Chasers

By Lorenzo Carcaterra

Book Overview

From the bestselling author of Sleepers and former writer/producer of Law & Order comes another high-octane New York City crime drama pulsing with energy. In Lorenzo Carcaterra's Chasers, the street-smart and highly specialized cadre of renegade NYPD cops last depicted in his acclaimed novel Apaches returns in a new tale of action and suspense.

It's 1985, and the city that never sleeps is about to wish it had stayed in bed. The heinous machine-gun murder of innocent bystanders in a Manhattan restaurant shocks all five boroughs. The brutal slaying propels the surviving members of the Apaches-controversial, take-'em-down, outside-the-law ex-cops-into investigating a Colombian drug cartel responsible for distributing millions of kilos of cocaine on American shores.

Along for the harrowing ride with Boomer, Dead-Eye, and Reverend Jim are three new Apaches: Ash, a wounded female Hispanic cop who specializes in arson investigations; Quincy, an HIV-positive recruit who's a forensics expert; and a retired police dog named Buttercup, a Neapolitan bullmastiff who is no ordinary animal but a gold-shield detective, highly decorated for his skills at sniffing out illegal drugs. Now this dedicated team will become Chasers, working multiple cases that will converge into one explosive, all-out street war.

They will face a gallery of formidable enemies: Quinones, a mysterious and deadly assassin; the Boiler Man, a killer as ruthless as he is cunning; Angel, a former priest turned cartel boss, determined to end his career as the richest drug baron in the world; and the G-Men, a band of dealers and doers determined to maintain their iron grip on the cocaine trade-no matter how much blood is spilled.

Fueled by Lorenzo Carcaterra's adrenaline-rush prose and peopled with uncommon heroes and merciless crime lords tearing through city streets, Chasers proves to be this acclaimed author's most intense novel to date.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345411013
• ISBN13: 9780345411013
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 4.2" x 7.2"

Customer Reviews

A book I couldn't put down!

Lorenzo Carcaterra at his best - an excellent sequel to "The Apaches." He is fast becoming one of my favorites. Hasn't quite equalled Lee Child or F. Paul Wilson's "Repairman Jack's" novels but he's close.

Chasers

An exciting and well-written book that I highly recommend. I could not put it down and the ending is climactic. If you like the gritty world of cops and criminals you want to read this one.

dark shoot-em-up crime thriller

John Frontieri aka Boomer is an ex-cop with part of a lung missing but he is financially stable because he lives on three quarters of a pension with full health benefits. In 1982, he and other ex-cops who were injured and forced to retire formed the Apaches, a rogue police unit that went after and took down a drug queen and her entire posse. Three years later the Apaches with three new members are on the streets again to take down a South American drug lord, Angel who was a former priest before he turned to the dark side. The reason Boomer and company, including Buttercup, a drug sniffing dog who can hold her own with the Apaches, wants Angel dead is because he ordered a hit on a couple of the G-men (Ceerzule brothers) in a restaurant and Boomer's niece was collateral damage. The new members are Ash a former arson investigator scared by a fire and Quincy who is in the early stages of AIDs. They manipulate the various crime lords having them at each others throats, accept help from the mob who wants a piece of Angel's turf and they take heavy chances that cost Angel big time. In the end, it is not their street smarts that determine the outcome but a little help from those on the wrong side of the law. Many readers will wonder what the difference is between the Apaches and the criminals they battle and the answer is not much. Both cross the line into questionable activities as the Apaches act as judge, jury and executioners not paying attention to civil rights. Surprisingly, for such a dark shoot-em-up crime thriller Lorenzo Carcaterra has a way with characterization that brings an anchor of reality to the mix. Dark humor, characters that are shades of grey and the belief that any means to an end is good are the hallmark elements of CHASERS. Harriet Klausner