Tom E. Kakonis

Tom Kakonis is another interesting author I have discovered, thanks to my goodreads friend & author James Thane. Blind Spot is the gritty tale of a father set on finding his kidnapped son against all odds, not the least his own ignorance of the ways of the big bad world out there. The novel holds the reader in its clutches from start to end. Populated by several well-etched, eccentric, disturbing characters, the narrative jumps between perspectives frequently. The author's descriptions of show more people and places, and the slang-filled dialogues paint a vivid picture of a tough, blue-collar life in Chicago of the Nineties. This book is a treasure trove - as far as my reading experience goes - of colourful curse words, the meanings for many of which I had to look up. I liked it, except for the unneeded descriptions and the meandering narrative at some places of the story that somewhat dampened the momentum. show less

This is a violent, deep, and darkly amusing crime thriller featuring Waverly, a wizard with cards and an ex-jailbird and an ex-ex-academic, who gets caught in a life and death struggle with some very nasty characters, just because he stopped to help out a damsel in distress. The plot of Michigan Roll is quite straightforward, but Kakonis has filled it with some rich characters, especially those of Waverly and the nasties, Shadow and Gleep. That is not to say the remaining characters are not show more well turned out. With graphic descriptions of violence and crisp, cracking dialogues, the well-paced narrative is engrossing. Included in the mix is some high philosophy, to be expected with the intellectual protagonist, which made my attention wander at times. The ending has something left hanging, a promise of further adventures. I liked this hard-hitting thriller and will get to the other ones in this line sometime soon. show less

Milo "Meat" Pitts is released from prison with a dream of hitting the big score. His wife, Starla Hudek, works at Fleets grocery store. Although "Meat" hasn't seen his wife in recent times, she never filed for divorce so they're still technically married. His scheme is to get insider information about the security from Starla and steal the cash from the store when the armored car picks up the receipts on Christmas eve.

Milo's planner is Doc Kasperson, a schemer who has a current business of show more selling a hair restoration program. Also involved is Milo's former cellmate, Ducky, an unimanigantive bumbler.

Mitch Morse is a former Detroit cop. He applies for a security position with Fleets. In his former job, he met Jean Satterfield and helped to train her in her current security position. Working together, Jean became attracted to Mitch.

With a group of characters who would do Elmore Leonard proud, Milo and his gang begin their caper. As the plan goes along, there are ideas of a double cross and sides are chosen.

Doc Kasperson is supposed to be the man who knows how to go about setting up an armed robbery. He tells Milo that he needs more information about store security. Then, Starla tells them that she met the new security officer, Mitch, and thinks she can recruit him to their gang.

One thing after another goes wrong as the story progresses with halarious results. The story is well written and at times had me laughing out loud.

The characters are believable and Mitch shows good character development in the course of the story. The writing was clear and the dialogue was superbly done. show less

I am not big on books about serial killers and this one is hard to take. Written mostly from the POV of the father the ex-con, and the son who is the killer, the book is pretty gritty. I suspect that some other readers will find it gripping, but it is not for me.

I received a review copy of "Flawless" by Tom Kakonis (Brash Books) through NetGalley.com.