Paradise City

July 5, 2004
Carcaterra has written extensively for television and it shows in this melodramatic tale of war between the New York branch of the Italian Mafia and a lone, mob-busting supercop from Italy. Giancarlo Lo Manto has arrived from Naples on the trail of his recently kidnapped niece Paula, taken as bait for an assassination trap that Lo Manto must step into if he is to rescue the girl. Lo Manto's arch foe is Mafia boss Pete Rossi, a man so evil readers will sit wide-eyed as he coldly kills underling after underling with astonishing heartlessness. No one can doubt Carcaterra's firsthand knowledge of the mean streets of New York (see his bestselling memoir, Sleepers
), his extensive vocabulary of cop-speak (Apaches
) or his expertise regarding the city of Naples (Street Boys
), but his made-for-TV writing may prove a stumbling block for more literary readers. Veteran cop-story aficionados will find that the eventual attraction between Lo Manto and partner Jennifer Fabini, detective daughter of NYPD legend Sal Fabini, comes as no surprise, and the connection between the cop and crime boss Rossi will garner few gasps. But those readers unafraid of a little purple in their prose (" 'Get ready to taste it, cop,' the Squid said. 'Get ready to die' ") will have a perfectly good time following Lo Manto and his unusual allies. Agent, Owen Laster.
5-city author tour.

May 1, 2004
In Manhattan, where he lived until he was 14, Naples cop Giancarlo Lo Manto joins with NYPD veteran Jennifer Fabini to find Lo Manto's missing niece. What he uncovers instead is a series of crimes connected to his past. From the author of the best-selling Sleepers.

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2004
As a child, Giancarlo Lo Manto lived on Manhattan's mean streets, encountering all sorts of mischief until, at 14, he moved with his family to a small town in Italy. Now a homicide and narcotics cop in Naples, Lo Manto returns to New York when his teenage niece, Paula, a foreign exchange student, disappears. Arranging for a temporary assignment to the NYPD, Lo Manto is fortunate to be partnered with Jennifer Fabini, a 10-year veteran on the force. "She knows the streets and I know the enemy," he tells the captain. But just who is that enemy? Signs point to the Camorra, the infamous Naples crime syndicate, whose influence carries all the way to the States. As a young cop, Lo Manto made it his business to know everything he could about the Camorra, but he is baffled by what the syndicate's connection might be to his own family. Carcaterra, a writer for NBC's " Law & Order" and the author of " Street Boys "(2002)" ," tends to be long on drama and short on subtlety; he stays true to form here, though Lo Manto's characterization displays a bit more depth than many of the author's other swashbuckling leading men. Backed by a five-city author tour and numerous national media appearances, this comfortable mix of international thriller and police procedural is likely to draw a crowd.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)