Sharpe, once deported from his own country for writing parody in a similar vein.

While Jackie Disaster is not as absurdly comical as Sharpe's Riotous Assembly or Wilt novels, the fact that you could imagine the events in the novel actually taking place makes it that much more resonant. OK, so it's unlikely, but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen.

Above all Dezenhall reveals sheer deviousness and potential power of well planned public relations / crisis manager / publicist's campaign on an issue. He shows the reader how local opinion can be grasped, manipulated and second-guessed for the right result for the client, through polling, internet rumours, local media stories and using good, old fashion illegal activities like kidnapping, phone tapping and burglary and a rolodex full of seedy contacts to get the right spin on an issue. Going beyond the law will get you a long way in crisis management it seems, especially if your opponents are trying to kill you.

In his earlier novel, Money Wanders, Dezenhall depicted a mafia boss 'hiring' a public opinion and relations consultant (on pain of breaking his legs or worse if he fails) to get him his legitimate casino licence by cleaning up his image. In Jackie Disaster, he broadens his palate to satirise wider society.

While its sometimes difficult to keep track of who all the nicknames are for in the early pages, as one progresses through the book the characters of Frankie Shrugs, Petey Breath Mints, Teapot Freddy and The Lord all add to the comic confusion in the later stages.

Jackie Disaster is difficult to put down once you've got past the early confusion of characters, and could make a great movie for the director brave enough to take on the plot.

• • •

Bestwriters.com

Jersey Boy
For residents of New Jersey, the state's industrial acreage — refineries and storage tankers, flickering neon and arterial roadways; a veritable Mafioso postcard from an unconventional honeymoon ("How Ya Doin'? Atlantic City is Frickin' Beautiful!") — is Eric Dezenhall's homage to sincerity and home. Dezenhall, author of the exciting new novel "Jackie Disaster," writes with precision about South Jersey and the area's assortment of new and old: media wizards and Mafia ghosts, each as real as the words Dezenhall uses to enliven and sculpt these icons from the new economy (and its subsequent financial bust) and the old (BUSTED, courtesy of FBI search warrants and criminal indictments). In the process, the novel leads readers through the equally dramatic worlds of politics, business and organized crime.

The book's namesake (Jackie Disaster) is a crisis communications expert, a role Dezenhall himself masters professionally within the nation's capital. But, no matter Dezenhall's experience (including a stint in Reagan's White House) and the importance of his advice, few media consultants combine Jackie's raw ethnicity and business acumen. After all, few people regularly assume the high life with low life credentials: that is, it takes a real hero — a man of Jackie Disaster's bravado and wisdom — to recognize an aging gangster's importance and a social climber's false appearance.

The even greater challenge involves Jackie's professional defense of an embattled Martha Stewart-type (Sally Naturale) executive. Naturale's economic empire - an alliterative listing of foods, furniture and fragrances - stands accused of manufacturing poisoned milk -- a product allegedly responsible for the death of a young woman's fetus. The ensuing media firestorm, climaxed by murderous behavior and incredible arson, is Dezenhall's signature magic: an inside description about corporate malfeasance, mob intimidation and media manipulation.

Yet, Dezenhall also provides a social epitaph for millennial excess — a chiseled reminder that genuine integrity is the most precious commodity, "Herein rests a man of personal decency and individual honor. He will forever touch the loved ones of this great community." For Dezenhall's novel is a post-9/11 reminder about the worth of courage and honesty; and Jackie Disaster is himself an icon of righteous defiance and unrelenting strength.

Even better, Dezenhall includes a supporting cast of nefarious gangsters and colorful politicians. These characters read like a veritable listing of beloved cinema stars, cigars and other necessary accouterments duly included. The final result is a particular brand of mob literature that combines style and gritty substance.

So, take the next exit off the turnpike. Pass the crowded diner. Park alongside the casino's roadside sign . . . and enter a different world. The world of criminal mischief and political communications. The literary imagination of Eric Dezenhall. The home of Jackie Disaster.

— Mike Glover

• • •

Kirkus Reviews, STARRED

Jackie De Sesto, known since his boxing days as Jackie Disaster, has retired from the ring to run Allegation Sciences, an Atlantic City crisis management firm, from rooms overlooking the gaming floor of the Golden Prospect Casino. Golden Prospect, under the management of the luscious Angela Vanni, the gone-legit daughter of a dead mafioso (Money Wanders, 2002), is his main client, but even the constant need to fend off the scams of made-men like Frankie Shrugs and Petey Breath Mints leaves him and his Imps -- the Damon Runyonesque trio consisting of Teapot Freddy, the Lord, and Nate-the-Great -- time to salvage other images. Right now, he's bent on refurbishing millionaire Sally Naturale's reputation, tarnished by a lawsuit Murrin Connolly has brought against her and her company that claims their organic soy milk caused her miscarriage. According to pollster Jonah Eastman, discrediting Murrin is the way to go, but they also have to show Sally eating humble pie, because Cricket Crest, her opulent estate in South Jersey's Pine Barrens, has made the deprived masses unsympathetic to her.

From this point on, disasters pile up quickly and satisfyingly -- including the destruction of Cricket Crest and the disappearance of Sally -- although it takes Sally and the Impsa while longer to see through the despicable alliance between Frankie Shrugs and Bebe, Sally's slithery brother, and to understand the reason for all those chirping crickets at her enclave.

Barbed and cruelly witty, Jackie Disaster is the best thing to come out of Atlantic City since saltwater taffy.

(Agent: Kristine Dahl, InternationalCreative Management)

• • •

Harriet Klausner Online Reviews

Former professional boxer Jackie "Disaster" De Sesto manages Allegation Services, a crisis-management spin-doctor firm. His offices overlook the gaming floor of the Golden Prospect Casino in Atlantic City, owned by his prime customer and girlfriend, Angela Vanni, daughter of a deceased Mafia boss. Jackie Disaster and his team of Imps handle and often deliver scams and cons to paint a rosy picture of his clients regardless of the truth. Millionaire Sally Naturale hires Jackie Disaster and associates to restore her and her firm's reputation. Murrin Connolly filed a lawsuit claiming that the organic soymilk that Sally's company produces caused her to miscarry. Expert Jonah Eastman suggests a two front attack. First Jackie Disaster and team need to destroy the credibility of Murrin with a negative dirt smearing campaign and second Sally must act contrite in public as a counter to her posh upper crust living style. Instead of smooth sailing, Jackie lives up to his nickname as nothing goes right especially when Sally vanishes. Jackie and the Imps begin a new counteroffensive.

JACKIE DISASTER is a superb satire that showcases a professional who uses any means including dirty tricks to provide counter cover for the rich and famous. The story line stuns the audience with its relative simplicity that paints a dirty image making game by the in crowd to protect their reputation. A cast, starting with the antihero and his cohorts including his father, niece, girlfriend, and new client make for a wild ride down the Jersey shore. To protect the image of Eric Dezenhall, a sequel is required.



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