Codes of Betrayal is a drama of double cross and triple jeopardy. At it's center is Nick O'Hara, an NYPD member whose shifting family loyalties will ultimately force him to confront his deepest notions of honor, loyalty, and justice. The son of an Irish father and an Italian mother, Nick O'Hara has always been a loyal cop. His relationship with his grandfather, Mafia boss Nicholas Ventura, has been an albatross, but never an issue. Then, in a moment of carelessness, he sends his thirteen-year-old son, Peter, to spend the afternoon at a Little Italy street fair with his underboss cousin. Caught in an alley between Little Italy and Chinatown, the boy is brutally gunned down, a bystander caught between mob crosshairs.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
The world occupied by New York police officer Nick O'Hara in Dorothy Uhnak's Codes of Betrayal is a dark one, indeed. The grandson of a Mafia don, Nick walks a fine line between family loyalty and professional ethics--a line that blurs even more when his young son is killed during a shootout in Chinatown. Eventually Nick finds himself between a rock and a hard place as he is forced to choose between saving his own life or betraying his beloved grandfather. Uhnak, a former police officer, knows the territory she describes, and Codes of Betrayal strikes an authentic note.
From Kirkus Reviews
A New York City cop whose Irish relatives have been killed by the Mafia branch of the family vows revenge--even though it means he'll get pulled every which way from here to next week. Hours after attending his great-grandfather Nicholas Ventura's 75th birthday party in Westbury, Peter O'Hara, 12, is shot dead during a petty drug quarrel his cousin Sonny had with some independent dealers in Chinatown. Peter's father, Det. Nick O'Hara, is devastated by his son's death--and even more devastated when his cop uncle Frank O'Hara tells him that the story Papa Ventura told him about Peter's death was just a whitewash of Sonny, and that 30 years ago, Papa had ordered Nick's own father killed when he witnessed a fatal scene on a city construction site. It's time for revenge on the Venturas, Frank urges Nick. But first Uhnak (The Ryer Avenue Story, 1993, etc.), not content to leave Nick deadened with grief over his son's death and his grandfather's treachery, has to plunge him further into despair by packing him off on a botched robbery that leaves him struggling in the clutches of the DEA--and all the more ready to rebound to the Ventura fold, now as a government informer. Nick's betrayal of his grandfather is complicated not only by his affair with Papa's spoiled darling, manipulative fashion-designer Laura Santalvo (who has her own drug-soaked secrets to hide), but by the elaborate introduction of dozens of figures--Papa's widowed sister Ursula, loyal retainer Tommy the Dog Bianco, Nick's longtime antagonist Funzy Gennaro, Junior Caniello, Esq.--who pop up and then get disappeared, as if by the Mafia. Coupled with Uhnak's telegraphic prose, it's enough to make the whole series of triple-crosses read like a treatment for an even longer story--a television mini-series, maybe--that could dramatize Nick's never-all-that-divided loyalties against the full range of characters tantalizingly sketched in here. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
welcome return for this great writer who still has the magic,
By A Customer
This review is from: Codes of Betrayal (Hardcover)
Nick O'Hara is a good New York City cop whose sole vice is gambling. The only flaw in Nick's record is the occupation of his beloved grandfather, Nicholas Ventura, an aging Mafia Don. When Nicholas pleads to see Peter, his great-grandson, on the occasion of the old man's seventy-fifth birthday, Nick reluctantly allows the lad to attend the Little Italy San Gennaro Festival. While in nearby Chinatown, Peter is killed during a shoot-out. The senseless death of his son leads to the destruction of Nick's life. He knows the identity of his son's murderer, but is impotent to act on the information. His wife leaves him and his gambling goes out of control, leading to large losses. Desperate, he tries to steal drug money to pay off his debts, but is caught by the DEA. He is offered a deal. Either spend the next two decades behind bars or sell out his grandfather, the man he ultimately holds responsible for the collapse of his life. No one describes the mean streets and various cultures of New York City quite like Dorothy Uhnak. Her latest novel,CODES OF BETRAYAL, brings to life various ethnic lifestyles and neighborhoods like no one else can, turning them into the stars of the novel. Though the story line is well written, Nick does not generate reader empathy and the denouement of his complex problems avoids answering the more difficult question of ethics and morality. Still, fans of police procedurals will not feel betrayed by this book. Harriet Klausner
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
What's the point? There's better stuff out there.,
By
This review is from: Codes of Betrayal (Audio Cassette)
This book about betrayal and family ultimately left this listener (I heard it as a book on tape, narrated by Bruce Weitz of 'Hill Street Blues' fame)wondering what the point of the novel was. Nick O'Hara, our protagonist and NYPD detective, is upset when he discovers that his grandfather on his mother's side ordered the killing of his father when he was a boy and was obliquely responsible for the death of his son in a gangland dispute.So, Nick goes after his grandfather by becoming a spy in the family organization. Along the way, he betrays his own wife and breaks his relationship with his father's brother - his only blood relative he trusts. So, while avenging part of his family he ends up screwing up the rest of his family. So, when I finished this dark novel I had to wonder, "What was the point?" If you like to watch a man self-destruct - this is your book. Not my favorite piece of literature.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful fast paced read. I couldn't put the book down.,
By
This review is from: Codes of Betrayal (Hardcover)
This book by Dorothy Uhnak reminds me of Mario Puzo and Harold Robbins. I've known that since I read her first book many years ago. Dorothy Uhnak is a former police officer and writes books about the Mafia, police investigations and an ethnic New York that I recognize. She also writes about Queens and her book, The Investigation, over twenty years ago, was loosely based on a murder that took place right in my home town. I've read other books of hers too -- namely Law and Order and the Ryer Avenue Story. I've never seen a photo of her, but she must be in her seventies now and I picture her looking something like Geraldine Ferraro.I can never resist her books, and was impelled to buy Codes of Betrayal when I saw it in a book store. The basic story is about an Irish-Italian cop whose grandfather is a Mafia don. Although the story is predictable, I couldn't put the book down. The story just draws me in to a world that has fascinated me all my life. I read the book in a couple of big gulps, enjoying every minute of the ride.
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