The Stakes
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3.0 • 5 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
An NYPD robbery detective uses his insider knowledge to rob criminals. The dazzling new stand-alone thriller from the bestselling author of American Blood and Marshall's Law.
'It's easy to see what the fuss is about. Sanders' prose is sharper than a switchblade ... It's like Raymond Chandler, Lee Child and Elmore Leonard rolled into one.' Sydney Morning Herald
Rip-offs are a dangerous game, but NYPD robbery detective Miles Keller thinks he's found a good strategy: rip off rich New York criminals and then retire early, before word's out about his true identity. New town, new name, no worries.
Retirement can't come soon enough, though. The NYPD is investigating him for the shooting of a hitman named Jack Deen, who was targeting a former police informant who also happened to be Miles's ex-lover.
Miles thinks shooting hitmen counts as altruism, but in any case a murder charge would make life difficult. He's ready to go to ground, but then Nina Stone reappears in his life.
Nina is a fellow heist professional and the estranged wife of an LA crime boss. Miles last saw her five years ago, when he was investigating her for bank robbery and looked the other way, for reasons he is still trying to figure out. Since then her life has grown more complicated: her husband wants her back, and he's dispatched his go-to gun thug to play repo man.
Complicating matters is the fact that the gun thug in question is Bobby Deen, cousin of the dead Jack Deen - and Bobby wants vengeance.
The stakes couldn't be higher, but Nina has an offer that could be lucrative. Maybe Miles can stick around a while longer and get the big payoff he's been waiting for? But luck has a way of running out and soon Miles is in way over his head.
Effortlessly cool, suspenseful as hell and pure reading pleasure, The Stakes confirms Ben Sanders as one of our finest writers of crime fiction.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The NYPD is investigating detective Miles Keller, the hero of this entertaining if sketchy crime novel from New Zealand author Sanders (Marshall's Law), for killing Jack Deen, a hit man he believed was targeting his ex-girlfriend, former police informant Lucy Gates. On the side, Miles robs wealthy criminals. His current extracurricular project is intercepting a payoff to a rich and ruthless lawyer playing go-between in an assassination plot. Meanwhile, a rich gangster sends L.A. hired gun Bobby Deen, Jack's cousin, to New York to locate his missing wife, the irresistible and brilliant Nina. Nina just happens to be in the heist business, too, and tempts both Miles and Bobby with her latest scheme. Fast-paced alternating viewpoints Miles's and Bobby's challenge the reader to keep track of the complicated plot. Convincing dialogue and unexpected twists help compensate for a surfeit of heists and insufficiently filled-out characters (where Miles lives is never clear). References to New York's "freeways" and subway "carriages" suggest Sanders could have used more editorial direction. Still, fans of Donald Westlake's caper novels will find much to like.
Customer Reviews
Professional job. Familiar tropes.
3.5 stars
Author
Kiwi in his thirties, who has already published seven, possibly eight, novels in this genre, the early ones set in NZ, the rest in the USA where the noir is noirer.
In brief
Crooked cop with heart of gold (No, really) is on suspension for snuffing an unarmed dude. Over a girl of course. This one carries an oxygen bottle because of emphysema. You don’t see that every day in detective stories. Or romances. The equal opportunity crowd will be happy. To keep busy, and make some money so he can disappear, he sticks his nose in other business involving Russian mafia. Meanwhile, a sharp dressed wannabe actor dude from LA finds his role as hit man, falls in luuurrrvvve with the boss’s much younger wife, and is dispatched to the Big Apple, avec Ukrainian minders heavy on ordinance and short on sense of humour, to bring her back after she does a runner. The two plot lines become enmeshed in a shootout in front of, and inside, a SoHo hotel. Stuff happens.
Writing
Crisp prose, good pace, slick dialogue, murder, mayhem, and enough plot twists to be going on with. Professional job. Familiar tropes.
Bottom line
Homage to classic American noir that felt a little overdone at times, but entertains.