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Loading... Grift Sense (2001)by James Swain
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. First book in a series about Tony Valentine, a retired cop, who now works as a consultant to keep hustlers from beating casinos. Somewhat convoluted plot, but reasonably likable characters. ( ) This is a new author (for me) and a great find. It introduces Tony Valentine who is a retired cop specializing in grifters - con artists. He's hired to figure out how this guy was playing 'perfect' Black Jack in a Las Vegas casino. These characters are great. There is another in the series and another coming. Yahoo! Grift Sense is the first of the series by James Swain. The main character, Tony Valentine, has a certain gift when it comes to searching out hustlers and cheaters. The book is full of well rounded, colorful, characters. The book offers a great back stage look at the casino industry. The ending actually suprised me. Looking forward to the reading the next one in the series. The insider's view of Las Vegas gambling was interesting and I liked the main character, Tony Valentine. I found the writing itself a little rough in spots, but that no doubt is due to this being a first novel. I'll be looking for the rest of the series as I expect that the writing improves with each one. no reviews | add a review
Belongs to SeriesTony Valentine (book 1)
In the world of cheating, professional hustlers and cross-roaders (people who cheat casinos) pride themselves on their ability to sense when a scam is going down. Having this ability is the ultimate gift, and is called 'grift sense'. The Acropolis is a casino that has seen better days: it's quickly falling out of pace with the rest of Las Vegas. Its one big tourist attraction is One-Armed Billy, a cigar-store Indian turned slot machine. When a blackjack player starts to win consistently against the casino, the owner gets suspicious and calls in crusty Tony Valentine to investigate. A sixty-two-year-old retired cop with a unique understanding of the mechanics of high-stakes gambling, wonderfully misanthropic Tony also specializes in spotting and hunting down grifters. Valentine soon finds himself embroiled in a fascinating but lethal world of hustlers, hit men and corrupt police, and he'll need more than luck to come out of it alive. No library descriptions found. |
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