Blood Brothers by George P. Hopkins is an exciting crime thriller that brings together three seemingly disparate worlds: the Mafia, lower-middle-class Catholic Brooklyn, and high-level international espionage. When mob boss Rocco Muscatelli gets killed, everyone assumes it’s the Colombian drug dealers, whose territory Muscatelli reportedly tried to muscle into. But when Muscatelli’s lieutenant, the funeral home owner and several others are killed soon afterward, it’s a free-for-all. Investigating the case are NYPD Detectives Morty Goldberg and Thomas Cavanaugh, whose good-natured Irish-versus-Jewish banter provides a humorous element to the book. At the same time, an unstable, highly dangerous former CIA operative with a vendetta is keeping an eye on the case for his own sinister purposes. Everyone’s looking for a group of students at Bishop Bergin High School who were witnesses to the Muscatelli murder. And at the center of everything is the local parish priest – who was a man of the gun before he was a man of the cloth.

George P. Hopkins keeps the action moving in Blood Brothers. He’s obviously familiar with the area of Brooklyn he writes about, including such landmarks as Green-Wood Cemetery. At first it seems like several separate stories happening concurrently, but the reader will be surprised when the hidden relationships between some of the characters are revealed. You’ll be sitting on the edge of your chair with suspense as you wonder who will get to the teenage bystanders first – the mob, the cops or the former CIA man, who’s been known to kill at the drop of a hat. You’ll find yourself identifying with the priest, who struggles to remain true to his moral convictions in a violent world. All in all, Blood Brothers is a book that you won’t be able to put down.

Blood Brothers is a police procedural mystery written by George R. Hopkins. Someone assassinated Mafia boss, Rocco Muscatelli, as he left an Italian restaurant in Brooklyn, NY. Witnesses George and Frankie are freelance covert operatives who've been assigned the task of filming the mobster's movements, and their old green van is parked in the vicinity. Six teenagers are also present when the shooting takes place. They're all students at Bishop Bergin High School and are fellow students of Bobby Muscatelli, the mobster's youngest son. They're quick to realize that being noticed at the scene is not at all in their interests and they hastily depart, deciding to return the next day for the Chevy Nova they came in. They have been noticed, however, both by the watchers in the van and the Mafia personnel. Police Officers Cavanaugh and Goldberg have been assigned to this increasingly violent and complicated criminal case.

George R. Hopkins' novel, Blood Brothers, is an intelligent and exciting work which combines the elements of a police procedural and a thriller. Father Jack Bennis, the Green Beret and CIA operative turned Jesuit priest, is a complex and fascinating character. I especially enjoyed the repartee of the two police officers, Cavanaugh and Goldberg, as they come to an understanding of their different religious and social viewpoints while working on the case. Hopkins is a gifted writer whose words quickly grab the reader's attention, and his descriptions of the Brooklyn neighborhood where the story is set are marvelous. Blood Brothers is a fast-paced and enthralling story that keeps the reader on edge and guessing until the last page. I had a great time reading it, and I highly recommend it.