Killer vs. Kingpin

Hitman vs Hitman #3

by Cari Z., L.A. Witt

August Morrison and Ricardo Torralba would really like to live a quiet life—as quiet as life can be for a couple of eccentric hitmen, anyway. Unfortunately for them, they pushed their luck with the authors and demanded a second book. So now, whether they like it or not, they’re getting a third installment.

Yes, this is a revenge book. Because we’re the authors, that’s why.

This time, August and Ricardo are in way over their heads, because there are few things more dangerous than owing a favor to the mafia. When that favor gets called in, though, it’s not to kill anyone—it’s to save them. Time is running out to find the source of tainted street drugs poisoning innocent people.

Now they’re caught in the middle of a deadly war between rival families, all while trying to dodge suspicious police and merciless drug cartels.

Maybe this time, August and Ricardo will learn their lesson and not demand another book… assuming they survive this one.

Killer vs. Kingpin is book 3 in the Hitman vs. Hitman series that seems to have evolved from an alleged “standalone” to “yeah, we don’t even know.” They’re just too much fun to torture! Err, write. Too much fun to write.

Genres: M M Romance, Romance, Audiobook, Crime, Contemporary, Mystery, Action

253 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 29, 2022

About the author

Cari Z. is a Colorado girl who loves snow and sunshine. She has a wonderful relationship with her husband, a complex relationship with the characters in her head and a sadomasochistic relationship with her exercise routine. She feels like Halloween should happen every month, which is why you get this picture of her, and hopes that you enjoy reading what she's put out there as much as she enjoyed writing it in the first place.

Reviews

[L.A. Witt]

August and Ricardo are back! Available March 29th.

[Simone - on indefinite hiatus - · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two months later... Audiobook: ***4 Stars***

**********************

Story: ***4.5 I-totally-digged-this Stars***

Thanks to my lovely Josy for gifting me the audiobook ❤️

[Ami · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARGH!!! Why do you ALWAYS choose to end the book, this way, authors?!? WHY!?!? In the second book, it ended with August in the hospital waiting for surgery; now this book, our heroes August and Ricardo are heading to one of the safehouses with Pedro Silva, the mob, and a Detective Chandler because they basically pushed a war between mafia families! I know it opens a possibility to check with next book (if the authors ever decide to team up again to write it) but I really prefer a nice tied-up ending.

ALTHOUGH, now I can totally imagine a romcom with Silva and Chandler and that ONLY ONE BED TROPE! 😂

This book is another full of actions. August and Ricardo are being "forced" to help Silva (whom they owed a favor from the previous book) to find out who is responsible in tainting drugs that keep killing people. Yes, there were guns blazing, crazy schemes, and great August/Ricardo moments. I totally enjoyed it. Except the ending. Because like I said, I wanted a nice tied-up with a bow version that this one *pout*

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will always love August and Ricardo. I enjoyed all their interaction together, whether they are just bickering about their domestic bliss or about mafia business. I'm glad there are more books for them. However, I don't think I enjoy this as much as the first two books. First of all, the lack of smut even though August keep teasing and flirting with his boyfriend. Secondly, I think all the suspense and action surrounding the tainted drugs is kinda confusing. Too many players involved until I don't quite know what is August, Ricardo and Silva planning to do. The ending set up for book 4, I'll probably still read it to what happened to these guys.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, but it ended on a cliffhanger.

The other two books had full stories in them so it bothers me that this one was not complete.

However, it was still so good that I will not take off a star for that terrible cliffhanger.

August and Ricardo are so sweet and funny with each other. There is so much wonderful snark while also so much love and affection. All in the midst of so much murder. This series is so much fun. And the narrator is awesome.

[Missy~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good mafia hitman story.

Loved this one. I really enjoyed that August and Ricardo just smoothly worked as a team.
My favorite kind of story is where the main characters work together and all of the conflict is external.
August and Ricardo working with Mafia and against mafia and drug cartels to stop fatal drugs from being on the streets.
This was exciting and fast paced. Once again excellent banter and snark. I love August- he is hilarious.
Disappointed that there were a few dangling threads left hanging. I really really don’t like cliffhangers, even minor ones.
I understand wanting to keep the readers titillated but I think a good author can wrap things up nicely and still leave the readers wanting more.
Too many times lately that authors have not finished a series and left the readers hanging.
But this is minor this was still really fun excellent story.

[Kazza · Rating 4 out of 5]

This pair are fabulous. I'm now hanging out for Michael Ferraiuolo to narrate this one. He brings this pair to living, breathing, crazy realness.

[Amur Thera · Rating 4 out of 5]

The good
+ Ricardo taking care of August. He's so sweet (don't tell him I said that)
+ August's sappy thoughts
+ August planning Paschal's murder in case he cheated
+ Ricardo just affirming August's insanity like it's the most normal thing in the world
+ August's torture techniques. Especially loved the shaving
+ Ricardo letting August buy him a car. That's so sweet of him, and August is really trying to stay within his limits
+ Ricardo letting August get away with calling him Ricky and honeybunch in public

The neutral
o I didn't like Rayburn's redemption. He was a homophobe and never apologized for it. He didn't deserve Chandler

The bad
- I didn't feel like the actual plot was solved in the end. They wanted to remove the contamination step from the drug-making process. Instead, there was a lot of shooting and they started a gang war. Nobody even knows about the contamination - not the cops, not the cartel, nobody of importance


I really like this couple. They're perfect for each other. Ricardo brings out August's serious side, and August brings joy in Ricardo's life. I hope their next book contains more shooting (they are, after all, hitmen). And I hope the next book will be about these men again, not Silva and Chandler. I'm not ready to say goodbye to these guys yet. Anyway, would totally recommend the series if you're into insane hitmen. Which is probably not a good thing to be into, but whatever.

[S.S. Scott | Romance Author and Fiction Story Coach · Rating 5 out of 5]

I. Need. More.

Wow, it's like these two wonderful women know my heart. The action of the book alone was enough to drive me crazy, but add in the emotional upheaval of dealing with a very real drug crisis (even with the mafia) and the open acknowledgement of how law enforcement treats non-white offenders?? And that last line??? *chef kiss* Can't wait for the next installment of this series!!!!

[Antisocial Recluse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of confusing

Definitely not the last book because there’s a to-be-continued ending but our anti-heroes are together and intact so it’s not a frustrating wait. It’s a rather complicated new story arc with added characters. The lack of steam is still frustrating and one wedged-in scene is worse than none imo.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this one as much as the first two, but I just didn’t. There wasn’t a huge focus on Ricardo and August being a couple. The whole book was basically focused on the favor they owed Pedro Silva with no room for anything else.

There were a few cute and/or sexy moments, but otherwise it was mostly action packed shenanigans for the rest of the book. There were some hard topics like drug use/substance abuse, on page deaths, etc. While I didn’t enjoy this as much as the other books in the series, it was still good overall and kept my attention.

The banter between this couple always amuses me. With each book, they slowly fall deeper into love with each other. I was kind of surprised we didn’t see more of the characters from the last book. I wanted more of Eve and Elodie. We saw them in the beginning of the book and then they just disappeared of the face of the Earth. I’m excited to see more of what happens with Detective Chandler. I think 3-3.5 out of 5 stars, but I’ll round down.

[Didi Ps · Rating 5 out of 5]

August & Ricardo are back!!!

-Two hitmen, a mafioso, & a detective walk into a bar...

Here authors Cari Z. & L.A. Witt take revenge on their two hitmen, where August & Ricardo are forced to pay back a debt to the mafia. They need to help find out who is poisoning drugs & killing innocent people.

I love their banter, they way to talk to each other & about each other... They are just sooooo good together, they are simply perfect as a couple.

Another great book with some action, some sarcastic remarks, some love...

[Jane (PS) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great adventure on the August & Ricardo crazy train, ably pulling in Pedro Silva and David Chandler into their web of chaos. Having said that, Silva brought it upon himself ;) And now I HAVE to read Silva and Chandler's book!

Narrated by Michael Ferraiuolo - great as usual. My only complaint is that sometimes his 'Ricardo's words slurred and didn't fully understand the sentence/s.

[Carey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love these characters but this ending/not ending? Ugh!

[Lynn P · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great!

I hope that there is another book with Chandler and Silvio. This was a great addition to the Hitman vs Hitman series. I hope that there are more to come.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s absolutely glorious fast paced mayhem. With relationships and character growth.

Rating: 4.75🌈

I really love absolute narrative lunacy! That’s Killer vs Kingpin pretty much from start to finish. A murderous Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride that expands on its initial theme of killers for hire into assassins antiheroes thwarting double crossing cartel minions, doing deals/breaking bread/being insane with all sorts of criminals, agencies and with as many weapons as possible.

It’s absolutely glorious fast paced mayhem. With relationships and character growth.

And death, blood, and a poodle. Nothing bad at all happens to the poodle.

If I had a wish though, I sorta wish that Eve and August’s classy, tough as nails sister, Elodie, would get together. Unfortunately, as she’s already married to the doctor, Paschal, also an important character within the series, it’s unlikely. I can dream, can’t I?


Mafia consigliere Pedro Silva and Police Detective Chandler, two fascinating ongoing personalities, come powerfully into action here. The chemistry and dynamics are fantastic. Their book is next.

I love it when a series keeps the original high energy but is able to expand and improve on the original by adding depth and complexity to the relationships and themes.

That’s exactly what the authors are doing here.

And why I’m recommending the book and series.


Read them in the order they are written.


Hitman Vs Hitman series:
- [x] Hitman Vs Hitman #1
- [x] Sniper vs Spotter #2
- [x] Killer vs Kingpin #3
- [ ] Cop vs Capo #4 - Jan 4, 2023

[Kelly (Maybedog) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The books in this series always end with a cliffhanger but I was very disappointed that this book resolved the previous ending off page. They finished with one person unconscious in a hospital and started with them in their house.

I really like that the physical consequences of that story continued into this one though. August has severe injuries as the result of things that happened in the previous book. It sounds like they’ll continue to get better but it will take time.

When this was a good 80% done, I was frustrated because the climax just wasn’t that exciting for me. Most of the book just kind of felt like a screwball comedy with the exception of one person getting really hurt. But even he was someone they couldn’t stand. However, I just needed to hang on because more was to come

It was interesting that this was about fentanyl being laced with something that killed people when fentanyl is so often the drug which laces something else. (I really don’t get the point of lacing with more potent drugs. It’s too risky and why would you want your clientele to die off?

I have to talk for a sec about a couple of things said in the book. Fentanyl isn’t a party drug. It’s too strong and dangerous for people to just do it occasionally. It’s for opiate addicts. A heavy dose of an opiate wouldn’t give someone a rush and a boost during the day. It relaxes you. If you know someone using fentanyl, they’ve got an incredibly serious drug problem.

Back to the story which was good. I liked the plot and how it developed. I thought there were several things that were very clever but also some that were dumb. (A fire started at the exit from a room with no other way to get out would suck the air out quickly and kill everyone inside.)

I liked the characters and their banter. I’m surprised this wasn’t labeled “humor” by more people and I’m flabbergasted as to why it is considered dark. Yes there are dark elements…maybe it’s a black comedy?

I do like that they bring up people of color being harassed by the police and stopped by traffic cops far more often. I’m not completely sure why Ricardo considered himself dark skinned. I believe he is Catalonian (he at least speaks their language) but that is a European culture. Hispanic Americans are considered white with Latino heritage. Certainly, people who look Mexican or other Spanish cultures are stopped a lot like Black people are. That’s not my question. I’d like to know more about Catalonia.

Since this ended on a cliffhanger, I of course want to read the next one right away. But I have so many more books I need to read for challenges right now. Argh!!

The reader, Michale Ferraiuolo, is amazing. He can do many voices and accents. His intonation, timbre, and tempo were all good. I’m not sure why he gave Ricardo a slight lisp though. It was so slight, it’s either amazing or unintentional. I heard a bit with another character so I’m leaning toward unintentional but aside from that, the accent was excellent. I would have to go back through the previous books to find out if that’s an issue for a Ricardo but I don’t care enough.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glad to be back with August and Ricardo

You a series has made an impression when you can pick up book three after a long time since book two and very quickly fall back into the flow and be caught up on the backstory from memory. That’s how entertaining August and Ricardo are.

In this book they are forced into helping a mob boss to whom they owe a favor from an incident in a previous book. This one involves deadly drugs being introduced into the supply chain. It’s a bit of a different assignment for our assassins. There’s also a subplot of August’s sister worrying that her husband is cheating on her and August’s reaction to that…I’m sure you can imagine!

There’s lots of action and the crisis moment is a big one. The book ends on a cliffhanger after the crisis moment so we don’t get a resolution here but there is an interesting setup for book four.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is so much I like about this series.
There's humor, including somewhat off-color humor that I particularly enjoy.
I'm almost ashamed (No I'm not) that I found the entire lighter interrogation scene hilarious.

I love the interaction between the main characters.
August's personality is .... I don't have the adjectives to gush appropriately.
And Riccardo complements him so well!

And yeah, the ending? I'm hoping there will be more in this series. 😁
I've enjoyed other collaborations between L.A. Witt and Cari Z.. But this series has a balance of humor and action/badassery that I just love.

[LWM · Rating 5 out of 5]

August is hilarious, which made the whole book enjoyable.

Augustus (why doesn't anyone call him Auggie? It would serve him right for teasing Ricardo with Ricky) says the most off the wall, truly funny things without getting annoying about it. Ricardo, of course, is why August's truly funny snark is cut off before everyone else pulls a fun to shoot him!

The two deadly hitmen are awfully domestic together in this one, with Ricardo being almost tender with August because of his painfully missing toes. Five stars seem inadequate, as these two authors have whipped up a remarkable, most entertaining read. Note - there is sort of a cliffhanger as the future is very questionable for Detective Chandler, Silva the mobster, August and Ricardo. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm actually thinking 3.5 stars rounded up because I am sick of the constant haranguing about cops. I'm not defending cops, but we freaking get it. Stop slamming me over the head with it. Especially as the books are making the mob and assassins positive role models.

Beyond that I still love August and Ricardo. I'm really enjoying the interplay between the cop and the mob boss as well. The story overall was the weakest of the three so far mainly because of the above and because it focused so little on Ricardo and August's relationship. I hope the next book backs off the constant "look at how aware I am that there is injustice" because it really will ruin the books if it doesn't.

Audio: another stellar performance from Ferraiuolo.

[Gaby · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel that even though the plot was decent, it was also confusing. Like, Pedro Silva was the bad guy in book 1, but now they are somehow allies. There were a lot of action scenes and police involvement, and so many people mentioned that I got to a point where I didn't know what was happening.

The romance and relationship between Ricrado and August took a back seat, and it felt left out of the story. It was still good, and the moments we saw of them together were still lovely, but they weren’t that many.

I'll still probably read the next one because I want to know what happens, but I think the best part was the tension between Detective Chandler and Silva. I would 100% read about them; it sounded hot.

[Roxy K · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5* Stars - I love these guys 🥰🥰. August and Ricardo are an adorable assassin couple and their romance is really well done ♥️♥️. It’s not overtly simpering but the love and care is clearly shown.

Michael Ferraiuolo is an auto listen narrator and once again he does a wonderful job 🤩💛💖. I must give him credit for bringing these characters to life and being a large reason for me continuing with this series 😃.

I’m definitely looking forward to the next book, Silva and Chandlers budding romance has me excited.

[Els · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's my least favourite of the three so far. I did love the appearance of new characters and exploring an old one more, but I missed the balance a bit between the suspense part and the private parts. I don't mean smut, but scenes where they are alone and do stuff alone. When they did, though, it was sweet and swoony. Love them!

Ricardo giving hints to Pedro about how to handle Chandler was the best 😂 I didn't know he had it on him! I can actually see these two become some sort of friends, kind of hoping on it!

[Cara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another standalone ;) . I'm having a super fun summer with Ricardo and August.

In this one, people are dying suspiciously from drug overdoses. I say suspicious because none of them have a history of drug use. Pedro de Silva calls the boys to investigate, in their own way, why this is happening.
Here the mafia appears, August hanging out at the country club, and Ricardo wondering if his relationship with August is exclusive and what would happen if he cheated on him.
It opens the door to the next one with David and Pedro.

[audiobook_chaos · Rating 5 out of 5]

With the debt to Pedro Silva now called in August and Ricardo have to find out who it tainting drugs that are killing people .
Not only do they have to deal with the rival mob they have the police following August accusing him of murders socialite and to top it all a close family member is affected by the tainted drugs.
Another day in the lives of August and Ricardo the poor guys never get a break do they.

[Justjeanette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant

First off Cari Z and LA Witt should give master-classes on storytelling through dialogue because they do that so well.
The frenemies to lovers that is Ricardo and August is a joy. The surrounding characters bring depth to the Universe.
I'm greedy.... I still want more.
Owing the MoB is never a good thing... when that marker is called... well, at least August has the right suit for the job. Enjoy: I did.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

August and Ricky are just so much fun

The shenanigans these two get into are oftentimes dangerous but their reactions are just sublime.

I have enjoyed everything the authors have put these poor guys through and I eagerly await the next instalment.

Ricardo’s long suffering patience toward August is one of the best parts.

[AnjiRae17 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I swear... and again. Im just sooooo into Pedro and Detective Chandler. Finishing this book asap just so I can read their book. And anyway, i dont even remember is there a spicy scenese in this book at all? I think yes right?

Oh yes oh yes. I love how the pov of both august and ricardo showing how they really love each other .. WAAAAHHHHH T.T

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel NO guilt whatsoever when I say that I love these guys and the books in this series haven't let me down yet! Sometimes you just have to do you and be happy with that. This is perhaps a lesson that would make this world a better place. *grin*