Chasers

There must be 50 characters in Carcaterra's book, and he's going to tell us about every single one of them. Beyond the tough talk, the endless posturing, the overabundance of similes and general overwriting, there's a good story. Good luck trying to find it. L.J. Ganser tries to move the story along, but with such a disparate cast of characters it's hard to keep a rhythm. Black, white, Hispanic, Russian, New Yawkers, there are enough people to cover three novels. The confusion shows, as plot lines are introduced, then forgotten, and abruptly picked up again. The main story is about a group of retired cops called The Apaches, who declare war on the underworld after one of the men's nieces is killed. Abridgment anyone? M.S. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

April 2, 2007
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.