After being shot in the line of duty, two ex-cops, Tank and Pearl, are still solving crimes. They are working on two cases. One is to prove Tank’s brother was killed in a car accident by the firm he worked for, and the other is trying to release a man from prison after a bad cop put him there. The cast of characters solving the crimes are wonderful; ex mob men, the FBI, district attorney, Tank’s nephew and his girlfriend, and others who want justice for both victims. Fast paced action, characters who are loyal and trust each other, and enough twists and turns that will keep the reader engaged. Loved this book.

Payback by Lorenzo Carcaterra, I enjoy this series and this next book really delivered for me! Tank and his crew are back and they are ready to get personal, with enemies mounting on all sides and dangerous secrets coming out in the open can everyone stay safe?

Payback begins with Detective Eddie Kenwood coercing a murder confession out of a young black man.

We then cut to Tommy "Tank" Rizzo watching his nephew Chris shoot hoops, and a tiny infodump about how Tank and his partner Frank "Pearl" Monroe were shot off the job and how Chris came to live with Tank - more specifically, how Tank's brother and sister in law (Chris' parents) were killed in an auto accident.

This is about the extent of how character development goes throughout the book. As this is book two in the series, perhaps we get to know the characters better in book one. Alas, I've not read it.

Tank and Pearl, ex-cops that they are, get thrown cases by the Chief of Detectives from time to time when the official NYPD detectives are overloaded. In this book, however, the focus is on determining if Tank's brother - as his nephew insists - was murdered in that car accident, versus it being a real accident, and to find out is the company is laundering money for bad guys locally and from around the world. The secondary focus is on Tank and Pearl collecting evidence about Eddie Kenwood and more specifically, getting the young man who confessed at the beginning of the book out of prison.

Tank and Pearl run an investigative service, but there isn't a ton of investigating of the main case done on the page - probably because it's accounting, and pulling up spreadsheets and putting numbers all over the page would slow things down, as it's difficult to put tension into that.

The better parts of the book are when Tank and Pearl actually go back into the field to get informants and cons to talk about Kenwood so they can build a case. Those parts are gritty and seem much more realistic (and are certainly much more interesting) than the primary case.

There are a number of murders, some tough guy talks by fixers from the accounting firm, a few scenes with Tank and his girlfriend, who is the daughter of a local mob boss with whom Tank is friendly, and who Tank brings in to help with the accounting firm parts, and an entirely unbelievable talk with the DA about blanket immunity for a group of Romanians up to and including murder if they have to be brought in to the accounting firm case.

Minus the group talks about the accounting firm, the book is a quick read, and fans of the genre will forgive the things like the DA's immunity agreement, because those things make the story more interesting. Putting Tank's brother's death to rest by finding answers, but I think the two cases in this book would have been fine in a book devoted just to each.

Overall, a three star out of five read for me. Your mileage may vary.

Thanks to Random House/Ballantine and NetGalley for the review copy.

Payback is an entertaining and well written suspense book. Great plot and character development. Suspense fans will not be disappointed. I received an advance ebook from the publisher and this is my unbiased review.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me this ARC. This is kind of a cross between a police procedural and a private detective story in that the protagonist, Tank, and his partner, Pearl, are retired NYPD cops. There are two intertwined cases. First, Pearl asks for Tank’s help in overturning an inmate’s murder charge. Concurrently, they are looking into the deaths of Tank’s brother Jack and his wife.. Jack worked for an accounting firm with questionable ethics. They left Chris, their teenaged son, who ended up as Tank’s ward. There’s a lot of graphically described fighting involved in trying to solve these two mysteries. I don’t often read macho lit, but this was well written with interesting characters.

*Many thanks to Ballentine, Lorenzo Carcaterra and NetGalley for extending an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review"

Payback is my first Lorenzo Carcaterra novel and will not be my last. There are two facets to this book which I love - The backdrop of Greenwich Village, which is my hometown, and my longtime obsession with the Mafia. And of course, my love of all things Italian.

"Tank" Rizzo is a former Cop, who along with his partner, Pearl was involved in a shootout several years prior. Both were given early retirement and Pearl was paralyzed from the waist down. When Payback opens, it starts off with "bad cop" Eddie Kenwood, forcing a guilty plea from an innocent person. 20 years into the future, the mystery begins when we are introduced to Tank and his 15yo nephew, Chris. Chris has just been orphaned as his parents are killed in a car accident, that is deemed mysterious. He is somewhat of a sleuth and has figured out that all is not what it seems. He asks Tank and Pearl for their help in figuring out what happened to his parents.

There are many wonderful characters in this book. From the retired Mafioso, his beautiful daughter, The confidential informants all over the city, the knife gang....It all comes together seamlessly to solve a mystery. Or in this book, two. Yes, there are two plots happening here. The first one being a dirty accounting firm, the second being the bad cop Eddie Kenwood and trying to take him down. I absolutely loved the backdrop of the city and the fast pace of the book.

I would definitely suggest reading Tin Badges before reading this book. While this one is not a sequel, it might help to know the characters. Also, it was hard to understand the relationship between Connie and Tank without reading the first book. There didn't seem to be any connection there or any affection at all. They didn't spend any time with each other and barely spoke fondly of each other.

I would give this book 4 stars. The writing is superb, the characters multi-layered and complex and the story line well thought out.

This author is new to me so I'm not sure if I didn't like Carcaterra's style or if the book needs more editing. Some sections read smoothly and others dragged on as if parts of different rewrites were pieced together. I love most mystery/action books but this one was a chore at times. That said, the guys in this story would be the kind you'd want on your side if real trouble showed up! I look forward to seeing what the final version looks like.

I received a free copy from NetGalley. Hank, medically retired from the police, and his friends, try to solve two cases on their own. One, personal, the death of his brother and sister-in-law that caused his nephew he doesn't know to come live with him. The second, an old case, with permission from the police, to look into a dirty cop. While the cases were interesting, the characters well described, the brutality that was allowed by someone in formal law enforcement, given current US events, was in poor taste and left me struggling to like this book.

This is New York and New Yorkers at their storytelling best.
I didn’t live there long and it was years ago, but I met many of these people and visited many of these places. I miss both.
Retired cops, ex-cops, crooked cops, good cops, criminals and mobsters of all varieties ... and Gus.
Was the car wreck really an accident? Were the investment people really skimming from mobsters?
May not be resolved the way you want, but resolved none the less.

I really enjoy these Tin Badge books. Carcaterra has done a marvelous job assembling a cast of characters that are relatable, a jumble of personalities, and personable enough to keep me rooting for them book after book.

Admittedly, there are a lot of times when it seems things wrap up a little tidily or occur in a way that is a little convenient or our fearless Tank is a little too perfectly spot-on for reality - but I don't care. The books are well plotted and well paced and I enjoy the way good triumphs over evil, even if it's not always realistic to the extent that it happened. I find them to be a great distraction read, wholly entertaining and engaging from start to finish.

I'm hoping for many more in this series!

Having read Tin Badges, I was very anxious to read this new book. Tank Rizzo is a retired cop, but he still gets involved in some cases that the police cannot handle. He lives with his partner Pearl who was also injured in the incident that ended Tank’s career. Also living with them is Chris, Tank’s nephew who has been orphaned due to a car accident. Chris is an unbelievable computer whiz and has researched enough to question if his parent’s accident was an accident or something more sinister. Tank gets together his crew, made up with some unlikely members. Tank is also investigating a detective with an excellent case close record. Tank believes that some of the cases sent innocent men to jail. The intricacies of these two cases make excellent reading. I couldn't put it down!

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This outing for Tank Rizzo felt a little flat to me. It read more like a script than a novel, and I didn’t have actors to convey the characters’ feelings. Tank’s big secret wasn’t as dramatic as I expected and I had a hard time understanding why he was so afraid to share it with his team. I still enjoyed watching the team take down two sets of baddies, but this one wasn’t as enjoyable as the first book.

Another great story of dirty cops and bad accounting firms and the Tin Badges that help keep the neighborhood safe. Tank and Pearl are my favorite characters and I hope they have more stories left in them. I’ve been reading Lorenzo Carcaterra since his first book and his writing just keeps getting better. I highly recommend this book and the author.

This is a story about a retired New York City police officer who, under often the direction of the Chief of Detectives, works with a disparate group of people on unsolved crimes. I read the first in the series and enjoyed it. Tank, the main protagonist, is a rough and tough individual who prefers fine wine, good Italian food, and museums to beer and bars.

This time, Tank is working two cases that are close to him. The first involves the death of his brother and sister in law which occurred in the prior novel. Chris, the surviving son, comes to live with his uncle; he is convinced that his parents car crash was more than accidental…it was murder. The second case involves a highly decorated dirty cop whose phenomenal clear record is due to coercive tactics.

This is an exciting, well plotted story. The involvement of the police chief and US Attorney’s office as well as the questionable not to mention violent tactics utilized to solve the cases strained credibility. But, if you can get beyond that, it is an enjoyable read.

I loved Sleepers and Tin Badges so when I saw he had a new book out I was really excited and he didn't disappoint. This firecracker of a book starts out with a bang and just keeps escalating from there. To say I loved it is an understatement. If you haven't discovered his books yet pick up this winner and then go back for the other two. An absolute must read. Happy reading!

Tank might be medically retired from the NYPD but he's still working. His nephew Chris has made a convincing case that the car crash that killed his parents was not an accident but somehow jiggered by the accounting firm where his dad worked. Tank's also out to free Randy Jenkins, who has been in prison for 17 years as a result of a coerced confession to Eddie Kenwood, a bad cop whose lies are beginning to come to light. To accomplish both these things, he frees up his partner Pearl from the rehab center where he's been living, enlists his girl friend Connie, her father Carmine, Alexandra the "psychic," Roy the Chief of Detectives, the US Attorney, and Bobby Gregson. Whew. This has wonderful characters, a zippy plot, a personal secret that had split Tank and his brother for years, and a genuine let's do it spirit. It's never really gritty or gory. Don't worry you didn't read the first one- this will be fine as a standalone. My only quibble- in almost every chapter someone (at least one person) sips from a drink- water, coffee, cappuccino, an amaro, espresso, specific wines-I started to look for it. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I very much enjoyed this and look forward to seeing where it goes next. Oh- and there's a dog.

Another riveting novel by this author. Tank and his crew take on two group of scumbags and this time it’s personal. The author uses first person conversations to move the story along at a fast pace. I love the little bits of NY history thrown in as the guys dig into the case. They make catching bad guys seem so effortless and simple even when their lives are in danger. The mix of the bad guys working for good makes it simply human. These are all great characters that make every page enjoyable.

I was happy to get the chance to review this book. I last read Lorenzo Carcaterra when I was living in New York. There is something very nostalgic for me as a former New Yorker to read him. He captures the old New York - the one I knew before gentrification and money were everywhere - and old New York cops better than almost any writer I can think of. This book is no different. It's about Tank, a retired cop, and his old partner Pearl, who is now in a wheelchair. Tank is caught up in two mysteries that may or may not be related. The main mystery in the book is about a dirty cop and a money laundering syndicate. The second is who killed Tank's brother. The intertwined stories involve everything you could ever want in a dirty cop book: the Mafia (by the way, Tank is dating a Mafioso's daughter). a dirty cop who sets up murders and extracts false confessions, a tough talking New York cop and his partner, his family, and some classic New York settings and neighborhoods.

To enjoy this book you'll have to enjoy your hero cops non-traditional, violent and ready for battle, but clearly the good guys. These guys go way beyond Harry Bosch and cross many lines some readers might not approve of. As for me, I don't mind. As always, Carcaterra really excels at realistic but tough dialogue and characters that are equally tough with hearts of gold. (Mostly.) I felt like the plot of this book moved a bit more slowly than I like in my mysteries, and centered a little too much on just violent payback (which, I gotta admit, I should have figured out from the title!). I would have liked a little more plot and a couple of twists. Despite that, the beauty of Carcaterra's writing and characters carried the day as always and made this very readable and entertaining. And when the action finally begins it is brutal and fast.

A solid dirty-cop payback book from one of the masters with an amazing sense of atmosphere and place in a New York that you don't hear about as much anymore. 4 stars, this book inspired me to pick up the other books of Carcaterra's that I have not gotten to yet.

Thanks to NetGalley, Ballantine Books and Lorenzo Carcaterra for the advance copy of this book. My review is honest and my own.

Payback is an engaging story about crime and punishment. Tommy Rizzo was a good cop. He and his partner Pearl have a friendship that continued long after they were "shot off the job." The shooting earned them both retirement with benefits. It also put Pearl in a wheelchair. They have the experience to solve cases that are still on the books. One of those cases is the car crash that killed Tommy's brother and sister-in-law. They left behind their teenage son Chris who is now living with his Uncle Tommy.

The story that follows is populated with believable characters working together to take down the bad guys. I enjoyed the story and agreed there was a definite need for payback. How justice is achieved was cleverly plotted with some surprises I didn't see coming. I enjoyed this well written book.

I received an Advanced Reader's Copy from Random House/Ballantine through NetGalley. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.

#Payback #NetGalley

Simply not taxing my brain with flashbacks in time and chapters that switch perspectives of a dozen characters I can't keep straight make this one a winner in my book. For once, I could sit back and enjoy a book from exciting start to exciting finish. On top of that, the characters are quirky but pretty much realistic (well, as much as in any of the cops-and-robbers TV shows that I love), and I'm eager to read about them again.

This is the second in a series, and alas, I did not read the first. That said, I never felt as if I'd missed anything (although I wish I'd read it just because I like this one so much). "Tank" Rizzo is a highly skilled former police officer who was seriously injured on the job and now handles special cases for the department. He's assembled a crew of helpers that includes his former partner, "Pearl" Monroe, who was injured along with Rizzo and now uses a wheelchair. A year or so ago, Rizzo's brother - who worked at an accounting firm that caters to the hoity-toity - died with his wife in an auto accident. Their son, Chris, now lives with Tank; a computer whiz, he's intent on finding evidence to prove his parents' death was not an accident.

Meanwhile, Detective Eddie Kenwood is still on the job, racking up confession after confession that has provided him with one of the highest case resolution stats of anybody in the department. But it's starting to look as if he isn't coming by those confessions honestly; thanks to Pearl, one case, in particular, has caught Tank's eye. Just because he hates dirty cops - and Eddie in particular - Tank agrees to take on the case.

Almost from the start, it becomes clear that neither case will go down easily; in fact, just heading out the door can prove risky. But thanks to the special talents of Tank and his band of men (and a woman) and their friends - some of whom would make Al Capone's mob look saintly - they keep plodding along right to the end. I love Tank and Pearl, and the interaction among all the characters made the story all the more appealing. Thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for introducing me to this series by way of a pre-release copy. Now will you please add me to the list to get the next one? Pretty please?