Walking Money (SIGNED) [Hardcover]

James O. Born (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Putnam; 1st ed/1st printing edition (2004)
• ASIN: B000Q7D8A6
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)

More About the Author

I was always interested in writing and even took a shot as an undergrad at Florida State but aside from one article on street construction in Tallahassee I was unsuccessful.

I moved on to police work. When I was new to police work, as an agent with U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, I had an unrealistic view of what my job would be like. On television, DEA agents are in shoot-outs and get the chicks but in real life they follow suspected drug violators around until they can make a case. If you're a new guy, no one in the DEA much cares about family life or other interests, you just drive. I read a lot of Tom Clancy and W.E.B. Griffin because I liked the idea of learning something about the military. I would read the occasional police book but felt the books didn't reflect my experience as a cop. I was not a CIA trained assassin. I could not rip a shotgun out of someone's hands without suffering a catastrophic injury. I didn't crawl out of crushed police cars and shake off the injury. Neither did any cop I knew. So I wrote a book based on real police work with a ficitonal plot.

The most exciting part of being an author is that my editor, Neil Nyren, is also the editor of my two favorite military writers, Tom Clancy and W.E.B. Griffin.

The third book in the series, Escape Clause, was released in February, 2006. The story follows the main character to a prison to investigate an in custody death that isn't what it appears. By chance, I was assigned to investigate a death at South Bay correctional, the area I had used as a model for the town and prison in my book. Talk about life imitating art. Then, once at the prison, a Department of Corrections Inspector asked me if I was the guy who wrote the books. I gave him a post card for Escape Clause and watched his face as he realized I had written about the Department of Corrections.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fine Florida debut, October 21, 2004

By 

David Montgomery "Book Critic" (davidjmontgomery.com) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Walking Money (Hardcover)

In the best tradition of Dave Barry and Carl Hiaasen, James O. Born has produced a twisted, fascinating and hilarious first novel of cops and crooks plying their trade in corrupt and juicy southern Florida.

The plot of Walking Money revolves around a crooked minister and his on-the-lam sidekick, who have scammed $1.5 million in cash from their community foundation. When word gets out, every bent operator in the city is desperate to get his hands on the lucre. It's up to state cop Bill Tasker to make sure none of them do.

This book will have readers laughing one minute and wincing the next, as the author leads them along a deliciously circuitous journey with all the skill and polish of a veteran writer. Born spent 17 years in law enforcement, so he obviously knows the criminal territory well. What is surprising is just how good a writer he is. I look forward to his next book.

Reviewed by David Montgomery, Chicago Sun-Times

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great police story, August 28, 2004

By 

EJ (Atlanta) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Walking Money (Hardcover)

This book interested me from the blurbs on the cover. Big time writers like John Sanford don't endorse soemthing unless it's good. This comical story of a cop caught up in someone else's scheme kept me involved from the first page to the last.

The author is a cop and it shows in how the characters intereact, joke and even how they fight. This is a fast moving., involving book with a ton of well placed twists and turns.

I highly recommend it to anyone who likes a good detective story and realizm. I hope there is a series with the main character, Bill Tasker. The guy is interesting without being a carbon copy of TV cops. His life outside his work has a beat and interest as well. This really was a great book

EJ

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great debut for a new South Florida crime fiction series, July 20, 2004

By 

F. Rea (Vero Beach, Florida USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Walking Money (Hardcover)

Elmore Leonard blurbs that "Jim Born is the real thing-" I agree; really liked the sure handling of a police based story un-fettered with forensics details or deep procedural specifics, written by a law enforcement professional.

Walking Money is a story about twists and turns taken following a bag of big money that makes it hard for Bill Tasker, a good cop, to get his life together. Born gives us a tightly written tale introducing a sympathetic character, with good laughs, good suspense and personal drama, in a voice all his own. I'm looking forward to seeing where the series takes us.