Rating: 
Summary: Worth It!
Review: Billed as one in the "Kevin Kerney" series, this novel is really more about his estranged son Deputy Sheriff Clayton Istee. While it could be read as a stand alone novel, potential readers would be wise to go back to the beginning and work their way forward to this one. I am deliberately ignoring the back-story involving Clayton and Kevin, as well as numerous other issues which continue in this novel, so as not to run the series for new readers.As this novel opens, a fire is burning in the predawn light of Lincoln County, New Mexico. Deputy Sheriff Clayton Istee watches the fire fade out from the efforts of the volunteer firefighters and is there for the discovery of one and then a second body. Both bodies are found in the cellar rubble of an abandoned fruit stand by the side of the highway and at what is left of one body makes it clear that the body has been there for a very long time. Clayton Istee left the Mescalero Tribal Police and joined the Sheriff's Department three months ago and Sheriff Hewitt wants Clayton to work the case, his first major case in the Sheriff's Department Before long, it is determined that one of the bodies is female and she is identified as Anna Marie Montoya who has been missing for over ten years. As Clayton investigates, he has no choice but to deal with his father, Kevin Kerney, now Chief of Police for Santa Fe, New Mexico. Kerney was the lead investigator for the case ten years ago and was never able to find her or find a lead despite extensive investigation. She vanished without a trace until now. With the identification of the second body, links to the past and present begin to connect leading Clayton and Kerney towards a possible reconciliation as well as towards a showdown with corrupt politicians and criminal enterprises that stretch across state boundaries. As in his other novels, this novel is told from the omnipresent narrator viewpoint, shifting back and forth constantly between the various characters. The characters of Clayton Istee and Kevin Kerney are further developed, but at considerable distance. A lack of emotion even in scenes depicting complex emotion as well as a stiffness in the writing remains for this reader regarding the author, but as the novels begin to stack up, one that is becoming more and more acceptable. Every author has his or her own unique style or idiosyncrasy to the writing and this apparently is Michael McGarrity's own style. While somewhat lacking in the emotionality department, the author has a real talent for bring the culture and landscape of Southwestern New Mexico alive for the reader. Like others in this series, he has once again created a complex twisting mystery full of intrigue and deceit that keeps the reader turning the page and well worth your time.
Rating: 
Summary: As Always Excellent
Review: McGarrity has the facility of making you feel you know and care for his characters. As he has done in the first 6 books he crafts and interesting and thououghly enjoyable yarn with enough twists and turns to keep you ingrossed.
Rating:
Summary: Kerney & Son
Review: Michael McGarrity has been writing these Kevin Kerney novels for some time now, with the main character, a New Mexico cop, shifting between jobs as the series progresses. For a while he was essentially a private eye, and for a while he was a state cop; now he's the chief of police of Santa Fe. In the last book he found out that he's also a father, by way of a soap opera stype revelation that an old girlfriend had become pregnant by him but never told him. The girlfriend was a Mescalero Apache, and raised their son as an Indian on the reservation. He went into law enforcement, and now works in Lincoln County, a hundred and fifty miles away from his father. In the current installment, there's a fire at an abandoned fruit stand in Lincoln County, and the son, Clayton Istee, is tasked to investigate when bodies are discovered inside the building. One turns out to be a homeless vet who had been gambling and amassed a small roll of cash, while the other's a young woman who's been missing for more than a decade. Since the young woman was from Santa Fe, the investigation into her death is passed on to Kerney, giving him and his son time to converse about life, though they do their best to dodge the subject. I will agree with the one person who complained about the ending: it was a bit anti-climactic. Other than that I enjoyed the book, and think it's one of McGarrity's better books. I would recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Another winner for Michael McGarrity
Review: Michael McGarrity's "The Big Gamble" is a fascinating and believable police procedural vividly set in New Mexico. Two bodies (seemingly unrelated) are discovered after a fire of dubious origin. One is an eleven-year-old cold case from Kevin Kerney's past. His estranged son is the primary for the other victim. The plot follows the pair of investigations that eventually uncover a huge ring of gambling, prostitution, drugs, money laundering and politicians. The villains are high-ranking politicos, plus one evil gunsel. A credible resolution that opens the possibility for continued pairing of Kerney and his son. This seventh book in the Kevin Kerney series is just as fresh as the first---one reason being that Kerney has held various positions in New Mexico law enforcement in different locales. Great series by a most under discovered writer.
Rating:
Summary: fascinating police procedural
Review: On a little traveled road in Lincoln County, New Mexico at the site of a burned down fruit stand, two bodies are found in the remaining rumble. One body is that of small time gambler Joseph John who recently struck it big on the reservation casino while the other corpse is that of Anne Marie Montoya, a woman who disappeared into thin air one decade ago. The primary on the Montoya case is Santa Fe Police Chief Kevin Kerney and the man in charge of the Humphrey investigation is Deputy Sheriff Clayton Istee. Although the two men are father and son, neither knew about the relationship until recently. Clayton would prefer to forget about the relationship but when the two cases intersect in an unexpected manner, the two men are forced to work together and take a step closer to forming a relationship. Like Tony Hillerman before him, Michael McGarrity puts the state of New Mexico on the map. His style is smooth, subtle and his storytelling abilities keep the reader in thrall, wondering what will happen next. THE BIG GAMBLE is no gamble at all for reader; it is a surefire winner for anyone who likes a fascinating police procedural. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Horribly Written
Review: Some people are good at communicating with words, of giving the reader a vivid image and impression in just a few choice words and sentences. Michael McGarrity is not one of those people. He may have been a great cop, and he does a good job of describing police procedure, but he's no writer.
This is so poorly written that at one point he actually spells out the key plot points IN BLOCK LETTERS in case you were to slow to catch on fifty pages ago. The characters are for the most part horribly developed, and when he tries to use the voice of the various villains, the results are laughably bad. The plot is ok, but then just comes to a crashing halt and everything gets resolved.
He does do a good job with the relationship between Clayton and his father, and the procedural stuff is engaging, but overall this is a stinker.
Rating:
Summary: Kerny's second string expands.
Review: Taking place just a few short months after the Color of Law, Kerney is just settling into his new role as police chief, when of course an old case resurfaces back to the forefront. It seems that Kerney's son, deputy Clayton Istee (formerly of the tribal police) while investigating a fire/homicide also discovers the remains of a woman who had disappeared over a decade ago. Could the remains of a long missing student be connected with the slaying and cover-up of a recent homeless man? The investigation leads Clayton to a small time gambler and his dealings with a local Indian casino. But that's not all...the web to be revealed goes way beyond a few small time gamblers, but includes some very powerful and political figures that may have known the missing student many years back. A reluctant Istee must turn to his estranged father, Kerney for help, and the relationship (or lack of) between the two established some time back comes to the forefront. Kerney has his own issues however. His pregnant wife is seeming to have certain maternal issues, he is scheduled to have a second leg operation, his dream home begins construction, and then he comes across an underground prostitution ring that may somehow be connected to a recent string of murders and gambling. It's amazing how all these loose threads come together and are interconnected throughout the whole novel, and as in the authors recent style, you feel like you are reading 2-3 short stories, and only at the end do all the pieces of the puzzle fit. McGarrity also introduces to new characters into the mix, a local undercover cop big on busting up the skin trade and a young female deputy who dons a disguise to get involved in the inner circles where drugs, prostitution, gambling, and politics are interconnected. McGarrity does a great job of fleshing out new characters to breathe life into his southwestern universe, as well as keeping the long going story arc interesting when it comes to Kerney, his wife, and long lost son. I look forward to many more of his novels to come.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Start, Terrible Ending
Review: The book starts out with a bang, literally and figuratively, with a mysterious fire at a fruit stand which leads to the discovery of two bodies. As the investigation proceeds into both homicides, which are seemingly unrelated, a complicated web of political corruption, prositution rings, drugs, and other murders is uncovered. With the first 200 pages or so needed to set the stage for this elaborate tale, the segue to a great ending has been established. But, as there are only 270 pages (hardback) in the entire book, the last seventy pages don't provide the necessary detail to sufficiently resolve the storyline in a captivating manner - the storyline is just too complex. McGarrity basically ends the book in a hasty manner: "a month goes by, the task force collects more information, all the bad guys are busted, case closed" (and that's not much of a stretch!). Unquestionably, the ending is very dull and unclimatic. Even though I have yet to read any of his other novels, I feel it would be a better choice to read "Tularosa," for instance, or any of Tony Hillerman's books before reading "The Big Gamble."
Rating:
Summary: Kevin Kerney is back!
Review: The real Kevin Kerney is back from the irreality of his previous case UNDER THE COLOR OF LAW. For the first time McGarrity splits the story between two cops: Chief Kevin Kerney of Santa Fe and his newly revealed son, Deputy Clayton Istee, 150 miles apart. New and old deaths are gradually interwoven in parallel to the reluctant yet beautifully described reconcilement of these two strangers. This is as much a Big Gamble for the two strong and silent men as are the casinos that figure in the scandalous plot. Maybe they will develop into a famous duo like Hillerman's Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee. Clayton may be a needed addition in the series because, with an entire police department now at his beck, Chief Kerney will have a hard time doing his old lonesome investigations that made his reputation as a maverick lawman. McGarrity's stories are not hidden clue mysteries a la Poirot; rather they are dogged police procedurals firmly driven by vivid local color. Here Kerney and Istee must tread carefully, from opposite ends, through personal, ethnic, and political, as well as gambling, sexual, and jurisdictional, minefields. It is McGarrity's ability to write believable plots and personalities that "feel real and right" that makes him a master, and this may be his best. It's curious how some publishers overly rely on spell checkers and miss homonyms; here Dutton drops occasional prepositions.
Rating:
Summary: Kinda Boring
Review: This is my first read of a Michael McGarrity novel and it was okay. I'm suprised no one seemed to mention this but why are there long paragraphs of descriptions that have nothing to do with nothing such as what kind of shingles are on buildings? Very distracting to the story! I agree with the other reviewers as well -- the ending was anti-climatic to say the least but I'm grateful that it spared me from learning ALL the useless details such as perhaps what kind of shoes someone was wearing when the take down occurred. The characters are so undeveloped it's not even funny but perhaps I'd know them better if I didn't jump in mid-way through the series. For some reason, chief Kerney seems to me to be in his early 50's and he's having a kid with someone who sounds to be a kid herself (just graduating West Point?) -- that's odd. The guy has grandchildren and his own baby on the way? Ewee! Won't be lining up to read this author anytime soon unless I need a good sleeping aid. Course, I'd learn more reading a history book I'm sure.
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