Gerard Cappa

Reviews of the Maknazpy series:

"Writers from Chandler and Hammett through William Burroughs, Charles Willeford, James Elroy, Bret Easton Ellis and Don DeLillo have shown how the administration of cities is not corrupt, but inherently predatory. Speaking directly to supra-national, neo-liberal depredation, Jean-Patrick Manchette and Don DeLillo, are matched by Gerard Cappa, in Black Boat Dancing, and his earlier Blood from a Shadow. As with noir of the mid-20th century, protagonists are not destroyed but potentially redeemed by their own sin and suffering. They force their humanity to come to life. The ultimate 21st century heroism is to struggle for the control of one's own destiny. Con Maknazpy's struggle is a remarkable example - more complete, more blissfully anarchistic, than the nation-loving kind of hero" - Jay A Gertzman

"This is a mechanical bull of a novel, whose every savage twist and turn needs to be respected, in which lackadaisical reading will result in the reader being bucked into oblivion. Cappa's preference is not for the pointillist pen. He uses a trowel-shaped painting knife to slap thick layers of horror, intrigue and doubt upon the page, contorting the distortions sprung into the heads of innocent people.

There isn’t a superfluous word or sentence. The writing is tight, tight, tight. No empty spaces in which the motor of the mind can idle for a few minutes. Often very little air between the actions in which to draw a deep breath. But the reader will be amply rewarded for investing time in this fine book, especially if note is taken of each seed of evil Cappa sows in the first fifty or so pages. As in a good play, where everything you see in the first act must serve a purpose before the final curtain comes down, every seed planted on the first few pages results in an evil flower, the flower of collusion, the flower of Russian and other blood money playing hide and seek around the world, lying expectantly in the shadows of its virtual banks for the next transfer into the purchase of arms or the heat of war via a set of encrypted passwords" John J Gaynard

"We are in the realm of tough guys doing tough guy things against other tough guys. All the classic elements of the detective crime thriller are there: the smart-mouthed dame, nightclubs, les femmes fatale, and bodies scattered across the pages like raspberries on your morning cornflakes - A cracking good tale" Manhattan Book Review

"Mix of subtle allusion, rapidly paced violent set-pieces, and character reflection - I like the conversations his characters engage in about politics, capitalism, greed" - John L Murphy

"Unique and unpredictable, always a nice experience, especially in a genre that is fraught with derivative copycats. Some really great concepts worth deeper deliberation. Almost literary at times, with the easy-flowing prose and powerful word choices - a well-written, intelligently complex novel with truly unexpected twists that will open your mind and keep you on your toes" - Indy Book Reviews

"The real-world complexity is another reason why it demands the reader's close attention. Shifting partnerships, pragmatic realignments, and transformations of persona have to be acknowledged, otherwise we can lose our way in Cappa's dramatic narrative from one page to the next - loaded with action, stabs-in-the-back, heart-felt loss, tense standoffs and even a hint of mysticism" - Robert Bickel