Apaches

Rating:
Summary: I'm already finished.......aaaa man.
Review: This is the first carcaterra book i've ever read, and from what i've heard it's his worst one to date. I could not put this book down. i finished this book without even realizing that it had only been two days and i did nothing else. coffee became my new best friend, and the sun as well as the shower were as distant to me as my job and my friends. half way through reading the book, i realized that i was reading out loud and starting to have boomer's (Main Character) attitude. this is a surface reader, don't expect to be enthralled in a tale of mystery and intrigue. i enjoyed this book for all the things that others are not. this book is simple and to the point. action is its focus. pick it up.

Rating:
Summary: Renegade ex-cops take on drug queen
Review: The plot is simple and yet exciting. A gang--cadre--team--of six of NYPD's best cops, all disabled in the course of duty, come together with a restraunteur who has links to the mob in order to bring down the Queen Bee of all drug lords (ladies?).

Each of the six protagonists has a rich and detailed past, and we are introduced to them individually in depth before the main action begins. Then Boomer and Dead-Eye (yes, everybody has a nickname) take on a hopeless case and emerge, not only victorious, but feeling alive because they are COPS again. The rest of the group joins them, and Boomer outlines the plan. They will defeat the Empress of evil, a drug dealer so bad, her only good point is that she pays her gym bill on time.

From the moment our team forms, the plot moves lightening fast to its conclusion. The action is great, the detail is satisfying, the dialogue snappy. The characters have their own story, each credulous, each powerful.

Why only three stars? I had to keep flipping back to the beginning chapters to see which of the six former cops had which specialty. Who was the bomb specialist? Flip back and look. Who's the electronics expert? Flip. You get the picture. I loved them all individually, but I would have loved the novel more if only two or three of the characters had been detailed, and the rest just outlined for me.

Even so, the drama unfolds so swiftly, I still recommend this book to anyone who loves a dark, action-filled tale of good versus evil. Do your friends read romances? Okay, don't tell them what happens, they won't sleep at night. But get out the flashlight--you'll be up reading.

Rating:
Summary: disappointing
Review: This is a big disappointment coming from the author of Sleepers. The characters are too broadly drawn, and the situations are all too familiar, making it pale in comparison to Brian Garfield's Death Wish or Andrew Vachss' Burke novels.

Rating:
Summary: RUN THE APACHES ARE COMING!
Review: This novel is a fun and great beach-reading experience. A band of renegade cops storms the cities cocaine badguys and shakes it all up! A fun and fast-paced read that could, and would, make a great hollywood movie.
If you like crime drama mixed with high octane action, heated up with crazy characters - this ones for you!

Rating:
Summary: Good Cops/Bad Cops
Review: They were the best that the NYPD had to offer. Now, out of action for one reason or another they feel like life is over. That is, until a young girl is kidnapped and one ex-cop named Boomer decides to have a reunion of sorts. Question, are they crossing the line and becoming no better then the scum they put behind bars when they were on the force?

This was a good book. I listened to the audio-book and truly enjoyed every second of it.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys lots of action and thrills. If you like detective stories, this is one of a different type.

This was the first book I have read or listened to by Mr. Carcaterra and it won't be the last.

Again, if you like fast paced action detective stories, don't pass on this one.

Rating:
Summary: Oh no, say it ain't Lorenzo
Review: Sleepers is on my all time favorites list. A Safe Place was mesmerizing. This novel is of so different a caliber that I can't believe it was written by the same author. Great character potential, but too many of them, too repetetive in the background format, too sexist (Mrs [not Ms]Columbo) is the only Apache who didn't leave the force due to her on the job heroics. If it moves, and it's a problem, shoot it, kill it. The torture, mutilation and callousness didn't even phase me becasue the context was false and unconvincing. The themes are repeated over and over and over...

Rating:
Summary: GREAT BOOK!
Review: i can't belive that their are people out there that do not like this book! it was great! a story about 5 former policemen back to kill evil! i mean common its a book you guys can't start analizing it. read it for fun... one of my favorite books with all the other Carcaterra books, like Sleppers, A safe Place and Gangsters... i am a true Carcaterra I PROMISE YOULL LIKE THE BOOK! just give it a chance

Rating:
Summary: Deplorable Writing
Review: First, does the reader need to read narratives of each cop? Whether it's Boomer, Rev. Jim, Mrs. Columbo, or anybody else, the string of stories at the beginning detracts from the pacing of the main story -- the kidnapping and baby killing. While character info is important, massive amounts of it is unneeded. Whose story is Carcaterra telling? How these cops where kicked off the force? Or how these cops brought down a sinister baby killer?

In college level creative writing classes, teachers often assert that too much backstory is a BAD thing.

Second, the whole deal with killing babies is sensational and melodramatic. It stinks of an author's desperation to make his readers hate his villian, and as such, it makes the villian a very flat character. What are HER motivations?

This book is unentertaining pulp.

Rating:
Summary: Sad & Laughable
Review: "Apaches" seemed like a fun basis for a novel, but the execution here just doesn't live up to the promise. Six supercops, all of whom have had to retire due to job-related injuries, form a secret crime-fighting unit in which they aim to take down a hyperbolically sinister (and beautiful!) drug lord (drug lady?)during the early days of the crack epidemic. No cliche is too obvious for Carcaterra as these psychically and physically-scarred cops come back to life now that they can do the thing they were born to do - bring down bad guys. It is hard to take a book like this seriously, and perhaps it would have worked if Carcaterra hadn't taken it seriously himself, but are we supposed to believe these two-dimensional cartoonish characters? And what about the villains, who murder babies to use their hollowed-out bodies as drug mules? Didn't anyone think that life-like dolls would probably be more convincing than actual dead babies?

I also found it troubling how Carcaterra needed to have token members of major police minority groups: an African-American, a Latino, and a woman. I'm all for inclusiveness, but here it felt so tokenish as to border on being offensive. Why only one of each minority? The answer, sadly, is that the reader would not have been able to keep two black or two Latino characters separate since, for Carcaterra, these people are no more than the sum of their ethnicity. I also found it fascinating that the only woman cop has the nickname "Mrs. Columbo," named after the character from the TV show. In other words, Carcaterra can only imagine a woman as a cop so long as she is emulating a man. Sad, narrow-minded stuff.

Rating:
Summary: Heartwrenching, but a great book.
Review: Boomer, Dead-Eye, Rev.Jim, Geronimo, Mrs.Columbo, Pins, all were cops, the best of the best. Until they were forced out before they were ready. Because of wounds they couldn't heal. When a young girl is kidnapped, her kidnapper makes a big mistake, he brings these cops back on the street. And when something even more sinister is uncovered, these cops know they have to fight back. But playing but their own rules.