Rating: 4 Stars

Publisher: Self Published

Genre: Gay Romance

Tags: Series, Cop and Mafia, Hitmen, Humour, Low Steam

Length: 258 Pages 

Reviewer: Kazza

Purchase At: amazon

Blurb:

Wherever August Morrison and Ricardo Torralba go, chaos is sure to follow. The authors certainly know this, since their “standalone book” has now turned into a series with no end in sight, because…UGH. These two. We give up.

Anyway.

Detective David Chandler had no clue what he was getting into when he and his partner decided they were going to nail August for murder. They didn’t realize it was one of the few murders August didn’t commit, or that their homicide investigation would lead them into the middle of a mob war.

Cavalcante underboss Pedro Silva knew asking August and Ricardo for help was a terrible idea. Just mentioning their names is bad for Pedro’s blood pressure. Owing them a favor? Oh Lord. He still asked, though, because he was out of options, but he can’t say he didn’t know he’d regret it.

Neither man expected things to blow up this badly.

Now they’re both on the run from the mafia, the cops, and everyone in between… except for August and Ricardo. On one hand, that means they have two expert assassins in their corner. On the other, it means they have the biggest troll on the planet heckling them at every turn. And sticking them in a safehouse together. With only one bed.

And if August or Ricardo make one more comment about how Dave and Pedro should just hook up already…

Cop vs. Capo is 67,500 words long, and is book 4 of the Hitman vs. Hitman series.

CW: combat PTSD, alcoholism, on-page violence, discussion of abuse of a sex worker.

Review:

They’re baaa-aaack! This started out as one little standalone book then, boom, it took off. Thank goodness readers shouted at the authors, the characters also shouted at Z and Witt, I’m sure, to write more more more. Of course, the shouting was all done in the best possible taste – thanks Cupid Stunt – and here we are, four books in.

Anything about August and Ricardo I will read. As soon as I saw this was out, I pounced. Pedro Silva has been in books preceding this one and he gets a shot at love this time. He’s mafia. Well, right now he’s running from the mafia… as well as the cops. Until the fentanyl situation blew up in the last book – involving a couple of cartels, also two Mafia families, the Cavalcantes and the Vaccaros – Silva was in charge of diplomatic areas for Cavalcante businesses, as well as some occasional enforcing. Now, he’s hiding out with Dave Chandler, a cop, in one of hitman August’s myriad safe houses he’s invested in over the years, with good reason. There are bears and raccoons nearby and both Pedro and Dave are city guys at heart, and the peace, although better than being shot at, is annoying. Dave and his police partner, Cliff, had been on August and Riccardo’s tails and Pedro was also under their scrutiny. Now Cliff is dead and Dave’s stuck with the other three as he lays low with Pedro Silva while August and Riccardo come by to update them, pass on info, and to organise not so meet-cutes with assorted individuals to test the water.

For God knew how long, Pedro was stuck here. In the woods. With a goddamned cop. A goddamned grieving cop who was going to drown his sorrows the way Pedro desperately wished he could.
Son of a bitch. I’m in hell.

The biggest issue they have is that they have to rely heavily on August and Riccardo, two professional hitmen. They seem like they have their backs, but’s what’s to stop them taking big $$ from the cartels, maybe the Cavalcantes or Vaccaros, for a hit on both of them? The Cavalcantes are not necessarily going to have Pedro’s back after shit went down but he needs to try. Dave wants to talk to his captain because he believes he can help. Yes, the local police have dirty cops on organised crime payrolls, but not all the cops are dirty and Dave believes in the job he’s been doing for a number of years. If the mafia don’t or won’t have Pedro’s back, his captain could help out. Pedro’s been with the Cavalcante family far too long to take a chance on finding a good apple amongst a bunch of cops. The MCs have very real trust dilemmas every which way.

And though the thought made him sick, Pedro realized that this version of Dave was exactly what would sell the “tortured prisoner” story. Pedro hated himself for it, but he had to let Dave stay like this. At least until the meeting was over.

I really hadn’t thought much about Pedro and Dave as an ‘us’. It took me a while to get into them being a couple, despite Riccardo telling Pedro to ‘just blow Dave and get it over with’. It wasn’t like there was this grand build up to these guys being together. I have to be honest and say that basically I was here for the August and Riccardo show, but this storyline was a nice deviation, allowing me to get to see my main men being friends with some other people. To see August being himself, which Dave and Pedro did not always appreciate. I just cannot imagine why 😀

But both Pedro and Dave have backstories, they aren’t really in depth as such, but they are enough to drive a degree of connection and understanding.

I also want to give a shout out to Paschal, August’s brother-in-law. Man, he is the most accommodating and available trauma surgeon in the universe.

There will be another book after this one, the end credits tell us that there will be a wedding. I’m really not a wedding reader but I’ll probably get the book – because August and Riccardo. I guess this will mean the end of what will be the 5th book to a – cough cough – “standalone” series. *Laughs in August Mason. Speaking of, I’m off next to listen to Michael Ferraiuolo once again deliver August and Riccardo (Killer vs Kingpin) in his inimitable style. Yessss! 4 Stars! for Cop vs Capo. 

NB: As of now, January 2023, this book is $1.00 US. It’s 258 pages. I’m usually paying close to $10 if not over sometimes in $AUS for Kindle e-books this size. This is a bargain.