Bad Guys [Hardcover]

Anthony Bruno (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 16, 1988

This series dazzles with fast, intricate plotting, terrific characters, and humor -Publishers WeeklyBad Guys, the first book in the Gibbons and Tozzi thriller series, introduces FBI agents Mike Tozzi and Cuthbert Gibbons, odd-couple partners and dedicated mob-busters. Hot-headed Tozzi goes renegade, and Gibbons is pulled out of retirement to stop him. Together they uncover a secret crime family headed by Richie Varga, a convicted mobster pulling the strings from the safety of the witness protection program. When Tozzi gets involved with Varga's sexy ex, the fur really starts to fly.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Everybody's a bad guy unless he's paid not to be," says a villain prior to getting his grisly, just desserts, and by the end of this crackling thriller readers may agree. FBI early-retiree (age 55) Gibbons is called back to service to find his ex-partner Tozzi who's gone renegade, murdering a corrupt Congressman, a crooked lawyer and a middle-management mobster. The special agent in charge of the Manhattan FBI office is determined to stop Tozzi before the SAC's own record is marred. Gibbons finds Tozzi quickly but immediately teams up with him to dig out a treacherous FBI agent who's been a Mafia butcher and informer. Tozzi becomes sexually involved with Joanne Varga, Mafia princess and separated wife of a capo supposedly stashed away in a witness-protection program. But Varga is still running the mob, aided by the duplicitous, lethal Joanne. Gibbons and Tozzi eventually uncover a big-time insurance-arson scam and the Jekyll-and-Hyde Mafia/FBI killer. This slick, fast-moving narrative offers interesting inside looks at the FBI and the Mafia ("a multiservice conglomerate for extralegal activities") and some delicious characters ("Bobo raised one hand and laid the other on a video box. . . . 'I swear to God, Tox' "). Bruno's first novel isn't merely promising, it's a money debut. And he is working on a sequel.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

$17.95. f After Mike Tozzi assassinates three bad guys who have escaped law, the Manhattan FBI office sends Tozzi's retired partner, Bert Gibbons, to locate the renegade agent and "neutralize" him. Tozzi converts Gibbons, however, and the two subsequently search for a double agent in the FBI office. With the traitor's aid, a Mafia crook has built up a successful narcotics ring and has executed several FBI agents. First novelist Bruno effectively infuses his work with a grimy, ruthless immediacy and serious tone well suited to thugs and undercover agents. Deeply involving, but fraught with profanity, explicit sex, and gory violence. REK
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult (May 16, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399133402
• ISBN-13: 978-0399133404
• Product Dimensions: 20 x 20 x 20 inches
• Shipping Weight: 20 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,921,087 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Anthony Bruno is the author of the non-fiction books, THE ICEMAN: THE TRUE STORY OF A COLD-BLOODED KILLER and co-author of THE SEEKERS: A BOUNTY HUNTER'S STORY with Joshua Armstrong, which was nominated for an Edgar Award. IMMORTAL MONSTER is a Crimescape Kindle Single about his experiences with hitman Richard "Iceman" Kuklinski.

He is also the author of the crime novels SEVEN (based on the Brad Pitt-Morgan Freeman movie), BAD GUYS, BAD BLOOD, BAD LUCK, BAD BUSINESS, BAD MOON, BAD APPLE, DEVIL'S FOOD, DOUBLE ESPRESSO, and HOT FUDGE.

His thriller, BLEEDERS, and Catholic-school coming-of-age novel, THE TEMPTATIONS OF ST. FRANK, are Kindle originals.