Black Boat Dancing (Con Maknazpy Book 2)

“A remarkable thriller about money, technology and geopolitics that manages to feel both timeless and timely. Black Boat Dancing contains plenty of familiar thriller comfort food, most notably the reluctant war hero with a blood-soaked past, pulled back into action for the most important job of his life. But there’s also a lot here that is new, particularly in terms of style. Author Gerard Cappa constantly blends elements of traditional noir with subject matter that could only exist in the present. Mambo Italiano serves as a soundtrack while black hat hackers create mayhem, and pulp thriller dialogue is delivered alongside contemporary concepts like “Pipelineistan”. Thanks to Cappa’s gift for storytelling, the end result is extremely satisfying”- BestThrillers.com

Writers from Chandler and Hammett through William Burroughs, Charles Willeford, James Elroy, Bret Easton Ellis and Don deLillo have shown how the administration of cities is not corrupt, but inherently predatory. Speaking directly to supra-national, neo-liberal depredation, Jean-Patrick Manchette and Don Delillo, are matched by Gerard Cappa, in Black Boat Dancing, and his earlier Blood from a Shadow. As with noir of the mid-20th century, protagonists are not destroyed but potentially redeemed by their own sin and suffering. They force their humanity to come to life. The ultimate 21st century heroism is to struggle for the control of one’s own destiny. Con Maknazpy’s struggle is a remarkable example - more complete, more blissfully anarchistic, than the nation-loving kind of hero” Jay A Gertzman

When Jorginho the Black Hat hacker goes AWOL in Portugal with the secrets of America’s role in the Arab Spring rebellions, Maknazpy is enlisted to bring him back - dead or alive.

Maknazpy tracks the runaway through the narrow streets of old Lisbon until he is betrayed and the hunter becomes the hunted.

Juggling a hot money scam and cold war treachery, only his animal cunning keeps him one step ahead of his US handlers, Chinese Military Intelligence, the Russian Mafia and a Brazilian street gang.

No one has a monopoly on moral authority in this dark world and Maknazpy is no knight-errant asserting the moral good - and that’s why he may just survive.

“Unique and unpredictable, always a nice experience, especially in a genre that is fraught with derivative copycats. Some really great concepts worth deeper deliberation. Almost literary at times, with the easy-flowing prose and powerful word choices - a well-written, intelligently complex novel with truly unexpected twists that will open your mind and keep you on your toes” - Indy Book Reviews

“The real-world complexity of Black Boat Dancing, in a wide variety of forms, is another reason why it demands the reader’s close attention. Shifting partnerships, pragmatic realignments, and transformations of persona have to be acknowledged, otherwise we can lose our way in Cappa’s dramatic narrative from one page to the next - loaded with action, stabs-in-the-back, heart-felt loss, tense standoffs and even a hint of mysticism” - Robert Bickel

Con Maknazpy is an odd name, one that was explained in the intricately plotted 2012 debut of his character, “Blood from a Shadow.” That anticipated Obama’s re-election, full of Iranian intrigue and the current situation that continues to reveal Western (and here, Eastern) superpowers battling over control of “Pipelineistan” and where oil from not only the Middle East but Eurasia will wind up. Cappa continues the mix of subtle allusion, rapidly paced violent set-pieces, and character reflection, for Con encounters from the earliest pages the “red frenzy” inherited from ancient Irish ancestors, and in turn, Cú Chullain’s “warp spasms.” Cappa handles these references lightly, such that you may not realize the preparation he gives in both tales to their literary and mythic resonance” John L Murphy

” For readers who like thrillers with much action, politics, and crime” - S