Devil's Food: A Novel [Hardcover]

Anthony Bruno (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1997

Traumatized and unemployed after being held hostage during a prison riot, Loretta Kovacs joins the Jump Squad, the New Jersey State Parole Violators Search Unit, and finds herself caught in a jurisdictional nightmare as she pursues embezzler Martha Lee Spooner. 35,000 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Loretta Kovacs is at the bottom of the law enforcement food chain, tracking down parole violators. On the trail of a money laundering grifter, she winds up at a Florida fat farm where the Internal Revenue Service and a mob enforcer join her in the hunt. With a plot that twists and crackles with surprising energy, Anthony Bruno turns this overworked material into a wonderfully dark comic thriller. Here's a writer to watch.

From Booklist

Once an assistant prison warden, Loretta Kovacs is two degrees of stress away from burnout. With her career virtually destroyed after she was held hostage by rioting prisoners, she's starting over with the New Jersey "Jump Unit." She and her partner, veteran Frank Marvelli, nab parole jumpers. Their first assignment is Martha Lee Spooner, an embezzler who stole from a gang of biker drug dealers while she was ostensibly laundering their ill-gotten gains. By the time Kovacs and Marvelli track Spooner to Florida, the bikers are there, too. The IRS also wants a piece of Spooner, leaving Loretta and Frank wedged between two competitors, one wanting to give Spooner freedom in exchange for information, the other eager to kill her. Taking a break here from his Blood series featuring NYPD detectives Gibbons and Tozzi, the always-entertaining Bruno introduces another mismatched but devoted pair dedicated to bringing the bad guys to justice. Packed with humor, great dialogue, and real people on both sides of the law, this looks like a winner. Wes Lukowsky

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 252 pages
• Publisher: Forge; 1st edition (February 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312859902
• ISBN-13: 978-0312859909
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,213,846 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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Unlikeable characters, September 2, 2011

By 

Sheila Deasy (Indiana) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Devil's Food (A Loretta Kovacs thriller) (Kindle Edition)

Wow, I thought with the 5 star reviews that I would love this book. I was wrong-I hated it. I am not hard to please when it comes to fiction and will generally overlook many flaws in a book. However, the main characters in this book are just horrible, terrible people! You have a slightly overweight woman who is not just caustic and mean to the people she deals with-she is caustic and mean in her own personal thoughts also.
I believe the author wants us to feel sorry for her because she has a weight problem. However, it is hard to do so when she complains about every possible avenue of help she tries for the problem. Previously, she went to a weight camp and all she did was fight and complain that she didn't get results when she refused to do anything they asked her to. This lady even pauses in the middle of a fight to eat an eclair! Really?!? Loretta-people don't hate you because you are overweight, they hate you because you are a terrible human being who whines and complains and actually keeps thinking of sleeping with a man who's wife is dying of cancer!
And Marvelli isn't much better-he is thinking the same thing! I really like to cheer for the heroes in the books I read but I was hoping both of them would get offed about half way through. The only character that had any humanity was the probation violator they were hunting for. And she didn't have much!
I did finish the book-I kept hoping it would get better. It did not. After freshly burying the wife he professes to love, Marvelli is looking at Loretta as a possible substitute. Are people really that cold? If they are, I really don't want them as the hero in a book I am reading.
That said; the book was well edited and the author wrote with an easy to read, flowing style. The two stars are for his writing style but, unfortunately, not for the content.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent! Loretta and Frank rule!, November 30, 1999

By 

Babs (U.S.A.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Devil's Food (Crawlers) (Mass Market Paperback)

It's wacky! It's wild! It makes you hungry! It makes you laugh out loud! And it even tugs at your heart strings!

Join in the fun as chunky Loretta(one tough mama with 'tude) and greaseball Frankie(sexy, sensitive, vulnerable, and Italian!) race to a fat farm to bring back a parole violating gal.

What makes this such a great hilarious book is the characters. All oddballs.

And kudos to the author for dealing straightforwardly with such issues as obesity and dying.

It's a fast read and romp. Pick it up. You won't be disappointed. After all, who can not break into squeals of laughter when the the female lead refers to her partner as a "slaphappy chipmunk."

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Devil's Food is delicious!, October 14, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Devil's Food (Crawlers) (Mass Market Paperback)

Though I can see how some readers may feel uncomfortable about reading the passages about Frank's sorrow over his dying wife, I'll have to say that Tony Bruno is a warm kind human to be abel to deal with this issue of dying family members with taste and heart. The rest of the novel is just too good to describe, without at least doing it severe injustice. Just grab yourself a copy of this baby and enjoy! Mamma Mia!