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Ricochet
Frank Conti, a Vietnam vet, swears vengeance upon the Atlantic City Mafia after his wife, child, and father are murdered, vowing to confront the Mafia chieftan and exact his revenge
288 pages, Paperback
First published October 14, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 14, 2026
Pretty decent book about a Vietnam vet out for revenge against the mob. This doesn’t go the way of Mack Bolan/Executioner, but takes its own unique path.
Frank Conti is a former Green Beret Vietnam vet from South Philly. He now works as a banker and is married. A tragedy in the couple’s life has turned the wife into a depressed gambling addict. This comes to the attention of Tony “The Blade” Allio who is the crime boss of Atlantic City. He lures Frank’s wife there to hold her hostage and to get back at Frank. Frank and Tony grew up together in Philly and became quick enemies. Tony had his gang of thugs beat up Frank pretty badly. Frank bides his time healing and begins to learn karate. He shows up at Tony’s place the day before he’s to ship out to Nam and beats the living hell out of Tony. Now years later Tony is looking for revenge.
For Frank to get his wife back he’s got to extort money from his bank and become a drug mule for Tony. Frank reluctantly agrees and while on a plane trip to Mexico the plane crashes and Frank fakes his death so that he can find his wife and settle the score with Tony.
Meanwhile Frank’s dad is a Philly cop looking into the death of a rival mobster and his mother that is tied into Tony. Frank’s dad is working alongside a NJ cop to take Tony down. He also finds out Frank’s wife has been kidnapped and gets involved in trying to find her as well.
The book is divided up into sub chapters. About half way through Frank finally reveals to his dad and now rescued wife that he is alive and it leads you to believe that Frank and his dad are going to go all guns a blazing at Tony and his mob. This does not happen. Instead the next chapter jumps ahead and becomes a courtroom drama! It’s quite the dramatic shift from what came before.
The final sub chapter jumps ahead after the trial is over. It’s this sub chapter that becomes pretty dark with lots of characters being killed off and we finally get the bloody final confrontation between Frank and Tony.
One of the other things I would like to mention is the flashback scenes of Frank in Vietnam. These sections are really good and flesh out Frank’s character more. One of the craziest moments is when a hooker gives Frank a joint that is laced with some other drugs that has him tripping balls during a mission that turns into an ambush. There’s some really shocking moments during this sequence.
Overall I would recommend checking it out. The courtroom drama turn after the first half of the book is a bit jarring, but I felt the ending made up for it.
Frank Conti is a former Green Beret Vietnam vet from South Philly. He now works as a banker and is married. A tragedy in the couple’s life has turned the wife into a depressed gambling addict. This comes to the attention of Tony “The Blade” Allio who is the crime boss of Atlantic City. He lures Frank’s wife there to hold her hostage and to get back at Frank. Frank and Tony grew up together in Philly and became quick enemies. Tony had his gang of thugs beat up Frank pretty badly. Frank bides his time healing and begins to learn karate. He shows up at Tony’s place the day before he’s to ship out to Nam and beats the living hell out of Tony. Now years later Tony is looking for revenge.
For Frank to get his wife back he’s got to extort money from his bank and become a drug mule for Tony. Frank reluctantly agrees and while on a plane trip to Mexico the plane crashes and Frank fakes his death so that he can find his wife and settle the score with Tony.
Meanwhile Frank’s dad is a Philly cop looking into the death of a rival mobster and his mother that is tied into Tony. Frank’s dad is working alongside a NJ cop to take Tony down. He also finds out Frank’s wife has been kidnapped and gets involved in trying to find her as well.
The book is divided up into sub chapters. About half way through Frank finally reveals to his dad and now rescued wife that he is alive and it leads you to believe that Frank and his dad are going to go all guns a blazing at Tony and his mob. This does not happen. Instead the next chapter jumps ahead and becomes a courtroom drama! It’s quite the dramatic shift from what came before.
The final sub chapter jumps ahead after the trial is over. It’s this sub chapter that becomes pretty dark with lots of characters being killed off and we finally get the bloody final confrontation between Frank and Tony.
One of the other things I would like to mention is the flashback scenes of Frank in Vietnam. These sections are really good and flesh out Frank’s character more. One of the craziest moments is when a hooker gives Frank a joint that is laced with some other drugs that has him tripping balls during a mission that turns into an ambush. There’s some really shocking moments during this sequence.
Overall I would recommend checking it out. The courtroom drama turn after the first half of the book is a bit jarring, but I felt the ending made up for it.
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June 16, 2012I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11208622
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11208622
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews