Chasers (Apaches) [Kindle Edition]

Lorenzo Carcaterra (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the 1997 action thriller Apaches, Caraterra introduced ex-NYPD detective, Giovanni "Boomer" Frontieri, who brought together a band of cops, each forcibly retired due to a disability acquired on the job, to take down an insidious drug dealer. Now, three years later, Boomer has reassembled the two surviving members of his original crew in order to avenge the death of his niece, gunned downed during a drug-related hit. Joining the old guard are three newly damaged ex-officers (including a 125-pound Neapolitan bullmastiff named Buttercup), each looking for a bit of vigilante justice. When Boomer traces his niece's shooting to Angel, an ex-priest turned South American drug lord, he realizes the odds are stacked astronomically high against them, and reluctantly turns to some unexpected allies in organized crime. Apaches was a slam-bang ride gone full tilt on blood, bullets and bodies. Unfortunately, this bloated, overwritten sequel never captures the excitement of its predecessor, spinning its wheels with cardboard characters, testosterone-soaked dialogue and movie-style action sequences that defy physics and believability both.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

A man, holding a cup of coffee, stares down at the body of a young girl at a crime scene. The man has absolutely no business there: he's wandered into the restaurant where the murder occurred--the scene has already been roped off--and starts chatting with one of the investigators. Anyone with even a scrap of knowledge about crime scenes will know instantly how utterly inexcusable this procedural lapse is, but it's the opening premise of Carcaterra's latest vigilante mystery. The little girl is the man's niece, giving a very tortured entry point for his involvement in the case, which leads to a Colombian drug cartel. The man is a former NYPD detective, now one of a renegade group of vigilant crime fighters introduced in Carcaterra's Apaches (1997). Like Burke in Andrew Vachss' series about another no-holds-barred vigilante, the Apaches, all former cops, fight a neverending war against crime, unburdened by the strictures of the legal system. This time, unfortunately, the improbability of the plot detracts significantly from the emotional impact of the story. Still, Carcaterra has amassed a significant following, stretching back to his critically celebrated debut, Sleepers (1995), and his latest will be eagerly awaited. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 327 KB
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (April 17, 2007)
• Sold by: Random House Digital, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000PDZF5M
• Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #103,850 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars 1.2 pounds of pure dreck, May 4, 2007

By 

David L. Colgrove "Author of 'Six PM Sunday' ... (L.A.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chasers: A Novel (Hardcover)

I NEVER throw away a book, especially before I've finished, until "Chasers." The dialogue in this book is probably the worst I've ever read; every character sounds the same, they all take two paragraphs to speak a simple thought and the dialogue is so stilted it sounds like Shakespearean actors doing a SNL skit. Laughably bad. Try reading the dialogue aloud...

Overall, I found "Chasers" to be frustrating to read, found myself grinding my teeth in parts. Wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

For good crime fiction, try T. Jefferson Parker, Robt. Crais, the gteat Lee Child or any of a dozen more. This guy Carcaterra is a wanna be.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "If luck is still running our way, he'll laugh until he dies.", April 22, 2007

By 

Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chasers: A Novel (Hardcover)

The Apaches are back in 1985 Manhattan, Carcaterra's coterie of disaffected, disabled former cops, all forced by numerous injuries to retire on disability, the cold fire of vengeance temporarily banked. Both street-smart and street-weary, these ex-cops have seen it all and survived their wounds, at least the visible ones, their coping skills somewhat frayed. When the innocent niece of Giovanni "Boomer" Frontieri is caught in gang crossfire, he decides to cut to the heart of the matter and take out those responsible, even if it means open warfare with the strongest contenders on the street, the Columbians, the G-Men, or Father Angel, a cold-hearted ex-priest. Soon the others gather around their partner, stylized heroes all: Dead-Eye, Rev. Jim, Quincy, Ash, even a disabled drug-sniffing dog. Laying the groundwork for their vigilante assault on the vermin who prey on the streets of Manhattan, they all know the risks and arrange for a little backup from the Russian mob.

The author takes his time building the story, the characters introduced one by one in their natural surroundings, drug dealers, hit men, the Apaches. But for all the death and violence on the streets of New York, the almost oblivious continuation of inter-gang warfare, a blueprint for a convulsive collision of drug lords and Apaches, the characters are emotionally disengaged. So carefully has the author built this house of cards that none of the protagonists (Boomer, Dead-Eye, Rev. Jim, Ash, or Quincy) are accessible as living, breathing actors on a particularly brutal stage. The full-court press of predictable bad guys, assassins, the Boiler Man, Angel, the G-Men and a Russian mob queen, are the usual stereotypes, conscienceless killers. That spark of passion that allows a reader to root for the good guys is strangely absent, but for a final twist at the end. Perhaps that is Carcaterra's point; when we become as violent as our opponents, even in pursuit of justice, there is no difference. Luan Gaines/2007.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars dark shoot-em-up crime thriller, April 21, 2007

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chasers: A Novel (Hardcover)

John Frontieri aka Boomer is an ex-cop with part of a lung missing but he is financially stable because he lives on three quarters of a pension with full health benefits. In 1982, he and other ex-cops who were injured and forced to retire formed the Apaches, a rogue police unit that went after and took down a drug queen and her entire posse. Three years later the Apaches with three new members are on the streets again to take down a South American drug lord, Angel who was a former priest before he turned to the dark side.

The reason Boomer and company, including Buttercup, a drug sniffing dog who can hold her own with the Apaches, wants Angel dead is because he ordered a hit on a couple of the G-men (Ceerzule brothers) in a restaurant and Boomer's niece was collateral damage. The new members are Ash a former arson investigator scared by a fire and Quincy who is in the early stages of AIDs. They manipulate the various crime lords having them at each others throats, accept help from the mob who wants a piece of Angel's turf and they take heavy chances that cost Angel big time. In the end, it is not their street smarts that determine the outcome but a little help from those on the wrong side of the law.

Many readers will wonder what the difference is between the Apaches and the criminals they battle and the answer is not much. Both cross the line into questionable activities as the Apaches act as judge, jury and executioners not paying attention to civil rights. Surprisingly, for such a dark shoot-em-up crime thriller Lorenzo Carcaterra has a way with characterization that brings an anchor of reality to the mix. Dark humor, characters that are shades of grey and the belief that any means to an end is good are the hallmark elements of CHASERS.

Harriet Klausner