You can use your St. Louis County Library card to borrow titles from these partner libraries:
1 of 1 copy available
There’s a new casino in town, aptly named Sin, the largest on The Strip: three thousand guest rooms and a gambling floor as big as an airport terminal. The owners of Sin want Valentine to show them how the scams are done. But these powerful men harbor ulterior motives: They want to use their newfound skills to put a rival casino out of business.
Sin’s competition is the Acropolis, run by Valentine’s longtime pal. Nick taps Tony to figure out how an amateur won $50,000 at his blackjack tables. But the small job is full of landmines. For starters, the suspect bears a strong resemblance to his late wife. What’s more, Valentine’s son is still M.I.A. Upping the ante, a dead stripper is found with Valentine’s calling card—and her grief-stricken boyfriend is vowing revenge.
Yet in a city where barracudas wear pinstripes, time seems motionless even while it flies, and reality and illusion shift depending on the neon light, a greater threat maneuvers through the streets: an all-new breed of criminal with an agenda propelled by fury that will shake not just Valentine, but the city of Las Vegas.
-
Creators
-
Series
-
Publisher
-
Release date
March 5, 2004 -
Formats
-
OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781415951941
- File size: 253859 KB
- Duration: 08:48:52
-
-
Languages
- English
-
Reviews
-
Las Vegas is the place, and Tony Valentine is the man hired by the owner of a busy casino to catch big-time gambling cheats. Formerly a cop, he knows all the villains and their ways, but his own way is muddled by a near suicide and the discovery that his own son is enrolled at a card-counting school. Paul Boehmer's reading fails to provide a human slant on these characters and their fears. He portrays the women as airheads who speak in high tones that deprive them of the listener's empathy. The males, too, have distinct voices, mostly of stereotypical gangsters. Boehmer's interpretation grates on the ears, ultimately making this light novel better for reading than listening. J.P. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine -
May 10, 2004
Swain's fourth Tony Valentine novel (after 2003's Sucker Bet
) starts out on a wacky, breezy note, but the horror of a threatened terrorist attack that develops in a subplot jars in a tale centered on the seedy world of gambling and more mundane crimes like (non-mass-) murder and robbery. Tony Valentine, a retired Atlantic City cop who helps gambling casinos catch swindlers, travels to Las Vegas to show three casino owners how blackjack players use a new high-tech device to cheat. He's also checking up on his feckless son Gerry, in town to learn about illegal card-counting so he can join Tony's business. But Tony's three clients have also hired Frank Fontaine—a world-class card sharp and Tony's longtime enemy, who has FBI connections—to run a scam that will close a casino owned by Tony's friend Nick Nicocropolis. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Gerry, two new foreign friends have links to al Qaeda. An expert on casino swindles, the author packs his books with mind-boggling cons and scams—how to do them and stop them—along with entertaining dialogue and vivid characters, notably the strong, sympathetic Tony. No doubt many readers will be attracted to the timely terrorist element, but those expecting another fast-paced gambling romp may be disappointed to see Tony sidetracked. Agent, Chris Calhoun at Sterling Lord Literistic. 10-city author tour.
-