Loaded Dice (Swain, James) [Hardcover]

James Swain (Author)

Book Description

Series: Swain, James | Publication Date: June 1, 2004

For ex-cop Tony Valentine, life in balmy Florida provides little R&R. In fact, he’s in demand now more than ever. Armed with a special grift sense, Valentine can spot card cheats and even bigger game whose sole purpose on earth is to relieve a casino of its cash. But when his son, who was going to card-counting school, goes missing, Valentine jets to Las Vegas. Once in town, he is pressed into service—and lands inside a treacherous game with higher stakes than he has ever encountered before.

There’s a new casino in town, aptly named Sin, the largest on The Strip: three thousand guest rooms and a gambling floor as big as an airport terminal. The owners of Sin want Valentine to show them how the scams are done. But these powerful men harbor ulterior motives: They want to use their newfound skills to put a rival casino out of business.

Sin’s competition is the Acropolis, run by Valentine’s longtime pal. Nick taps Tony to figure out how an amateur won $50,000 at his blackjack tables. But the small job is full of landmines. For starters, the suspect bears a strong resemblance to his late wife. What’s more, Valentine’s son is still M.I.A. Upping the ante, a dead stripper is found with Valentine’s calling card—and her grief-stricken boyfriend is vowing revenge.

Yet in a city where barracudas wear pinstripes, time seems motionless even while it flies, and reality and illusion shift depending on the neon light, a greater threat maneuvers through the streets: an all-new breed of criminal with an agenda propelled by fury that will shake not just Valentine, but the city of Las Vegas.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Swain's fourth Tony Valentine novel (after 2003's Sucker Bet) starts out on a wacky, breezy note, but the horror of a threatened terrorist attack that develops in a subplot jars in a tale centered on the seedy world of gambling and more mundane crimes like (non-mass-) murder and robbery. Tony Valentine, a retired Atlantic City cop who helps gambling casinos catch swindlers, travels to Las Vegas to show three casino owners how blackjack players use a new high-tech device to cheat. He's also checking up on his feckless son Gerry, in town to learn about illegal card-counting so he can join Tony's business. But Tony's three clients have also hired Frank Fontaine—a world-class card sharp and Tony's longtime enemy, who has FBI connections—to run a scam that will close a casino owned by Tony's friend Nick Nicocropolis. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Gerry, two new foreign friends have links to al Qaeda. An expert on casino swindles, the author packs his books with mind-boggling cons and scams—how to do them and stop them—along with entertaining dialogue and vivid characters, notably the strong, sympathetic Tony. No doubt many readers will be attracted to the timely terrorist element, but those expecting another fast-paced gambling romp may be disappointed to see Tony sidetracked.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Swain's series starring freelance casino consultant Tony Valentine has quickly established itself as one of the freshest, most entertaining hard-boiled comedies to risk setting up camp in Elmore Leonard country. In this fourth entry in the series, Valentine is in Las Vegas, on the trail of his wayward son, Gerry, who has gone AWOL from card-counting school. Mixing work with parental responsibility, Tony also agrees to help maverick casino owner Nick Nicocropolis (see Grift Sense, 2001) prevent two rival owners from putting him out of business. There's a slightly over-the-top terrorist angle, too, but if Swain is guilty of overstuffing his plot, he recovers nicely with another delicious helping of insider dope on how casinos work and how cheaters cheat. There's also plenty of snappy, Leonard-inspired banter and more charming cell-phone byplay between Tony and his devoted office manager, Mabel, the indefatigable Mrs. Moneypenny of the series. Great fun with just the right amount of edge--sort of like a night at the blackjack table. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; First Edition edition (June 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345463269
• ISBN-13: 978-0345463265
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,068,738 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James Swain is the author of fourteen nationally bestselling novels. His novels have been translated into French, Japanese, Russian, German, Serbian, Bulgarian, and Croatian, and chosen as Mysteries of the Year by Publisher's Weekly and Kirkus Reviews. Swain has received three Barry Award nominations, a Florida Book award for fiction, and the prestigious Prix Calibre .38 for Best American Crime Writing. An avid magician, he has written and lectured extensively on the subject. Visit his web site at www.jimswain.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Compelling Narrative and an Irresistible Work, June 6, 2004

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Loaded Dice (Swain, James) (Hardcover)

I believe that the hallmark of a good book --- of a good writer --- is the ability to attract, and hold, a reader who has little or no interest in the core subject matter. James Swain, by this definition, is an excellent writer. I have little interest in or understanding of gambling, yet Swain's Tony Valentine novels, set against the backdrop of the gambling industry, are on my must-read list. Swain's knowledge of not only the nuts and bolts of the gaming industry but also of its history would be enough to hold one's interest, whether one is familiar with the relative value of poker chips or not. Swain's ability to weave this knowledge into a plausible situation while presenting his story in a compelling narrative makes his work irresistible.

Tony Valentine is a gaming consultant who is retained by casinos to identify grifters and the methods that they employ. LOADED DICE finds Valentine returning to Las Vegas for a twofold purpose. One is to demonstrate Deadlock, a computerized device that card cheats are using to rake in illegitimate blackjack pots. The other is Valentine's son, Gerry. Gerry, who has had a number of ups and downs, is in Las Vegas and attending a gambling school in order to learn the science of card counting so that he can assist Valentine in his consulting business.

Gerry, however, has gone AWOL, and Valentine fears that he is on an illegal frolic of his own. Indeed, Gerry has fallen in with two of his fellow students, brothers whose intentions are far more nefarious than cheating at gambling. While trying to ascertain Gerry's whereabouts, Valentine uncovers an ingenious plot by the owners of a string of casinos to bankrupt another house. Valentine finds himself racing along twin tracks, trying to save a casino while extricating his son from a situation that is on the brink of creating havoc on the city of Las Vegas and its residents.

Swain does an excellent job of explaining the ins and outs not only of casino gambling but also of casino management. What is especially impressive about Swain is that his narrative never lurches to a grinding halt while a particular aspect of his subject matter is explained. Swain seamlessly incorporates his explanation, frequently with the use of anecdotes, into the narrative. As a result the reader learns the meaning of the term "past-posting," finds out what a "sawdust joint" is, and discovers that "four-walling" is a tough way to earn a living. Swain also pulls off the neat trick of bringing a noir feel and atmosphere to Las Vegas, that most brightly illuminated of American cities.

Yet LOADED DICE is not your typical thriller. Valentine is in his sixties, but he has aged well, to say the least. For those of us who are closer to that chronological benchmark than we like to admit, it's gratifying to read a series that presents a senior citizen who is able to show the younger set how the job gets done. LOADED DICE is also, perhaps most importantly, a story of forgiveness and redemption, of second and even third chances, of mistakes and corrections. There is something for everyone in LOADED DICE.

Swain has, over the short course of a few novels (this is his fourth), created a memorable and riveting series and character. Don't miss LOADED DICE, or Swain.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Desert Dessert, December 1, 2004

By 

G. Ware Cornell Jr. "anotherlawyer" (Weston FL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Loaded Dice (Swain, James) (Hardcover)

A great mystery or thriller is really about something else. Here Swain explores the mysteries of fatherhood from cradle to adulthood within the context of another primer on casino crime and the War against Terror.

Jerry, Tony's son, has gone to Vegas to learn how to count cards at a shadowy school for cheats. Nick surmises that Tony's purpose was not only to help teach Jerry how to catch cheaters but to see how well he was able to resist the temptations of cheating. By all objective standards Jerry can't, falling in with a couple of Middle-Eastern card counters with more than larceny on their minds.

Tony arrives in Vegas to teach three casino operators about a new Palm Pocket-like device called a Deadlock that can dramatically change the odds in the bettor's favor. Once there he becomes wrapped up in a new love interest as well as failing fortunes of Nick, whose Acropolis casino is rapidly heading for the dustbin of history. When Jerry's companions attract the attention of the FBI, the usually fast paced Swain slips into hyper drive. Then the tale rockets along to a thrilling climax in the desert suburbs.

This series may well be the most important new arrival since Michael Connelly and Harry Bosch made their debut. It's pure pleasure from start to finish.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FIRST-CLASS LAS VEGAS CASINO THRILLER, November 22, 2005

By 

Possum-Bread (Pasadena, California) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Loaded Dice (Swain, James) (Hardcover)

Tony Valentine is probably the greatest detective when it comes to spotting gambling cheaters. A retired cop, Tony now works as a gaming consultant in Florida who is retained by casinos across the country to identify grifters and the imaginative methods they use. In "Loaded Dice" he travels to Las Vegas to demonstrate a new computerized cheating device to casino execs and to locate his son who went missing while attending a class on card counting.

Once in Vegas another casino owner, one of Valentine's friends, pleads for help to figure out how con artists are cheating at his blackjack tables before his casino goes under. Smack dab in the middle of the scam is a beautiful woman who reminds Tony of his late wife and attempts to lead him off the trail. In the meantime, Gerry is still missing and Valentine is frantically trying to find him and save his friend's casino from bankruptcy.

There are lots of twists and turns in this thriller and the pages fly by quickly. James Swain's writing style is full of energy and draws the reader into the story. I am not a gambler, but I still found Swain's technique of describing the casino operations and the scams perpetrated by cheaters to be interesting and entertaining. Swain is great at giving his characters life and it's easy to start believing they really exist. The book is jam-packed with drama and suspense, but Swain still manages to add humor to his characters and makes it is as fun as it is thrilling. And finally, he gives Valentine and his son Gerry emotional depth. There is an underlying theme of hope and forgiveness between them and of getting a second chance in life.

"Loaded Dice" is a superbly upbeat and engaging novel. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone looking for a mystery or an action thriller. But I warn you... reading this novel will turn you into a James Swain fan!