RICOCHET

by Ovid Demaris ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 14, 1988

Another anti-Mafia potboiler from veteran Mob-basher Demaris (The Vegas Legacy, 1983) that fails to generate the heat of his superb nonfiction exposÉs (The Green Felt Jungle, etc). Demaris' most recent uncovering, The Boardwalk Jungle (1986), focused on the Mob's grip on Atlantic City--as does this broad vengeance melodrama of the fight of banker Frank Conti against his longtime enemy, Atlantic City Mob boss Tony Allio. Although slowed by extensive flashbacks that depict the birth of that enmity--a childhood rivalry ending with Frank beating the tar out of Allio--and that rather pointlessly limn Frank's brutal Vietnam stint, the present-day action hums along nicely. Nurturing his 20-year grudge against Frank, Allio--like all mobsters here, painted in garish colors of violence and greed--finally strikes back by luring Frank's gamblerholic wife, Nancy, to a casino where she drops 142 grand. Locking her in a hotel suite under the watchful eye of apprentice mobster Joey Bucci--whose frantic ambition to ingratiate himself with Allio forms the novel's major subplot--Allio calls Frank in. The price of Nancy's release: that Frank embezzle 142 grand from his bank, and act as a drag mule. Frank agrees; but when his plane crashes and he's presumed dead, he decides to strike back. With the help of his cop-dad and a gold-hearted whore, Frank wins Nancy's freedom. A trial against Allio ensues, foiled by perjured testimony. Frank and Nancy enter the witness-protection program, only to be drawn out of hiding when Allio orders a hit on Frank's dad. At the funeral, Nancy is hit as well, leading to a final bloodbath that sees Frank stalking the mobster and his henchmen in their estate-lair. Stereotyped if crisp characters, that wild deus-ex-machina of a plane crash, and the lurching from war story to crime meller to courtroom drama to Rambo-ish actioner--all undercut realism and suspense. Still, the frisky narrative, filled with plenty of gore and sex, rarely bores, and Demaris' local-color takes on Atlantic City--Emerald City glitz in the midst of poverty and sleaze--are priceless.

Pub Date: Oct. 14, 1988

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Scribners

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1988

Categories: FICTION