BAD APPLE

by Anthony Bruno ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1994

The day before Thanksgiving things always go a little haywire. But you've never seen 24 hours as crazy as the day Operation Shark Bite -- an FBI plan to place agents who'll go in debt to the mob and gather evidence of the threats and violence that are sure to follow -- goes awry when an undercover agent who wasn't supposed to be at risk gets shot and his stake of $130,000 hijacked. FBI agent Cuthbert Gibbons is worried where this mess might leave his partner, Mike Tozzi (Bad Moon, 1992, etc.), who's already so deep undercover (as the porn-producing partner of Freshy DeFresco, a soldier the FeeBees have turned) that he's closing a deal to borrow a bundle from loan shark Tony Bellavita (Tony Bells) after having slept with Freshy's sister Gina, whom Tony's got an eye on himself. But the real danger to Mike is Gibbons himself, after Tony sees the two of them together and reacts by kidnapping Mike and Gina (in a gorgeous set piece in Macy's). In hot pursuit of Tony's getaway car is a posse including Tony's muscle man Stanley Sukowski, who's holding Freshy, Gibbons, and Gibbons's wife, Lorraine (who was just in Macy's to give her grouchy husband some Percodan). Also joining the pursuit is the capo who's furious that Tony shot a Fed. And this demented chase is only the beginning of the story's mad geometry: By the time of the noisy climax among the looming Thanksgiving Day parade balloons, Bruno's explosive farce will have brought together every permutation imaginable of good guys, bad guys, and wiseguys. Inspired plotting that just keeps ratcheting up the tension, and the comedy. You'll never find a better argument for spending the holiday at home.

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1994

ISBN: 0595508626

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Delacorte

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1994

Categories: FICTION