Sucker Bet [Paperback]

James Swain (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1st Paperback Printing edition (2003)
• ASIN: B000OVR08U
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)

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

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Third Tony Valentine Novel Continues a Great Series, April 4, 2003

By 

JC "JC" (Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sucker Bet (Hardcover)

James Swain writes fun books. I can't imagine anyone who would not enjoy his latest. It's the third novel featuring Tony Valentine, a retired former cop who now works as a casino consultant catching cheaters. He's a little older than your usual protagonist, but that only makes him more endearing. He's a pretty well developed character as well. His difficulty interacting with his son and his neglect of his caring neighbor show the reader that he is far from perfect. However, what he does is catch cheats, or crossroaders as Swain calls them, and at that, he is very good indeed.

Swain's books are worth reading if only for the insight into the world of scams, cheats, and hustlers that he gives us. Each of his three books revolves around Valentine's investigation of a major scam. In Sucker Bet, it begins with a blackjack hustle but moves quickly into a major college sports scandal. While he is investigating, Tony frequently gets calls from worried customers asking him to look at security video or inventory lists and determine how their casino is getting scammed. These little episodes, while not really part of the plot, are some of the best parts of the book.

Aside from the scams and grifts, hidden in each of his books is a pretty good mystery too. People end up dead and Tony in drawn in through his inevestigation. As with most novels of this type, Valentine's life and the lives of those he cares about are endangered. While there are better mytery novels out there, few can match the originality of James Swain.

Sucker Bet also includes perhaps one of the best characters I've ever read about. He is a chimpanzee named Mr. Beauregard, and he is amazing. I won't give too much away, but if you can keep yourself from laughing when Mr. Beauregard starts his Western "hurry-up" music, you need to lighten up.

In all, Sucker Bet is an slightly above average mystery novel with enough good character development, originality, and fun to make it worth reading for almost everyone. It might help to read the others in the series first (Grift Sense, Funny Money) but this could be read as a standalone as well. Swain is a fine novelist and I'm looking forward to more of his work. If you like this one, keep an eye out for the fourth Tony Valentine novel, set in his cop days of the late 70's, due out in 2004.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More fun than a day at the races, June 14, 2005

By 

Jerry Saperstein (Evanston, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Sucker Bet (Hardcover)

James Swain's Tony Valntine character is always fun. Tough, but soft; chronically depressed, but always hopeful; crafty to a fault. Valentine is an ex-cop from Atlantic City who now consults with casinos eager to catch scammers, if not stop them before they win a penny.

This is the third of the Tony Valentine mysteries. The first one ("Grift Sense") was dynamite - and each successor has gotten better.

The action takes place largely at a Florida Indian Reservation casino. A blackjack player is dealt 84 winning hands in a row, a statistical impossibility.The dealer disappears. But that's only the beginning of the story as Tony gets involved. The blackjack scam is only the tip of the iceberg.

Every page is fun. Swain's plots are complex, but always believable. The characters, each and every one of them, radiate believability.

Swain's style is compelling and Tony Valentine is one heck of a hero.

Jerry

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Casinos Will Never Look the Same to You Again, May 9, 2005

By 

John R. Linnell (New Gloucester, ME United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sucker Bet (Hardcover)

The title of this book could just as easily have been "Monkey Business," and it would have been figuratively and literally correct. There is enough monkey business going on at the Micanopy Indian Casiono to keep Tony Valentine busy for...well...at least a whole novel. This is the third in the Tony Valentine series and if you have not caught up with these novels yet, what on earth are you waiting for? I have now read them all and even though I started with the most recent novel first, each story pretty much stands on it's own and very little is lost buy not having read them in sequence. Valentine is a trouble shooter and problem solver for the casino industry which puts him in touch with some pretty "interesting" people on both sides of the sams he is hired to investigate. In this one he is dealing with a gangster names Rico Bianco and another bad guy by the name of Victor Marks. Swain likes to populate his novels with attractive and nubile ladies and the chief morsel in this one is a dish by the name of Candy Hart.Candy is the "raggle" who is being used as bait to swindle an aging Brtish rock star by Bianco, but on the way to the big payoff, she let her heart get in the way of her head and the plot takes a turn which makes Candy's life more interesting and fragile. The other monkey in the story is a chimp, as in chimpanzee. Mr. Beauregard by name. He has many talents. One of them is playing the ukelele. The others you will need to read the book to find out about. Swain has the knowledge, background and imagination to make his Valentine books a treat to read. Try one and you will be a fan. Guranteed!