Tuesday 24 November 2015

2 BY TOM KAKONIS

Tom Kakonis is one of my favourite authors and Michigan Roll is one of my favourite books of all time. In truth I've probably read only 4 of the 7 books he has published, which kind of makes sense to me, because once they're gone they're gone and there's nothing left to look forward to. Only a re-read of course!





















Kakonis has written about 7 books to date, including a couple which came out in the 90s under the pseudonym of Adam Barrow. Disillusionment with the publishing game caused him to put down the pen for a number of years, before publisher Brash Books brought him back into the game.
After a gap of about 15 years – Treasure Coast came out in 2014. Since then Brash have republished all his titles including the two pseudonymously published – Flawless and Blind Spot.  


Treasure Coast was read and reviewed a year ago - here

Gamblers, low lives, mobsters, psychopaths and damsels sometimes in distress - sometimes playing a game....my kind of books!

His 7 books are.....

Timothy Waverly series

1. Michigan Roll (1988)
2. Criss-Cross (1990)
3. Double Down (1991)
4. Shadow Counter (1993)


Novels

Treasure Coast (2014)
Flawless (2015) 
Blind Spot (2015)

Michigan Roll (1988)

Ex-con, professional poker player Timothy Waverly travels to Traverse City, Michigan for a break... and falls into bed with a seductress named Midnight. She's an out-of-towner, too, there to rescue her self-destructive brother, who has stupidly ripped off a fortune in cocaine from a vicious Chicago mobster. Now she is being chased pursued by Shadow, a hemorrhoidal hitman who gleefully specializes in torture and rape, and Gleep, his muscle-bound henchman. The odds are stacked against her, but Waverly is a gambler who knows how to play them...

"A sure narrative voice, a richly shaded hero and heroine, nightmare-vivid villains, and a plot paved with switchbacks and big curves add up to classy, if brutal, crime entertainment: this one cooks," Kirkus Reviews

"Aptly compared to Elmore Leonard, Kakonis builds exquisite tension." Publishers Weekly

"Original, brutal, nightmarish. Kakonis is a sharp new gambler in the literary crap game. He just takes the pot,"

I've read Michigan Roll two possibly three times and when I couldn't find my dog-eared paperback copy, after reading Treasure Coast - I went out and bought another one!


Shadow Counter (1993)

Timothy Waverly, an ex-con and ambitious card shark, is up to his ears in trouble in Las Vegas as he becomes involved in an ingenious basketball point-shaving scam and matches wits with a calculating psychopath, with his sister's life at stake.

8 comments:

  1. Sounds like a solid, gritty story, Col. And the setting is interesting, too. Glad you like his work, and know precisely what you mean about not wanting to finish a series of books by an author. I've had that feeling, too.

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    1. Margot - definitely got that grit which I enjoy. I'll treat myself to one of his unread books soon - I'm not going to deny myself the pleasure forever!

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  2. 'one of my favourite books of all time'? Well that one has to go on the list then. The last book you reco'ed like that, I think, was the Angel Heart one, which still gives me the shudders.

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    1. Might be a case of more me than you, but I'd be interested in your reaction - even if you hated it!
      ANGEL HEART - FALLING ANGEL is still one of my favourite FILM - BOOK double acts.

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  3. Col, I will read some of Tom Kakonis' novels at some point. I like the plot lines of these two novels.

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    1. Prashant I hope you do. I'm sure you can turn up one of his books at your helpful vendors.

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  4. Someday I will have to try this author, but every one of his books I read about makes me shudder.

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    1. If I find a gentler one among his output I will let you know!

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