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Fight
Brace yourself for a fight! Boston's District Attorney, Bruce Hudson, must prosecute the Mafia to keep the city safe, but the Mafia doesn’t play fair. When Bruce puts the Adelaide family on trial, the boy that he's trying to adopt goes missing, and all that's left in his place is a cryptic message. Welcome to Boston’s underworld, home of organized crime! Mafia Kingpin Victor Adelaide has built a deadly empire out of drugs, prostitution, and killing, and his son, Gabe, will inherit the family business… and Bruce finds out the hard way that this father and son are a force to be reckoned with. After a jury votes to acquit for mysterious reasons, Bruce learns that the Adelaides have other plans than just winning in court, and the child that he cares about is now in danger. Can Bruce protect an orphan from the Mafia’s thirst for revenge? Hold onto your Kindle with both hands, as this explosive story takes off.
- GenresMystery
206 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 22, 2013
29 people are currently reading
254 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
February 2, 2014
As usual I received this title free for the purposes of review. This time it was directly from the author in an email and usually that's a pretty bad sign. In this case I was pleasantly surprised.
So, this a story largely about the mob. People are putting out hits on each other and there's a fair amount of violence and profanity but the striking thing about this book is that it has a surprising element of family and devotion. I can't go into much detail for fear of spoilers but somehow in the middle of all this violence and bloodshed there's a scared little boy who's really the center of everyone's attention. It is a rare event when Mobsters somehow intersect with Social Services but this is one of those rare times.
On the positive side, the story, as I described above is truly unique. To be tragically cliche this is crime drama.... with a heart, and not a disembodied heart left bloody and still warm on someone's pillow. The author's depiction of the plight of this young man is at once tragic and heart-rending. It doesn't take long for you to care deeply about what happens to Coffey's characters.
The only negative I would point out is that at times some of the plot points seem rather iffy. The ones that spring most readily to mind involve certain chemical reactions that I don't think work quite the way they are portrayed in the book. Also a few financial transactions that take place seem like they might arouse a lot more notice from the authories. That said, most of the bits are pretty easily glossed over.
In summary, one of the better crime dramas to show up on my virtual doorstep in... well, ever. Coffey's book offers us not only the usual dramatic crime thriller but also a look into a dark underworld where kids shuffle sadly from home to home. There's a lot of sadness and heart to be found in this book so it crosses the boundaries between family and crime drama very well. An auspicious first effort from this author.
So, this a story largely about the mob. People are putting out hits on each other and there's a fair amount of violence and profanity but the striking thing about this book is that it has a surprising element of family and devotion. I can't go into much detail for fear of spoilers but somehow in the middle of all this violence and bloodshed there's a scared little boy who's really the center of everyone's attention. It is a rare event when Mobsters somehow intersect with Social Services but this is one of those rare times.
On the positive side, the story, as I described above is truly unique. To be tragically cliche this is crime drama.... with a heart, and not a disembodied heart left bloody and still warm on someone's pillow. The author's depiction of the plight of this young man is at once tragic and heart-rending. It doesn't take long for you to care deeply about what happens to Coffey's characters.
The only negative I would point out is that at times some of the plot points seem rather iffy. The ones that spring most readily to mind involve certain chemical reactions that I don't think work quite the way they are portrayed in the book. Also a few financial transactions that take place seem like they might arouse a lot more notice from the authories. That said, most of the bits are pretty easily glossed over.
In summary, one of the better crime dramas to show up on my virtual doorstep in... well, ever. Coffey's book offers us not only the usual dramatic crime thriller but also a look into a dark underworld where kids shuffle sadly from home to home. There's a lot of sadness and heart to be found in this book so it crosses the boundaries between family and crime drama very well. An auspicious first effort from this author.
March 21, 2014
I wasn't going to read this book as soon as I bought it, but the novel I was in the middle of reading failed to hold my attention. At a loose end - as you are when between books! - I "flicked" to the first page of FIGHT - and didn't stop reading for hours! I couldn't put it down and finished it at 4 o'clock this morning.
It says a lot for the skill of this new author that he presents a hero who is deeply flawed and yet for whom the reader comes to agonise. Gabe Adelaide is the son of a Mafia boss who helps rule Boston with brutality and a lot of bloodshed. The DA, Bruce Hudson, a man whose health is failing fast and his wife, Martha, are trying to adopt a child who, in his short life, has seen the ultimate tragedy. Bruce gets Gabe into court but fails to convict him of murder and extortion , thanks to the intimidation tactics of the Mafia henchmen.Then the child, August, goes missing...
This amazing novel starts out with a bang and the tension continues to grow. A feeling of foreboding crept over me as the plot unfolded. This couldn't end well...
A well-written story with an incredibly sensitive thread running through it, this is one of the very few books I have read where I shed tears at the end. I will be looking forward to this author's next book.
February 15, 2014
Interesting plot. Halfway thru cussing & graphic sex watered down Christian references done earlier. Sucker punch - too bad as writer has talent. Maybe wanted to attract a larger or 'diverse' crowd. Might try author once more just to see if it's gonna be the regular but I'll be on my guard next time, which means it's not something I'll do quickly or on purpose. We readers CAN and do forget which authors we've read before, y'all know what I mean....
February 14, 2018
Good book
You people should just read this book yourselves and write your own review on this novel yourself and I really enjoyed reading this book very much so. Shelley MA
You people should just read this book yourselves and write your own review on this novel yourself and I really enjoyed reading this book very much so. Shelley MA
October 28, 2022
Brilliant
Thank you for a great read just could not stop reading. I hope you write many more books again thank you
Thank you for a great read just could not stop reading. I hope you write many more books again thank you
February 11, 2014
Many books that I review end up receiving a star rating in the vicinity of three. These books are not terrible, but they are not particularly remarkable either. It’s not surprising that most books fall into this region of the spectrum. As a reviewer, this leaves me room to move when I am presented with a book that stands out from the crowd. Fight, by Brent Coffey, is one of those. Here is a writer who knows how to set a scene, who knows how to build suspense, who knows how to give out tantalising hints to the reader; and who knows how to surprise the reader.
Fight tells the story of Gabe Adelaide, the adopted son of a Boston Mafia boss; of Bruce Hudson, the District Attorney who tried and failed to prosecute him; of August, the little boy who witnessed his parents’ death, and whom Hudson and his wife want to adopt. Around these characters is woven a fascinating story of intrigue, plots, deceit and misunderstanding. The main characters in this story are complex, many-layered, flawed and utterly believable. As much as this is a mafia-style thriller, it is also an exploration of how life’s events shape character. It is a story of loss and redemption. Within the story the characters carry their burdens, but learn surprising lessons from life. In presenting some (but by no means all) of the minor characters (particularly the ‘bad guys’) Coffey occasional falls back on stereotypes. But this is not at all true of the main characters or many of the other minor characters. They behave and think in ways that are entirely believable.
I had a few quibbles with some of the minor plot points in the story, which were unconvincing. However these were never central to the plot, and could easily have been addressed. For example, it was not believable that the men who were sent at one point to kill Gabe would decide to report to their father, a powerful mafia boss, that they had been successful when they were not. He would (and did) quickly learn the truth. This was not at all important to the plot and I wondered why the author felt it necessary to include it. In a second example, the way one character was dispatched relied upon some questionable chemistry. There were a few other similar issues. I also wondered why the author had chosen the name ‘Adelaide’ for the main mafia family, when they were clearly intended to have Italian roots. This incongruity bothered me a little, and seemed completely unnecessary. The choice of St Knox for the name of the hospital also struck me as odd. To the best of my knowledge, there has never been a St Knox. Knox is a name associated with Scottish Calvinism and is unlikely to be used for an ostensibly Catholic hospital. Attention to some of these details would have added at least half a star to my rating.
There were also a few grammatical issues and typographical errors, which seemed to increase in frequency as the story progressed, but which never became a major concern.
For the faint-hearted I should mention that there is some graphic violence and strong language to be found here. None of it, in my opinion, was excessive or gratuitous.
This was a book that I really enjoyed reading. There is plenty of action and suspense for those who like that kind of thing. However, there is also a depth to the story and characterisation, and a quality to the writing, that does not often accompany it.
Four stars from me.
Fight tells the story of Gabe Adelaide, the adopted son of a Boston Mafia boss; of Bruce Hudson, the District Attorney who tried and failed to prosecute him; of August, the little boy who witnessed his parents’ death, and whom Hudson and his wife want to adopt. Around these characters is woven a fascinating story of intrigue, plots, deceit and misunderstanding. The main characters in this story are complex, many-layered, flawed and utterly believable. As much as this is a mafia-style thriller, it is also an exploration of how life’s events shape character. It is a story of loss and redemption. Within the story the characters carry their burdens, but learn surprising lessons from life. In presenting some (but by no means all) of the minor characters (particularly the ‘bad guys’) Coffey occasional falls back on stereotypes. But this is not at all true of the main characters or many of the other minor characters. They behave and think in ways that are entirely believable.
I had a few quibbles with some of the minor plot points in the story, which were unconvincing. However these were never central to the plot, and could easily have been addressed. For example, it was not believable that the men who were sent at one point to kill Gabe would decide to report to their father, a powerful mafia boss, that they had been successful when they were not. He would (and did) quickly learn the truth. This was not at all important to the plot and I wondered why the author felt it necessary to include it. In a second example, the way one character was dispatched relied upon some questionable chemistry. There were a few other similar issues. I also wondered why the author had chosen the name ‘Adelaide’ for the main mafia family, when they were clearly intended to have Italian roots. This incongruity bothered me a little, and seemed completely unnecessary. The choice of St Knox for the name of the hospital also struck me as odd. To the best of my knowledge, there has never been a St Knox. Knox is a name associated with Scottish Calvinism and is unlikely to be used for an ostensibly Catholic hospital. Attention to some of these details would have added at least half a star to my rating.
There were also a few grammatical issues and typographical errors, which seemed to increase in frequency as the story progressed, but which never became a major concern.
For the faint-hearted I should mention that there is some graphic violence and strong language to be found here. None of it, in my opinion, was excessive or gratuitous.
This was a book that I really enjoyed reading. There is plenty of action and suspense for those who like that kind of thing. However, there is also a depth to the story and characterisation, and a quality to the writing, that does not often accompany it.
Four stars from me.
March 5, 2014
This crime novel gave me mixed feelings. There are two "good guys," dual protagonists. One is a workaholic prosecutor, the other is the adopted son of one of Boston's two crime families. The personal lives of each character are developed, along with their journeys which predictably meet. The prosecutor has just lost a complicated racketeering trial, and the crime heir maintains that he was selectively prosecuted for political gain and victimized by police corruption. The truth is that the heir is guilty (extortion enhanced by murder) and he rigged the trial by jury tampering, intimidating all 12 panelists into voting for acquittal. Meanwhile we learn that the prosecutor and his wife have been unsuccessful having children, and their adoption plan has stalled because of the prosecutor's ulcerative colitis, a disease requiring expensive surgery not covered by insurance. The mob heir learns of this, and of the foster placement of the 5 year old in question. The heir attempts to pay for the surgery, at first to make the prosecutor grateful enough to focus future investigations towards the rival criminal gang. Later he meets and bonds with the child, remembering his own forced adoption and unhappy upbringing. The heir sees a chance for personal redemption, by enabling the prosecutor to adopt the boy, and disabling his own crime family. The thing that bugs me is how the 5 year old boy is empowered with wisdom beyond his years and language skills exceeding those of many adults. Either he's a shy and verbally abused 5 year old, with appropriate insights and mannerisms, or he's not. You can't have it both ways, merely to create a conduit explaining how crime boss' son instantly bonds, relates, and turns his life around. The book does have merit, however, and the story otherwise is interesting and the touching.
September 2, 2016
I dnf'd when I read this:
'One juror, in her mid-thirties had received an envelope under her door with a picture of her husband. Her husband's EQUALLY AGED AND FLABBY (my capitals) body was naked...
Sorry. I mean.. Mid thirties and AGED??? BIG mistake ;)
There was an earlier part that drove me mad.(yes, I am OCD)
It was a bunch of $50's. Straitening (wrong spelling there??) them back to their original flat shape she thumbed the bills' edges. There's nearly a couple dozen here. (She multiplied.) That's a cool grand. Do I really have that much money in my hand?
And then.. She estimated a good two dozen rolls at 5 grand each... that's roughly $120,000..
So. Let's get this right. She has 24 x $50 dollar bills in a roll. That equals roughly $1,200. And she has 12 of these rolls... ?? According to my calculations that should equal: $14,400. ???
Wish *I* could make money increase like that!
'One juror, in her mid-thirties had received an envelope under her door with a picture of her husband. Her husband's EQUALLY AGED AND FLABBY (my capitals) body was naked...
Sorry. I mean.. Mid thirties and AGED??? BIG mistake ;)
There was an earlier part that drove me mad.(yes, I am OCD)
It was a bunch of $50's. Straitening (wrong spelling there??) them back to their original flat shape she thumbed the bills' edges. There's nearly a couple dozen here. (She multiplied.) That's a cool grand. Do I really have that much money in my hand?
And then.. She estimated a good two dozen rolls at 5 grand each... that's roughly $120,000..
So. Let's get this right. She has 24 x $50 dollar bills in a roll. That equals roughly $1,200. And she has 12 of these rolls... ?? According to my calculations that should equal: $14,400. ???
Wish *I* could make money increase like that!
April 16, 2014
This book works on a number of different levels and I really liked what the author, Brent Coffey, accomplished in this book through his treatment of the main characters, Bruce, Gabe, and August. However, my only criticism of this book was that the plot didn't seem plausible at times. There's a great story here and if you like your reading fast paced where you can't wait to get to the next page, this is one book you're going to read; I just wished at times the author would have developed the subplots better, especially Gabe and Bruce's pasts. It's a great outing for a first-time author.
March 6, 2014
Great Read
I enjoyed this book very much. Interesting to watch the transformation of a stone cold killer to a caring and compassionate person. I look forward to your next book. Hard to believe this was your first novel. Thanks for the journey. DH.
I enjoyed this book very much. Interesting to watch the transformation of a stone cold killer to a caring and compassionate person. I look forward to your next book. Hard to believe this was your first novel. Thanks for the journey. DH.
March 8, 2014
Change
I enjoy the book. I liked the fact that at the end gaba wanted to change. he was really a good guy inside. and you proved that at the end. I recommend this book to anyone who has been looking for a good thriller story. it has a great ending .
I enjoy the book. I liked the fact that at the end gaba wanted to change. he was really a good guy inside. and you proved that at the end. I recommend this book to anyone who has been looking for a good thriller story. it has a great ending .
March 8, 2014
Excellent first novel.
Excellent first novel.
This was an entertaining read. I was surprised it was the author's first. Characters were well developed and the plot line unfolded well. Showed considerable skill in developing a not so simple plot.
Excellent first novel.
This was an entertaining read. I was surprised it was the author's first. Characters were well developed and the plot line unfolded well. Showed considerable skill in developing a not so simple plot.
February 23, 2014
This was a solid crime story but honestly it's a one time read. Once you've been with this book, there's nothing to keep you coming back.
March 5, 2014
I read about 75% of the book and gave up. I just didn't buy ANY of the story. Maybe it pulled it together in the end but I just didn't care at this point.
May 2, 2014
Surprisingly Different
This book wasn't what I thought it would be. It was interesting and not the usual mafia storyline. It's a good book.
This book wasn't what I thought it would be. It was interesting and not the usual mafia storyline. It's a good book.
September 15, 2014
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Also, I'm horrible at writing informative reviews.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews