Tin Badges

July 1, 2019
Retired New York police detective Tank Rizzo, a "tin badge" called upon to work a cold case, targets a big-time cocaine dealer. Rizzo's life is complicated. He's seeing the daughter of Carmine Tramonti, a restaurateur who once controlled betting activities for the mob. And following the death of his long-estranged brother, Jack, and Jack's wife in a car crash, Rizzo adopts his angry teenage nephew, Chris, who threatens to pull back the blinds on a dark family secret harbored by the ex-cop. Eventually, Chris, a computer whiz, becomes part of a task force Rizzo puts together to nail the dealer, Gonzo. (Introducing a plotline that will play out in an announced sequel, Chris is determined to prove that his parents' deaths were no accident.) Rizzo's offbeat squad also includes his partner Frank "Pearl" Monroe, now disabled, whom he loves like a brother; Alexandra, a psychic who "has better intel than anyone at the NYPD"; and Bruno, an ex-fighter who runs a neighborhood boxing club. Carcaterra, still best known for Sleepers (1995) and the controversy over whether it's actually a true story, entertainingly delineates the relationships between Rizzo and the people in his life. Carmine, to whom Rizzo is surprisingly close, makes for a unique foil. But the bad guys get short shrift. Outside of naming his coke brands after Al Pacino movies, Gonzo doesn't make much of an impression, appearing mainly to utter threats. As a result, the plot is undercooked. You're left hungry for suspense. A likable but less than compelling mystery.

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July 8, 2019
Set in New York, this uneven series launch from bestseller Carcaterra (Sleepers) introduces former NYPD detective Tank Rizzo, one of the titular Tin Badges (“Retired cops who get handed cases when the PD is on overload”). When Tank’s estranged brother and sister-in-law die in a car accident, he takes in his grieving teenage nephew, Chris Rizzo. Tank also lands a not-so-cold case involving a drug dealer and numerous corrupt NYPD officers, and Chris ends up joining Tank’s motley crew of investigators, which also includes an ex-mob boss, a Romani fortune teller, and Tank’s former partner, Pearl. The police give Tank and his team so much leeway that Mike Hammer would be jealous, and as their hunt for the dealer continues, plenty of folks get sent to the hospital or morgue. Though Carcaterra keeps the story moving along at a brisk pace, the unrealism of his world (where old-school mob bosses appear to have never hurt any innocents) and shallowness of the characters remove any sense of gravitas from the plot. Fans of lighter crime fiction may enjoy this, however. Agent: Suzanne Gluck, WME.

August 1, 2019
Tank Rizzo no longer speaks to brother Jack. Retired from the NYPD after his last case, in which Tank was shot and his partner, Pearl Monroe, ended up in a wheelchair, he and Pearl now work as "tin badges," taking cases that police don't have time for. Just as they get a new case for their team, Tank hears that Jack and his wife have died in a car crash, leaving a son, teenager Chris. Tank takes in his nephew, who's not only grieving the loss of his parents but also resentful about Tank's absence from his family's life, which Tank won't explain. Chris' passion is crime investigation, and he's a computer whiz, so Tank reluctantly lets him join the case, which takes them into the middle of a high-level narcotics operation whose head man, Gonzo, is soon gunning for the whole team, and Tank, in particular. Carcaterra capably combines his trademark adrenaline-fueled action with the emotion involved in Tank taking on a parental role for a sometimes surly teen. All this needs, after a cliff-hanger close, is a sequel, and, fortunately, one is promised.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

March 1, 2019

A tin badge, as retired detectives asked to help on intractable cases are called, Tank Rizzo is tasked with knocking out a vicious drug lord named Gonzo. He's getting help from the just-orphaned teenage nephew he's now caring for, who turns out to be a genius with a computer.

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