Rating: 
Summary: Very entertaining!
Review: There's an old adage that you should write about what you know. While I don't necessarily agree with this and think "write about what you understand" would be better advice, in the case of James Swain and Grift Sense, writing what you know hits the big payoff. Given the author's background as a gambling expert and magician, his hero Tony Valentine knows not only the score (in terms of gambling scams and scam artists) he's also a retired cop; it's a perfect winning hand. The book has great humor and great heart, more plot twists than a well-planned maze, and a load of Damon Runyonesque characters. The writing is lean, without excess padding. The heat of Las Vegas, the noise of the slots, and the portraits of desperate and conniving gamblers, all ring very true. A terrific debut, highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: grift sense
Review: This book by a supposed gaming expert?, is so amaturish as to be embarrassing. It reads like a high school sophomore`s first attempt. There is no suspense, the characters are shallow and forgetable. And if this guy is the "expert" he claims to be no wonder the casinos are fourishing. An example; the guy hits a "hard 17" so the genius runs all these programs to decide that`s a bad move. DUH! ANY 10 yr old w/basic strategy knowledge could have told him that, another one, "Insurance is a sucker bet right? Dealer Nah not if I have BJ". What a bunch of "garbage" OF COURSE insurance is a "house" bet. There are many more examples of the utter simple minded patter that runs thru this one. I wish someone who KNEW what the hell they were talking about would write a good gaming story.
Rating:
Summary: Hit them again
Review: This is an incredible mystery page turner. Tony Valentine, acting out his retirement by hiring out as safety consultant to gambling casinos, is asked to figure out an abnormal winning streak in a dilapidated old Las Vegas casino. What he sees does not make sense - he is stumped. But he finds a piece of information here, and another one there. Slowly he puts the puzzle together and, using his intelligence and experience, gets close to the conclusion. But then he has to catch the perpetrators, and that is not so easy, either.The author gives us interesting characters, described in full detail. The action - and the red herrings along the way - never flag. Mr. Swain, a magician working with cards, knows the background and describes it with full gusto.
Rating: 
Summary: On The Money!
Review: This is the author's first novel and he's off to an auspicious beginning. It's rare that a fresh idea appears in the mystery genre, but Tony Valentine is a unique character. He's an ex-cop with an ability (Grift Sense) to spot grifters and con men who try to fleece casionos, and acts as a consultant to a Las Vegas casino in this series opener. Swain knows Vegas, and the little touches like having to use a handkerchief on a car door handle to keep from getting scalded, brings back memories of those blistering hot days I spent on the strip. A great story, too, pitting Valentine against master grifter Sonny Fontana, with a suprise ending and a nice sub-plot about Tony's relationship with his bookie son, Gerry. Alas, the author could have done some research into polygraph, and how tests are administered. In this area he was completely wrong and it slowed the story down a bit, as he made an attempt to sound like he knew what he was talking about. Next time he should call a real PI and get the straight skinny on how to conduct a polygraph test, which are utilized often by the Vegas police in cheating cases. A minor quibble, however. This is a fast-paced story with great characters and a terrific sense of place. I had to turn up the airconditioner halfway through the book.
Rating:
Summary: Great debut
Review: This is the best debut of a mystery series that I've read in years. The characters were fully realized, and the story's pacing was phenomenal. The crooked gambling and scams were also a real treat.
Rating:
Summary: Great debut
Review: This is the best debut of a mystery series that I've read in years. The characters were fully realized, and the story's pacing was phenomenal. The crooked gambling and scams were also a real treat.
Rating:
Summary: The first might be the best
Review: This is the first in the Tony Valentine series, and it may be the best, although all three stand out as really terrific yarns. The setting is Las Vegas, and Valentine, a retired Atlantic City detective who runs a casino consulting business, is hired by the Acropolis Casino to figure out how a player at a blackjack table took the casino for $50,000. To tell any more would reveal too many juicy plot details. Like the other two books in the series, Funny Money and Sucker Bet, Grift Sense is an afternoon well spent.
Rating:
Summary: The first might be the best
Review: This is the first in the Tony Valentine series, and it may be the best, although all three stand out as really terrific yarns. The setting is Las Vegas, and Valentine, a retired Atlantic City detective who runs a casino consulting business, is hired by the Acropolis Casino to figure out how a player at a blackjack table took the casino for $50,000. To tell any more would reveal too many juicy plot details. Like the other two books in the series, Funny Money and Sucker Bet, Grift Sense is an afternoon well spent.
Rating:
Summary: Fast paced and engaging.
Review: This is the first novel in James Swain's Tony Valentine series. I had already read the sequel, Funny Money, and quite frankly, had found that book to be rather mediocre. Grift Sense, I'm pleased to say, is much, much better.
This very entertaining book grabs your interest on page one and holds it to the very end. Most of the action takes place in Las Vegas and Swain has succeeded in conveying the unique feel of that intriguing place.
Perhaps the most amazing aspect of Swain's writing is its remarkable readability. Both the dialogue and the narrative portions flow so smoothly, the reader can't help but keep turning pages. Where this novel differs from the weaker Funny Money is in the critically important areas of character developement and plot construction. Grift Sense has several well defined characters, each with a number of interesting and many times colorful attributes. And the plot unfolds in a way that really engages the reader's imagination.
My only gripe about this otherwise appealing novel concerns the way in which the crooks manage to rack up big winnings at the blackjack table. If this method worked in the real world, it would be used all the time and the game of blackjack would rapidly become unprofitable to casinos.
Grift Sense is a lot of fun to read. I'm looking forward to seeing how the third Tony Valentine adventure, Sucker Bet, stacks up against the first two.
Rating:
Summary: Fast paced and engaging.
Review: This is the first novel in James Swain's Tony Valentine series. I had already read the sequel, Funny Money, and quite frankly, had found that book to be rather mediocre. Grift Sense, I'm pleased to say, is much, much better.
This very entertaining book grabs your interest on page one and holds it to the very end. Most of the action takes place in Las Vegas and Swain has succeeded in conveying the unique feel of that intriguing place.
Perhaps the most amazing aspect of Swain's writing is its remarkable readability. Both the dialogue and the narrative portions flow so smoothly, the reader can't help but keep turning pages. Where this novel differs from the weaker Funny Money is in the critically important areas of character developement and plot construction. Grift Sense has several well defined characters, each with a number of interesting and many times colorful attributes. And the plot unfolds in a way that really engages the reader's imagination.
My only gripe about this otherwise appealing novel concerns the way in which the crooks manage to rack up big winnings at the blackjack table. If this method worked in the real world, it would be used all the time and the game of blackjack would rapidly become unprofitable to casinos.
Grift Sense is a lot of fun to read. I'm looking forward to seeing how the third Tony Valentine adventure, Sucker Bet, stacks up against the first two.
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