Royal Heist

Edward de Jersey, an immensely wealthy man, owns a successful racing yard and sets high hopes on his magnificent colt Royal Flush winning the Derby. But de Jersey's luck runs out when his trusted advisor invest his fortune in a fledgling Internet company that crashes, leaving him with mounting debts. In danger of losing everything, de Jersey resurrects his criminal past and attempts to pull off the most audacious robbery in history: the most valuable diamond in the world.

Not even Edward de Jersey's Swedish wife of 20 years knows where the money that his racing stables were built with came from. In fact as the novel progresses it becomes patently obvious that there is much that Kristina does not know about her husband. de Jersey's show more financial adviser commits suicide, and de Jersey becomes aware of his financial peril, a seemingly irretrievable situation. There is no way he can trade himself out of bankruptcy. On the surface he is a man of principle, but he has no hesitation in helping himself to goods that belong to another. In fact, he's done it before, and gotten away with it.

And though Edward de Jersey loves his wife and daughters he sets his racehorse Royal Flush above all else.

The novel is divided clearly into three parts: planning the heist, carrying out the heist, and the aftermath. It makes for an extremely long audio novel, and the printed version has 450 pages.

It is really a thriller rather than my usual crime fiction, although there is also a murder. Sean Barrett narrates in a deliciously gravelly voice, with a polished English accent for the most, but some good differentiation to distinguish other characters from de Jersey. show less