Author Angelo Amabile brings two books to readers: Enzo Persues: The Nigerians, a fast-moving international thriller about a deadly overseas scam, and Please Help Me, a memoir about surviving war, poverty, and communism to build a new life in America. One book is pure fiction and the other is true, but both carry the voice of a man who has seen the best and worst of the world.
Enzo Persues: The Nigerians opens with a letter that looks too good to be true. Enzo Segnan is a successful Italian-born real estate developer in Baltimore. While visiting a friend in Italy, he reads a letter from Nigeria promising millions of dollars if he will just send an invoice and his banking details. Enzo recognizes a scam right away. Confident and curious, he decides to play along to see how far the con artists will go, and he calls the FBI before he does. What begins as a clever game turns into a dangerous chase across Canada and Europe when his secretary is kidnapped. Amabile draws on the real-world menace of advance-fee fraud and the criminal networks behind it. The result is a story of suspense, vengeance, and rescue, with a warning running through it for anyone who has ever been tempted by a voice on the other end of the line promising riches beyond their dreams.
Please Help Me is the story behind the storyteller. In plain, honest language, Amabile recalls his earliest memories of poverty in Italy, where the family had little food, no mattresses, and no heat. He describes the constant pain of hunger as something that settles in the body and the soul. His account follows him through the bombings and occupation of World War II, life under a Communist regime, and years in an orphanage. At thirteen he escaped across the Iron Curtain to freedom. He did not write the book for ego, he says, but so that future generations might learn from a life lived fully and told truthfully. Its message is that there is a story in every person’s life, and that hardship, survival, and gratitude can shape one.
Born and raised in Italy, Angelo Amabile knew hunger and hardship during World War II and later lived under a Communist regime. He spent three years in an orphanage before escaping across the Iron Curtain at age 13. At 15 he arrived in the United States, became a U.S. citizen in 1957, and served five years in the U.S. Army. He then built a career as a real estate developer. That same path, from an Italian immigrant to a Baltimore businessman, gives Enzo Persues its authenticity. Amabile dedicates his work to his wife, his children, and his grandchildren, the family he credits with giving his life meaning.
Together, the two books will appeal to readers of suspense and crime fiction, to history and memoir lovers, and to families who want to preserve and understand the immigrant experience. They also suit anyone who believes that resilience is something a person can build. Whether picked up for the page-turning plot or for the lessons of a hard-won life, they show what one man made of the chances he was given.
Enzo Persues: The Nigerians and Please Help Me by Angelo Amabile, published by Red Rock Publishers, are available now in print and digital formats.