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True Blue Detective #4
Street Justice
Detective Mario DeLuca continues his police work in New Orleans in this fourth book in the True Blue Detective series. In charge of the Homicide Division in the Eighth District, he sees more than his share of murders, robberies, and crime.
When his life is threatened by the cartel, unless he returns $12 million, he asks Howard Blitz, a friend and undercover cop with a shady background, to help him. First, a neighbor is killed, and then his second in command is killed. Mario and Howard are targeted to be the next murders.
These cops don’t always follow all the rules. They’ve learned that sometimes “street justice” is a better way to handle crime and the people who are responsible for their evil deeds.
Mario reveals himself as a smart, canny, and thoughtful police officer. His years of experience and training help him consider options to solve the mysteries surrounding the crimes he’s confronted with. But Mario is also filled with a big heart and kind thoughtfulness, helping some of the criminals he confronts and wondering when he might marry and have a family.
He also cares for the victims of crimes, including his coworker, Olivia, and his old friend, Zack Nelson, who are both victims of a cybercrime, when money is stolen from their online bank accounts. Helping to return the money and also seeing that the computer hacker gets some street justice is a rewarding part of his job.
Street Justice is a story filled with action, drama, mystery, relationships, and crime. It’s also a front-row seat to see New Orleans from a cop’s perspective: cruising the streets, dealing with injustice, while also visiting local restaurants, parks, and homes to interact with the interesting people in this unique, historic city.
When his life is threatened by the cartel, unless he returns $12 million, he asks Howard Blitz, a friend and undercover cop with a shady background, to help him. First, a neighbor is killed, and then his second in command is killed. Mario and Howard are targeted to be the next murders.
These cops don’t always follow all the rules. They’ve learned that sometimes “street justice” is a better way to handle crime and the people who are responsible for their evil deeds.
Mario reveals himself as a smart, canny, and thoughtful police officer. His years of experience and training help him consider options to solve the mysteries surrounding the crimes he’s confronted with. But Mario is also filled with a big heart and kind thoughtfulness, helping some of the criminals he confronts and wondering when he might marry and have a family.
He also cares for the victims of crimes, including his coworker, Olivia, and his old friend, Zack Nelson, who are both victims of a cybercrime, when money is stolen from their online bank accounts. Helping to return the money and also seeing that the computer hacker gets some street justice is a rewarding part of his job.
Street Justice is a story filled with action, drama, mystery, relationships, and crime. It’s also a front-row seat to see New Orleans from a cop’s perspective: cruising the streets, dealing with injustice, while also visiting local restaurants, parks, and homes to interact with the interesting people in this unique, historic city.
244 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 28, 2019
63 people are currently reading
28 people want to read
About the author
Vito Zuppardo
29 books66 followersVito Zuppardo started collecting pieces of information in 1986 from each trip to Las Vegas, Bahamas, Monte Carlo, and the other many casinos he represented. His main job was keeping his clients happy which was a full-time job while they were vacationing at luxury casino resorts.
Vito is the author of 5 novels and started writing in 1996. His fist novel Alluring Lady Luck was based on true events from his 25 years in the casino business operating high limit gaming customers to various casinos around the world. Nevada Gaming Control said Vito Zuppardo was one of the most successful casino representatives in Nevada producing over 60 million dollars in revenue in three years. It’s his life adventures that make his books fun to read, and characters stand out.
Vito was born and raised in New Orleans and moved to Baton Rouge, after Hurricane Katrina.
Life is truly what you make of it.
Vito is the author of 5 novels and started writing in 1996. His fist novel Alluring Lady Luck was based on true events from his 25 years in the casino business operating high limit gaming customers to various casinos around the world. Nevada Gaming Control said Vito Zuppardo was one of the most successful casino representatives in Nevada producing over 60 million dollars in revenue in three years. It’s his life adventures that make his books fun to read, and characters stand out.
Vito was born and raised in New Orleans and moved to Baton Rouge, after Hurricane Katrina.
Life is truly what you make of it.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 1, 2019
Street Justice by Vito Zuppardo is a straightforward telling of a mystery and might be classified as a police procedural, but I would never want to meet either Mario DeLuca or Howard, his partner and a fellow undercover cop. Mario is the senior officer and in charge of a Homicide Division, but occasionally participates in undercover work. Throughout the story, Mario blatantly and without any reservations accepts responsibility for temporarily stealing mob money and parking the money in an offshore account. Mob officials are far less than impressed as they mount a campaign to get their money back and seek vengeance against Mario and anyone associated with Mario by handing out suitable punishments, some of which include violent death.
As Mario reacts, he and Howard will employ ex-criminals with fantastic computer skills to stage elaborate schemes that will hide Mario’s involvement in a money movement scheme hidden from the police that stole money from the mob. In one scene I intensely disliked, a suspect is tricked into drawing a gun so that Marion and Howard could legitimately empty their weapons into the suspect. Mario and Howard were correct, of course. The suspect was one of the most extreme bad guys; there was no mistake. This type of romanticized cop cum rogue bounty hunter is not helpful to the image of police at a time when social media trumpets precisely this kind of behavior as a police norm. (Disclaimer and bias note: In a past career, I was a Sheriff’s Deputy).
Street Justice was published at the end of August 2019. I received a notice requesting a review because I had downloaded the book. I didn’t remember downloading it, but there it was, in my Kindle archive/TBR books. I hadn’t paid for it, so I felt a kind of obligation to read something I got for free. I remember reading other Vito Zuppardo books that I liked. Street Justice failed to impress me. It gave me an understanding of the advice to writers to “show, not tell.” Street Justice is a well-told story with little depth. It is a straight-forward style of “this happened and then this happened.”
“Street Justice” as a generic term, apart from the title of this novel, has meaning. Not based on law or any rigid transparent structure, it is a system of “an eye for an eye.” It is not a suitable system for a police force to follow and results in a “wild west” social structure. Street Justice, the novel, glorifies the generic meaning so much that along with the genres of mystery and police procedural, this novel deserves the genre classification of fantasy. Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry movies present a rogue cop with a sense of justice completely willing to work outside the box to right social wrongs. Eastwood’s character is one man constrained by a system. In Street Justice, there are so many characters working outside the box that the container disappears.
Unreality abounds throughout the story. Every character under forty years of age who can turn on a computer is a hacker. It seems there is a race is to hire the best hacker before your competition snaps the talent up. Mario and Howard have many “old friends” in established and shadowy law enforcement agencies. There is no problem they do not have a solution for through their well- established networks. Realistic? Nope. The ridiculous link in this story was when one of our favorite characters reached out to an “old friend” in the intelligence establishment, either military or civilian. (Disclaimer and bias note: I was an intelligence officer, both military and civilian, for more than twenty years). Such easy sharing of information rarely exists, and when it does, the communication relationships developed over years according to protocols. This novel is more fantasy than anything else.
Street Justice has many, many characters. If a plot hole appears, one of the characters fills it with a back story. Criminals made mistakes in the past. Mario and Howard, along with several of their conveniently appearing contacts, are willing to overlook past wrongdoing if the character called upon is willing to bend the law a bit to further whatever subplot the author is pursuing.
The number of subplots in this novel almost equals the number of characters. I was tempted to make a comparison chart of characters and subplots. Giving into such temptation means I was not interested in the story but was paying attention to the number of subplots and characters that can be contained in 244 pages. The number is large.
Finally, there is the ending. Some romance novels are criticized for their “over-the rainbow,” sticky, syrupy endings. It is unusual for me to find this in crime novels usually filled with violence and wrongdoing. I have found no story in recent memory that concludes with a win-win-win-win solution. I must exclude the characters that were murdered along the way, but I believe it fair to say their opinions no longer count.
I have enjoyed Vince Zuppardo novels in the past. I was surprised to find I did not enjoy this one, even if I ignored sloppy editing. Misspellings and sentences that do not begin with capital letters are not intentional literary devices, at least not for the vast majority of writers. All reviews other than mine rated this novel at five Amazon stars. I may have read the same book. I rated this novel at 2.75 stars rounded up to three Amazon stars. No further Vince Zuppardo novels will be added to my TBR stack.
As Mario reacts, he and Howard will employ ex-criminals with fantastic computer skills to stage elaborate schemes that will hide Mario’s involvement in a money movement scheme hidden from the police that stole money from the mob. In one scene I intensely disliked, a suspect is tricked into drawing a gun so that Marion and Howard could legitimately empty their weapons into the suspect. Mario and Howard were correct, of course. The suspect was one of the most extreme bad guys; there was no mistake. This type of romanticized cop cum rogue bounty hunter is not helpful to the image of police at a time when social media trumpets precisely this kind of behavior as a police norm. (Disclaimer and bias note: In a past career, I was a Sheriff’s Deputy).
Street Justice was published at the end of August 2019. I received a notice requesting a review because I had downloaded the book. I didn’t remember downloading it, but there it was, in my Kindle archive/TBR books. I hadn’t paid for it, so I felt a kind of obligation to read something I got for free. I remember reading other Vito Zuppardo books that I liked. Street Justice failed to impress me. It gave me an understanding of the advice to writers to “show, not tell.” Street Justice is a well-told story with little depth. It is a straight-forward style of “this happened and then this happened.”
“Street Justice” as a generic term, apart from the title of this novel, has meaning. Not based on law or any rigid transparent structure, it is a system of “an eye for an eye.” It is not a suitable system for a police force to follow and results in a “wild west” social structure. Street Justice, the novel, glorifies the generic meaning so much that along with the genres of mystery and police procedural, this novel deserves the genre classification of fantasy. Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry movies present a rogue cop with a sense of justice completely willing to work outside the box to right social wrongs. Eastwood’s character is one man constrained by a system. In Street Justice, there are so many characters working outside the box that the container disappears.
Unreality abounds throughout the story. Every character under forty years of age who can turn on a computer is a hacker. It seems there is a race is to hire the best hacker before your competition snaps the talent up. Mario and Howard have many “old friends” in established and shadowy law enforcement agencies. There is no problem they do not have a solution for through their well- established networks. Realistic? Nope. The ridiculous link in this story was when one of our favorite characters reached out to an “old friend” in the intelligence establishment, either military or civilian. (Disclaimer and bias note: I was an intelligence officer, both military and civilian, for more than twenty years). Such easy sharing of information rarely exists, and when it does, the communication relationships developed over years according to protocols. This novel is more fantasy than anything else.
Street Justice has many, many characters. If a plot hole appears, one of the characters fills it with a back story. Criminals made mistakes in the past. Mario and Howard, along with several of their conveniently appearing contacts, are willing to overlook past wrongdoing if the character called upon is willing to bend the law a bit to further whatever subplot the author is pursuing.
The number of subplots in this novel almost equals the number of characters. I was tempted to make a comparison chart of characters and subplots. Giving into such temptation means I was not interested in the story but was paying attention to the number of subplots and characters that can be contained in 244 pages. The number is large.
Finally, there is the ending. Some romance novels are criticized for their “over-the rainbow,” sticky, syrupy endings. It is unusual for me to find this in crime novels usually filled with violence and wrongdoing. I have found no story in recent memory that concludes with a win-win-win-win solution. I must exclude the characters that were murdered along the way, but I believe it fair to say their opinions no longer count.
I have enjoyed Vince Zuppardo novels in the past. I was surprised to find I did not enjoy this one, even if I ignored sloppy editing. Misspellings and sentences that do not begin with capital letters are not intentional literary devices, at least not for the vast majority of writers. All reviews other than mine rated this novel at five Amazon stars. I may have read the same book. I rated this novel at 2.75 stars rounded up to three Amazon stars. No further Vince Zuppardo novels will be added to my TBR stack.
April 11, 2024
Kindle Unlimited has the True Blue Detective series 1-7 now, or less than $10 to buy. In Street Justice, the fourth book in the Series, Vito Zuppardo's years of work in the casinos of the world are an addition to the high-tension police action. A continuation of the characters in the first three of the series, True Detective would stand nicely alone, but as with most series, the tale is richer and the characters more rounded if read as a series. Lots of action in this one - New Orleans is looking at going the on-land casino route, (Casinos are already heavily involved on the Mississippi River in their area) but they want to do it without the downside experienced by most other Casino cities around the land. But how can they keep out the cartels and mafia connections that plague other gambling centers? Maybe Mario and friends can sort that out...
REVIEWED on April 7, 2024, at Goodreads, AmazonSmile, and BookBub and Kobo. Not available for review on B&N.
REVIEWED on April 7, 2024, at Goodreads, AmazonSmile, and BookBub and Kobo. Not available for review on B&N.
April 16, 2021
I enjoy all of Vito Zuppardo's books. He is a very good writer
September 8, 2022
Crazy good
Always interesting and plenty of suspense to keep you interested. Lots of interesting characters that make the story. New Orleans at it's best.
Always interesting and plenty of suspense to keep you interested. Lots of interesting characters that make the story. New Orleans at it's best.
September 18, 2019
This is the 4th book in the true blue Cop series. Mario who is a co in the 8th District office in New Orleans has received a threat that iff he does not return the millions to the local crime Cartel, he will be eliminated.
he asks Howard Blitz a former cop who runs a business close to the shady side to help him return the millions to the Cartel. First a neighbor and his girl friend are killed by accident the bullet was meant for Mario.
The story gets complicated, his co worker is blown up in a car he went to get for Mario. This is an excellent written book that you will find hard to put down. Buy a copy if you like cop stories, you will certainly like this one.
he asks Howard Blitz a former cop who runs a business close to the shady side to help him return the millions to the Cartel. First a neighbor and his girl friend are killed by accident the bullet was meant for Mario.
The story gets complicated, his co worker is blown up in a car he went to get for Mario. This is an excellent written book that you will find hard to put down. Buy a copy if you like cop stories, you will certainly like this one.
July 16, 2019
This series needs to go on Netfix. Or the big screen...It's that good.
Vito's history in casino's shows in this installment.
Mario and the gang straddle the line of the law to see justice served and protect their beloved city and see it prosper. Deals are made. Eyes are closed. Fingers are crossed. People die. People of all walks of life are involved: the homeless, gangsters, a cyber-thief, a drag-queen and her newsman and of course Zack... this rag-tag team have one message: Don't mess with NOLA..
I received an ARC of this book from the author and have given my honest review.
Vito's history in casino's shows in this installment.
Mario and the gang straddle the line of the law to see justice served and protect their beloved city and see it prosper. Deals are made. Eyes are closed. Fingers are crossed. People die. People of all walks of life are involved: the homeless, gangsters, a cyber-thief, a drag-queen and her newsman and of course Zack... this rag-tag team have one message: Don't mess with NOLA..
I received an ARC of this book from the author and have given my honest review.
September 3, 2019
Vito does it again
Wow! Mario and Howard definitely have their hands full in this book. There's more to the story than just taking care of daily crimes. NOLA is a city full of surprises, and that includes it's people. I totally loved the way it ended. That was a great surprise!
Wow! Mario and Howard definitely have their hands full in this book. There's more to the story than just taking care of daily crimes. NOLA is a city full of surprises, and that includes it's people. I totally loved the way it ended. That was a great surprise!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews