Criss Cross - Hardcover

Tom Kakonis has been hailed by critics nationwide as the heir-apparent to Elmore Leonard... and for good reason. His stunning thrillers blend dark humor with gritty storytelling for compelling, and innovative crime noir capers packed with unique, sharply drawn characters and shocking twists. All of those talents are on full display in Treasure Coast, his bold new thriller from Brash Books. But that success is built on a foundation of incredible crime writing. In his highly-praised debut Michigan Roll, Kakonis introduced Tim Waverly – a loveable gambler who constantly finds himself playing a game of survival against the odds. The Waverly series continued with Double Down and Shadow Counter, and Kakonis also penned the hilarious and harrowing Christmas car heist Criss Cross. Kakonis took a darker turn with Blind Spot and Flawless, two mind-blowing thrillers he initially wrote under the pseudonym “Adam Barrow.” Blind Spot is a tour-de-force that tracks a father’s relentless, driving obsession to save his family at any cost, while Flawless, picked as a People Magazine Chiller of the Week, centers on a chilling serial killer as his perfectly-ordered life begins to crumbled when he falls in love, his imprisoned father is released, and a relentless, and sleazy, PI starts to follow the trail of bodies to his door. And now Tom Kakonis is back with the thriller his fans have been waiting to read for years. It was worth the wait. Treasure Coast Is “Get Shorty” meets “No Country for Old Men” on a sunny Florida coast that’s teeming with conmen and killers – and marks the return of Tom Kakonis at his best.

Milo "Meat" Pitts is back on the Grand Rapids streets after a prison term, anxious to make up for his lost years. With two old friends and his ex-wife he plans a daring Christmas Eve robbery of a Fleets discount store. Mitch Morse, a former cop working security at Fleets, becomes the group's choice for inside man. From the beginning the combination is a marriage made in hell, with all parties deceitful and distrusting of one another. As Christmas Eve approaches, counterplots develop, tempers flare, and success becomes more and more remote. Yet, stakes are high, and all are determined to see the heist through, despite the passion, intrigue, and violence that take the plan spiraling out of control. Unlike his characters, Kakonis is in complete control of his plot and has created a gripping story that can't help but command the reader's attention. Peviewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 10/15/89.
- Thomas L. Kilpatrick, Southern Illinois Univ. at Carbondale Lib.
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