cover image Chasers

Chasers

Lorenzo Carcaterra. Ballantine Books, $25.95 (341pp) ISBN 978-0-345-41098-6

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.