Bressio

by Richard Sapir

A New York investigator risks his life to look into shady activity at a downtown loft. If only he’d listened to his mother and become a mob enforcer instead . . .   Tipping the scales at 240 pounds, Alphonse Joseph Bressio is a big man in New York’s legal investigation biz, though he’d rather be doing almost anything else. If he had heeded his ample gut’s feeling and refused a powerful lawyer’s request to help out the paranoid ex-girlfriend of middle-age, drug-dealing loser L. Marvin Fleish, Bressio could have spared himself a headache bigger than his appetite and gambling problem combined. But his soft heart got the best of him. Now the portly PI is running afoul of local mobsters, overzealous federal narcs, and blue-blooded ex-government functionaries by looking too closely into strange doings at a downtown loft that the cops aren’t talking about, despite the unusual number of corpses that seem to be connected to it. Bressio is starting to think it would have been less hazardous to his health and sanity if he had followed in his father’s footsteps and become a Mafia enforcer. At least it would have made his mother happy.   From Richard Ben Sapir, cocreator of The Destroyer series, comes a wild and woolly, tongue-in-cheek take on the hardboiled detective novel. Sapir’s Bressio is a nonstop delight, frenetic and funny with a truly outrageous cast of anti-heroes, detestable villains, hard-luck bystanders, and arguably the most endearingly unforgettable protagonist ever to grace the pages of noir crime fiction.  

252 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Creator and original author, with Warren Murphy, of the immensely popular series The Destroyer.

Despite his death in 1987 (and Murphy's in 2015), Murphy & Sapir remain the only listed cover authors for most of the continuation of the Destroyer series.

Sapir also wrote standalone fantasy thrillers published under the name Richard Ben Sapir.

Reviews

[Gabi · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a disappointment. I read three books by Richard Sapir before, all of them were extremely gripping and hard to put down. Bressio, however, failed to hold my attention. Although the MC was interesting, and there was some thought-provoking commentary about the law, the mystery was rather underwhelming, there was no real tension, and I couldn't care less about the ending. I finished the book not because I cared but just to finish the book. Meh.

[jeffrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

A hot mess of a book, written by otherwise, one of my favorite writers ("The Body", and "The Far Arena"). With a likable enough central character and a kernel of an interesting story to keep me reading, it is nonetheless marred by a cast of cardboard cutouts and unbelievable plot twists. Also, although the story takes place in America, the author frequently exhibits his apparent lack of knowledge, or care in learning of American spelling, in utilizing words such as "defence", "honour", "programme", "licence", and the one that really stuck out, in reference to a baseball game, "centre field". Ouch! The author also had a coroner tagging bullets removed from our hero's living anatomy, which is not something they do, as far as I know.

[Mel Horne · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absorbing read that just got better and better. I read The Far Arena many years ago and loved it, I found this book to be an equal joy.

[Ellen Wolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

worth reading

Well written, fast paced, never boring, but with descriptions easy to take in. None of the distracting grammar, punctuation, homophone, or plain old typo mistakes are here to intrude. I look forward to reading another by this author. Rarely do I leave reviews, unless I feel strongly about the book.

[valli brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

A look into the underworld and the elite

Bressio casts a cynical and discerning eye on the intersections of respectable society, the Mafia, and law enforcement and finds much common ground. Sapir's deft plotting and understanding of human nature makes for an entertaining read, though I found the ending a bit abrupt.