Chasers [Paperback]

Lorenzo Carcaterra (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine (2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416511725
• ISBN-13: 978-1416511724
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,727,264 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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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