To start, just a word of thanks to Random House/Ballantine as well as Netgalley for an advanced digital copy this novel in return for an honest review.

Getting a quick glimpse of the story, I would think that Payback was right up my alley. Two plots intertwined in this novel. The first dealt with the death of former investigator, Tank Rizzo's, brother and sister-in-law. Tank's nephew, Chris, a fifteen year-old computer guru, asks Tank for his help in solving the questionable death of his parents. The second plot dealt with the incorrect conviction of a man, Randy Jenkins, over a murder that a dirty investigator, Eddie Kenwood, "solved". Tank works his way through both of these situations with his paralyzed friend, Pearl, as well as a number of his "team".
For me, the book was a quick, but an unenjoyable read. This is the only Tank Rizzo book I have read, and I believe there are others, so possibly my biggest issue with this novel may have been taken care of in previous Tank Rizzo books. And the issue - there was really, in my mind, little to no character development throughout the novel. I never really felt that Tank and his nephew Chris, for example, were family. Tank and his girlfriend, Connie, never really had much of a relationship, to me, throughout the novel. The book just seemed to discuss how Tank and his "team" would go about taking care of these two issues - the death of Tank's brother/Chris's parents, and determining who framed Randy Jenkins.
Overall, a quick read, but little to no excitement to hold my attention. This novel could be compared to a bad episode of Law and Order. Doubt I will try any other novels by the author.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Available Aug 25th 2020

Reading Lorenzo Carcaterra's "Payback" is akin to settling in your couch in New Jersey with a fresh bowl of chips and a small soda, a 'Law and Order" marathon on USA and the Sunday evening sun streaming in through your curtains. It's likeable, relaxing thriller that will melt your concerns away as you become enthralled in the fast paced world of Tank Rizzo. A year after his brother was mysteriously killed, Rizzo is set on finding the culprit, alongside his foolhardy young nephew Chris. With a colorful cast of characters, shady side-deals and enough cop slang to last you a fortnight, "Payback" is certainly a read!

I am so glad I tried this book. Received a review copy, and saw a blurb from Jeffery Deaver, Decided to try it right away. What a great book. Two mysteries for a team to solve. Justice is served by the end. Reminds me some of Andrew Vachss Burke series, with characters that might not always be on the right side, but always does right. Will definitely be looking for more books from Lorenzo Carcaterra (already got The Wolf).

Action packed, suspense ridden and no shortage of plot twists. This book is a real page turner and keeps you on your toes.

A Fantastic cop story of retired cops, current cops, feds..All with street smarts and street friends ready to jump in to give a hand in all crazy situations..And Of Course, Criminals..Those with No morals, care of others, and then there Are some who haven't jumped off the deep end...Yet! Tank Rizzo and his partner, Pearl have retired, on disability..But just because a cop's retired he does Not lose his touch, his smell of a crime, and ability to spot a liar or a problem from a mile away! Luckily for these two their Captain often throws them cold, really frozen cases that have been left unsolved..Then there is word-of-mouth, often bringing cases from those they do not know but will certainly work to help..to get the Answer, to make things Right!
The characters that work with Rizzo in his own special A Team are a fascinating crew of homeless, low level criminals, pick-pockets and his wheel-chair bound partner, Pearl...Add the father of his girlfriend, who is a 'retired' mobster, and This crew is up for Anything!! This is a hard-hitting, realistic story of life on the front line against crime..From the joy to be working through every emotion brought about by shootings, scary moments and hope to keep each other safe. There is quick action, a great plot and scenes you feel you are Right There..Doing Your best to stay unseen by folks you do Not want to be caught in the dark with..
I loved the first in this series and this addition continues with a great, intriguing story I just can Not gret Enough of!! I thank the author and NetGalley for an ARC of this book, and I offer You my honest thoughts and feelings in this review.

I do not the language. I sound like a broken record when I review. It does NOT add to the book. That being said, this is somewhat intriguing with various mysteries to solve. None of the characters are lovable, but this is a mystery driven novel. Takes awhile to get going and at times, I almost have up. It does out some of the characters in a bad light. However, if the reader enjoys police stories...try it.

Tank Rizzo and Pearl are ex-cops, injured in the line of duty, now doing jobs on the side. In this story you know who the bad guys are pretty much from the beginning. Tank's nephew, Chris, is living with him after his parents were killed and Chris believes they were murdered so Tank and his crew take on the case. The other case is trying to prove that Randy Jenkins is really innocent of the murder of a young girl. In the beginning the time line jumps back and forth but it wasn't too hard to follow. The writing style reminded me of a Dragnet episode, just the facts ma'am.

There are a lot of characters and sometimes I had to go back and figure out who they were. I would have liked to see them more developed, especially Chris. I wasn't following the threads as the cases and evidence mounted up but since we knew who the bad guys were there weren't any surprises but I was happy to see how it ended.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley and Random House. These are my thoughts.

I have a new author to add to my best author group-- Carcaterra.. I simply cannot believe I wasn't aware of his writing previous to 'Payback'. You know that feeling avid readers have when they think they must've read every really good wordsmith at least once ( in my case reading for over 50 years) and then finding you're wrong (gasp)
I despise the term ' unputdownable that I see in reviews but this really is! Dimensional characters, tense situations, 2 extremely different cases to solve at one time and an unbelievable yet believable ending.
The characters ' relationships, some new and some old, evolve or devolve. The varied team Tank has, and adds to, are just fun... Well yes they are deadly ....but they are terrific together from the elder 'retired mafia boss to the ex- partner in a wheelchair every one is smart and willing to stand for justice albeit not necessarily legal.
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this arc

PAYBACK by Lorenzo Carcaterra is the second book in the Tank Rizzo mystery series and the first one that I have read by this author. Tank Rizzo and his former NYPD partner Pearl are retired on disability, but they still do investigations. In this story line, they are pursuing two cases. The first is the death of Tank’s brother and his sister-in-law and the second is the imprisonment of Randy Jenkins for a murder that he says he did not do.

Tank has a wide variety of people that help him solve cases and they are not the usual sort of team that would immediately come to mind. The beginning of the book switched time lines multiple times making it more difficult to achieve a smooth flow and transition. Eventually, the time line became current and worked well. There was no trouble going following the two concurrent investigations. Where I had the biggest issue was the believability factor of the agreements and interactions with the Chief of Detectives and the U.S. Attorney’s office as well as their acceptance of some of the actions taken by Tank and his team.

The secondary characters were well-rounded and enhanced the story. The stakes were high throughout the novel and kept me fully invested in the story despite knowing who the ‘bad guys’ were early on in the book. The world-building enhanced the setting and gave me a clear sense of place. Themes include death, corruption, secrets, lies, family relationships, racism, friendships and much more.

Overall, the plot was action-packed, absorbing and entertaining. The pursuit of justice was not always done in a legal manner and this affected my rating. However, there are many reviewers that could overlook this aspect of the story and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine and Lorenzo Carcaterra for a digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley and the opportunity to provide an honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.

Great book as always ! One of my favorite authors. My only disappointment is he doesn't put out more books. However with Lorenzo Carcaterra it's all about quality and not quantity. If you have not read a book by him you are missing out. This book is all about payback and love of family. And family does not mean blood only. They protect their own. I could not put this down. This is an author you should be reading. Very much looking forward to another book.

Lorenzo Carcaterra has written about a dozen books, but Payback is only my second Carcaterra novel and the second with protagonist Tank Rizzo, a disabled and retired New York City police detective. He was disabled following a shooting in which there were multiple deaths, and his beloved partner, “Pearl” Monroe was left a paraplegic who had been confined to a wheelchair for life. Tank was a good guy, honest, and dedicated, and two years after leaving the force, he sometimes was thrown a cold case by the Police Chief. Also, Tank was not afraid to use force to accomplish what he wanted to get done.

We are introduced to Detective Eddie Kenwood who had the opposite values from Tank. He forced some innocent people to sign confessions under threat of doing damage to them. He had put numerous suspects in prison, almost always young black men, for crimes they had not committed including Randy Jenkins. Jenkins had been accused of murder, and it was under threats from Kenwood that he felt he had no choice but to sign the false confessions. It was about two decades later that this matter fell into Tank’s lap. By that time, Kenwood was also retired and living on his pension and other ill-gotten gains. That was about the same time that Tank’s estranged brother and sister-in-law were killed in a car crash. Tank had no prior contact with his nephew, 15-year-old Chris, but since Tank was the only living relative, Chris was sent to live with him. By that time, Tank was living in his own brownstone, and he had Pearl come to live with him. So, now with Chris, three males were sharing the residence, and Chris was convinced his parents had been murdered. It was not clear if this living arrangement was going to work out. Chris was a computer whiz and he was able to hack his way into enough data that Tank thought Chris might be right about his parents’ deaths.

Carcaterra used some of the same characters as in his first book in the series including Carmine Tramonti, the restaurant owning former mobster, and Carmine’s daughter Connie with whom Tank had a longstanding relationship, and others. The author was successful at surrounding his protagonist with very interesting and believable characters. The plot was not simple, but it was also not overly complex. I was able to keep track of the good guys and bad guys without having to reread sections of the book. At no point did the author unnecessarily complicate the story in order to show the reader just how clever he is. In the course of this book, we learn about the reason Tank and his younger brother, Jack had not spoken to one another for years – a heart wrenching story. In reflecting back on the past and the loss of his brother long before death, the author wrote, “The past never leaves us. It hovers over us, hidden by the passage of time, waiting to strike when we least expect it. It can do damage or ease suffering, its path never truly known until it confronts us.”

Just as I raved about Carcaterra’s work in Tin Badges, and now I catch myself raving again about Payback. Great characters, great plot – and I highly recommend this author and this book. I loved it, and now I’ll be impatient until Carcaterra writes the next novel about Tank.

see menreadingbooks.blogsport.com

Even though this is a follow up book from "Tin Badges" it can easily be read as a stand alone. There is enough backstory provided so that the reader knows all the players and their motivation. Jacket cover gives an adequate description of the storyline and other reviews give details. Characters are likable and realistic. Lots of action but not overly filled with blood and gore. A fairly fast paced good read. Looking forward to more of the story of these characters in future books.
I was provided an Advanced reader copy of the book and was under no obligation to provide a review.The opinions expressed are my own.
Thanks to the author,publisher,and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

I requested this book because I'd read the first one in the series, so I was eager to see what Tank and the crew were going to tackle in this book. However, I very nearly gave up on this one. Even with the introduction of Kenwood right at the beginning (which was well done, by the way), once we got to Tank and his crew, I felt like the pace slowed down--a lot. For me, it took about until the halfway mark before things got really interesting. I stuck with the book because I was invested in the characters and wanted to see how things would pan out. I went on quite an engaging ride to the end where some loose ends were tied up and certain characters were brought to justice.

There's a lot for a reader to like in this book, but if you're looking for a book where everyone, including the good guys, are on the straight and narrow, you might be disappointed.

Overall, even with the slow start, I'd recommend it to someone interested in crime drama/police procedurals, but I think it works best if they've read the first book before this one.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine for providing me with an ARC in exchange for a review.

It is non-stop action in this second story of Tank and the crew. I enjoyed this one just as much as the first story. Tank and his "family" have taken on two very hard cases. One where a young man is accused of a murder he didn't commit, although he confessed to it, everyone knows he didn't do it. There are quite a few cases that involve the same circumstances and are all arrests by the same cop. The second case means that Tank is going after the people who ordered his brother and sister-in-law's murder. He gets help from his crew, his nephew and the Feds. Tank also has to confront a past that he doesn't ever want to think about, but knows it will rear it's ugly head anyway. Will he lose those he loves over it, or will they understand?

I received a free ARC of Payback from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Payback is the second entry in the Tank Rizzo series about a retired cop and friends who pursue justice in a rather illegal manner. Tank, forced to retire from the police force after an on-duty injury, joins his former partner, Pearl (also disabled after the same on-duty event) and the cast of characters that include some aging mobsters, some FBI agents, and his young nephew in order to find and punish those responsible for the deaths of Tank's brother and sister-in-law. This time around, the crew is also working on a case where a dirty cop has forced confessions from innocents. These innocents then languish in prison for years. Although these two investigations appear disparate, they do share a common thread.

There is lots of violence in this series and an incredible amount of "looking the other way" by law enforcement officials. Tank, his fellow crew members, and even the law enforcement officials believe they know what real justice should be and that is not necessarily the kind that can be found in a court of law. Although this entry was a good read, the frequent, bloody vengeance and the disregard for the scope of law means that characters do immoral things as they mete out their personal form of justice.
#Payback #NetGalley

One hard core cop fiction. So many elements!
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The first book in the series really made me love the character of Tank. An ex-cop who has a tough exterior but a soft heart really makes you connect with this guy.

Tank and his team consists of an ex-partner who is in a wheelchair but has a brilliant mind. His nephew, who came to live with him when Tank’s brother was killed. Assorted other characters from many walks of life are also along for the take downs. Some with a criminal history. Some on the up and up. Some a questionable blend.

We can’t forget Tank’s girlfriend whom he waited years to connect with and her dad who is a friend as well. This assortment of characters and the unique cases they are given to work on create an intense story full of action, crime, bullets flying, murder and mayhem, and that’s from the good guys.

That’s the thing I like the most about the story is Carcaterra really shows people who the characters are and isn’t afraid to show that even in goodness sometimes we all have a little dark side. Protecting our own just got a new definition with this team.

Payback is an all-around action packed story set in downtown NYC that gives us the city grit and crime with unexpected direction and surprise secrets. So much energy and intensity that you will be hard pressed to put this one down!

This was a pretty good crime novel. I liked the main character duo and all their relationships with both law enforcement and lots of unsavory variations of criminals.

For al the buildup the ending was pretty boring...all the good guys win everything and all the bad guys lose. I was hoping for something more memorable and creative than just the resolution by people dying or going to jail.

Thank you Netgalley for granting me a wish to read PAYBACK by Lorenzo Carcaterra. I have read one of this author's books. I like his gritty style that lets you taste and feel the streets of New York. This is a series book - the second one - and I did not read this first one and i think this put me at a disadvantage.
The plot concentrates on two characters - Tank and Pearl - seeking to find justice and getting revenge.
It's a good crime novel and as a relatively quick read.
3 stars.

Second book in the Tank Rizzo series. Rizzo comes face to face with his past demons and present justice and payback. This is an excellent read, I found the capacity for violence a bit outrageous at times and wonder if this will be the focus of the next book (if there is one). All the friends and family have a place in this one and yet the pieces shuffle and change direction. Add this to your TBR list.

Tank, a former police officer, takes in his nephew when the boy's parents are killed in an automobile accident. Only Chris, the boy, doesn't believe it WAS an accident and is determined with Tank's help to find the truth. Tank teams up with his former partner, Pearl (from a previous book) to investigate that and a "dirty cop". Only four stars because of language.