Double Down
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Veteran thief Nolan tangles with a skyjacker and vigilante in two full-length novels from Grandmaster Max Allan Collins (Road to Perdition), collected in one volume for the first time ever.
It Takes a Thief to Take a Thief.
In the aftermath of a bloody heist, Nolan and Jon find themselves flying home to count their ill-gotten gains -- but a skyjacker taking the same flight has other plans. Meanwhile, in Des Moines, someone is offing members of the Mob-connected DiPreta family and the Mob thinks maybe Nolan can make it stop. Maybe he can -- for a six-figure fee.
Originally published as two separate novels (and unavailable in bookstores for 40 years!), DOUBLE DOWN finds Nolan and Jon pursuing the American dream in their inimitable criminal fashion. Flying high off his recent return after more than three decades in SKIM DEEP, Nolan is one of MWA Grand Master Max Allan Collins' most unforgettable characters, and DOUBLE DOWN is Nolan at his hard-boiled, larcenous best.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This welcome collection from MWA Grand Master Collins Skim Deep offers two gritty crime novels, both first published in 1981, starring heist man Nolan. In the superior Fly Paper, the 50-year-old veteran thief of 20 years begins to go stir-crazy in Sycamore, Ill., while managing a motel for a powerful Chicago crime syndicate. Sherry, his "almost obscenely young" girlfriend, has gone to Ohio to care for her sick mother, leaving him restless and frustrated. When his young, comic book–fanatic partner in crime, Jon, requests his help, Nolan relishes being drawn into a big-money heist involving vicious, double-crossing father and son crooks and facing off with a desperate antagonist, who has taken advantage of a wave of skyjackings. The less gripping Hush Money, set one week after the end of Fly Paper, revolves around the Mafia-connected DiPreta family, with Nolan tasked with finding the sniper who's picking off the DiPretas. Collins's careful plotting and attentiveness toward character development steer the narrative to a reasonably satisfying resolution despite some redundant backstory. Fans of old-school, hard-edged heist yarns will have fun.
