Mr. Lucky (Tony Valentine Series #5) by James Swain

From the Publisher

Tony Valentine made his living and his name as a cop in Atlantic City-and is now known worldwide for his ability to spot the kinds of scams, grifts, and rip-offs that cost casinos billions every year. A man with a biting wit who drives a '92 Honda, Tony is low-profile, old-school, and has seen it all-until he meets the luckiest man on earth.

Ricky Smith was once a small-town loser. Then he went to Las Vegas, jumped out the window of a burning hotel, lived to tell the tale, and tore up the Strip on an incredible winning streak. Ricky didn't just win at one slot machine or table game. He won at blackjack, roulette, and craps, and then beat the pants off the world's greatest poker player. Tony knows that goofy, loudmouthed Ricky Smith-or anyone else, for that matter-couldn't possibly be that fortunate. But when "Mr. Lucky" returns home to the little town of Slippery Rock, North Carolina, he keeps on winning everything from a horse race to a $50,000 lottery.

Hired by a desperate casino, Tony starts to pry into Ricky's past, his friends, and the strange little town that is benefiting from Ricky's fame and fortune. Unfortunately for Tony, his cover is blown when he is forced to reveal a trick he has up his own sleeve: a pocket Glock he can shoot with laser-like precision. Suddenly, two men are dead, the cops are on Tony's tail, and the investigation explodes in violence-putting the lives of Tony's son and his young family in danger.

For years, Tony's son Gerry has dueled with his own criminal impulses. Now, the Ricky Smith case has lured Gerry through the gates of temptation and into a murderous confrontation with the Dixie Mafia. With Tony stuck on the slippery slope of Slippery Rock and Gerry fighting for his life, the Valentines are finding out just how bad good luck can get.

Against a neon-tinted backdrop of adrenaline rushes, hard crashes, big money, and high-wire tension, the inimitable James Swain has set his best Tony Valentine novel yet: a funny, furious ride with an astounding array of crooks, marks, and one killer scam.

Los Angeles Times

An avalanche of breathless action.

St. Petersburg Times

Impossible to put down . . . endless fun . . . Sucker Bet is its own best payout.

The New York Times Book Review

Ingenious entertainment.

Sun-Sentinel

A sure bet . . . an involving plot that moves faster than a pair of dice and with a bigger payout than a game of blackjack.

The Washington Post - Paula L. Woods

Swain has hit on a winning combination in Mr. Lucky, creating not only considerable thrills but a rogue's gallery of likable characters, including Mabel Struck, Tony's colorful neighbor and assistant; Gerry, who is desperately trying to change his grifting ways; and Ricky Smith himself, who still earns our sympathy after we realize that he's a first-class jerk. And Swain's take on what lurks beneath the surface of an all-American small town gives the plot a few extra twists. But the vibrant heart of Mr. Lucky and the series is Tony Valentine, who can not only suss out casino scams but cares deeply about the people in his life and the lives he must occasionally take. He's the kind of man you wouldn't mind having on your side in a high-stakes poker game, let alone the game of life.

Publishers Weekly

In the stunning opener, gambler Ricky Smith takes a swan dive from a burning balcony into a pool as the Riverboat Casino in Vegas goes up in flames. Smith gets up, walks across the street to the Mint and proceeds to win a cool million, never losing a hand. The odds say no one's that lucky. Tony Valentine, head of Grift Sense, a gambling consulting company, gets called in to find out exactly how Ricky cheated, so the casino doesn't have to pay. For his fifth outing (Sucker Bet, etc.), Swain presents his 63-year-old retired cop with his most involved mystery yet. Readers gain expected info on chip scams, while the plot goes delightfully over the top like Agatha Christie at her wildest, with gypsies, drug cartels and one piece of misdirection after another (not least that dive from the balcony). Occasional preachiness interrupts the action, as Tony explains how awful killing bad guys makes you feel-but he still keeps shooting them in the head. The narrative nails gambling cold, noting that televised poker has convinced millions they know how to play: "Professionals had a name for these new players. They called them suckers." Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

After a miraculous escape from a casino fire, loser Ricky Smith starts up a major winning streak, and ex-cop Tony Valentine is called in by the desperate casino owners to prove that this "Mr. Lucky" is a cheat. With an eight-city author tour. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Gambling expert Tony Valentine tackles the case of the small-town bettor who just can't lose. Minutes after miraculously escaping a casino fire, Ricky Smith walks across the street to the Mint and the mother of all lucky streaks. Borrowing 20 bucks from a retired bookkeeper, he pyramids it to $200,000 at blackjack, then scores equally incredible successes at roulette and craps before fleecing Tex "All In" Snyder, a world-class expert at Texas Hold 'Em. Ricky returns to Slippery Rock, North Carolina, a hero to the locals and a baffling puzzle to the Nevada Gaming Control Board, which wants Tony to figure out how Ricky's been cheating. After his abortive attempt to help compulsive gambler Lucy Price (Loaded Dice, 2004), Tony doesn't want to play with these boys again, but he can't resist an offer of Vegas amnesty to his nogoodnik son Gerry, whose nice physician wife and baby daughter deserve better. Even so, Ricky's lucky streak not only defies Tony's best attempts to debunk it, but it just continues. He splits $50,000 with an old acquaintance on an instant-win lottery ticket, picks three horses at an OTB parlor, and narrowly escapes death twice with a little help from Tony. How can he be gaming every game in town, and what can Tony and a newly cooperative Gerry do to nail him?A wall-to-wall adrenaline rush as potent as a gambler's high. Tony's fifth is his biggest and just possibly his best. Author tour

What People Are Saying

Michael Connelly
Mr. Lucky hits the jackpot. Impossible to put down.

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