They thought they could cover up what an out-of-control trader at a Manhattan brokerage firm did to Olivia Sanchez. She worked hard, played by the rules, but so what? Blackball her from the industry and be done with her.
Who's going to stop them?
Nobody, until Olivia turns to her cousin Manny, an ex-con and ex-gang leader whose first reaction is to take care of the arrogant bastard who hurt his cousin—permanently. His partner, James Beck, part of a tight clique of ex-cons based in Brooklyn's Red Hook, convinces Manny to hold off. Things can be complicated in the real world. But even the savvy Beck has no idea what's really going on.
There's much more at stake than Beck imagines, starting with enough money to ignite a level of ruthless greed that can wipe Beck and his partners off the face of the earth. It's tens of millions of dollars, connected to arms dealing for a clandestine U.S. agency.
Beck and his loyal band are forced into an escalating nonstop war against an arms dealer, war criminals, Russian mobsters, and even the NYPD. The only way to stay out of prison and survive is to outsmart, outfight, never concede, and ultimately rob their enemies of the source of their power: 116 million dollars.
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Creators
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Series
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Publisher
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Release date
February 3, 2015 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781427259271
- File size: 412330 KB
- Duration: 14:19:01
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from December 8, 2014
Tough guy James Beck, the star of this outstanding thriller from Clarkson (One Way Out), runs a barely above-the-boards operation in Red Hook, Brooklyn, to give employment and a second chance to his fellow ex-cons. Beck tries to protect prison acquaintance Manny Guzman from avenging Olivia Sanchez, Guzman’s beautiful cousin, who was once a compliance officer at a high-powered Wall Street hedge fund. Sanchez claims to have been physically harmed, fired, and blackballed from the financial industry after attempting to rein in a rogue trader at her firm. Beck pulls together his quasi gang—which includes a bevy of appealing ruffians, mobsters, and burglars—to correct the wrong. But in doing so, he uncovers a plot to launder tens of millions from illegal arms sales, and he riles psychotic Russian arms dealer Leonid Markov, who now wants Beck dead. Clarkson’s relentless storytelling drives Beck and his foes toward a satisfying apocalyptic climax. Fans of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher will find a lot to like. Agent: Alexandra Machinist, Janklow & Nesbit. -
This whizbang of an audiobook would ring all the bells, but for one oddity. John Clarkson writes fight scenes fast, enthusiastically, and often, and Peter Berkrot delivers them like a one-man moviola machine--you see them, you hear them, you practically need an ambulance yourself when they subside, and you better rest fast because there will be another one along in just a minute. The complex plot (a group of ex-cons get swept into a high-finance scam) is wonderfully well made and always ahead of you. The problem? Berkrot invents a tough-guy voice for the narrator, who isn't a character in the story, and it's all over the place, inconsistent and distracting. Regrettable since the rest of his performance is great fun, as is the book. B.G. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
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