David's Reviews > The Vegas Trap

Mafia Enforcer Danny wants a promotion. He wants to move up in the rackets from watching over a casino to something more substantial, lucrative, and important. Problem is, his uncle Vito, the head of the mob who owns the casino, doesn't think Danny has the brains to have a higher position. Danny contrives a plan to flood the casino with counterfeit chips and takes his old army buddy, Sam, as a partner in stealing from the casino. When Vito finds out about the chips, Danny is assigned to find the perpetrators, but instead decides to frame Uncle Vito.

The real main character of the story is Sam. The focus is on his attitude, his failing marriage, his desire to move on to bigger and better things. He is more level-headed than Danny, but pressured by his gold-digging wife who is running him into debt, falls into Danny's scheme.

There is some interesting character development between Sam and his wife, but is tragic in nature. They are trying to resolve issue, but not having much luck. Even the extra money hasn't been adequate to save the marriage because Sam has it squirreled away in a safe deposit box for the day he makes the split with Danny. Sam's observations on life are probably the most important part of this book.

When the real action gets going, it happens entirely too fast, making it more of a character study than a mob story. Then, Sam contrives a scheme to get out of the mess and Vito acts in a manner that is totally unexpected.

This was an interesting book, but far from great. Still, I managed to enjoy most of it. The pacing was very good at the beginning, but very rushed in final chapters, as if the author had to hit a deadline rather than building the suspense.

I don't know of any other books by this author and just stumbled on this one in a Thrift store. Maybe its rarity might make it more valuable except the copy I have is rather worn. So, I'll just pass it along to my usual recepient of the books I've finished.