Category: Books

KING OF ASHES by S.A. Cosby / Z-View

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KING OF ASHES by S.A. Cosby

First sentence…

He dreams of his mother.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

When Roman Carruthers gets the call that his father was in a terrible car accident, he heads home.  Well, where he grew up anyway.  Jefferson Run hasn’t been his home for years.  But the small town is where he grew up.

Roman arrives to find his dad hospitalized in a coma.  His sister Nevah is exhausted.  Taking care of dad (even before the accident) and running the family business – Carruthers Crematorium – has worn her down.  Their younger brother, Dante, now a young man, should be helping.  But he’s doing the opposite.  Dante’s been a mess since their mother disappeared years ago.  Rumors that their dad may have been behind her disappearance haven’t helped.

Roman figures he’ll quickly get things straightened out.  Then it’ll be back to the big city and his thriving financial business.  Roman has a knack for making his clients rich. And him too in the process.

What Roman hadn’t counted on was Dante’s trouble.

The young fool went into a drug deal with his buddy.  They thought they’d buy some dope cheap, sell it at a profit and make quick cash.  Dante didn’t count on his partner blowing through the product by using it himself and giving it to friends.  Now Dante owes some very bad people a very lot of money.

Roman figures that he has the cash to clear Dante’s ledger with the gangbangers.  He was wrong.

Dante owes the money to Torrent and Tranquil Gilchrist.  They’re the crazy twins who run the Black Baron Boys.  At this point, Dante is worth more to them dead.  It would send a message to others who don’t pay up on time.  When they meet, Roman tries to smooth things over with his charm and money.  It nearly costs him his life.  The only thing that saves him is his promise that he can make the twins rich legally and quickly though his financial dealings.

This promise saves his life.  Instead of being murdered, Roman is given a terrible beat down.  He’s left bloody and with the knowledge that he’s now in debt to the Gilchrist twins.

Roman knows that no matter how much money he makes them, dealing with Torrent and Tranquil Gilchrist can only end with his death.

But Roman has a plan.  A crazy long shot of a plan.

+++

S.A. Cosby has another winner.

Rating:

THE STEPS (A Memoir) by Sylvester Stallone is Coming!

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For years Sylvester Stallone fans have hoped Sly would write his memoir.  And now he has.  It’s titled THE STEPS.  Here’s the lowdown…

A gritty, inspiring, heart-wrenching memoir by the Academy Award-winning legend and icon Sylvester Stallone, about his unlikely path to stardom and the creation of the greatest underdog story ever told.

In the fifty years since Sylvester Stallone ran up the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum, he and those steps have become symbols of resilience and determination, and have inspired millions from all over the world to pursue their dreams.

In THE STEPS, Stallone recounts how he pursued his own dreams. A culmination of decades of reflection, Stallone shares where he came from — a difficult birth, an even more difficult childhood, years of struggle in school being misunderstood — and he explains how the real story of a successful life is built by facing, embracing, and ultimately overcoming our challenges. It’s found in the distances we are willing to go and the steps we must take to get from where we are to where we want to go.

In a narrative framed between his arrival in New York City in 1969 and the triumph of Rocky at the 1977 Academy Awards, Stallone weaves a vivid and propulsive portrait of struggle, subsistence, and ultimately success. He writes of his early days and later years, too, and the persistence, creativity, and resilience that led not only to the creation of Rocky but to a career filled with remarkably iconic roles. THE STEPS is a testament to Stallone’s extraordinary life and a profound meditation on the importance of vision and willpower and hard work.

THE STEPS will be released on May 5, 2026.  Pre-orders are available now.  If you order from one of the links below, we will get a small percentage of each sale, without increasing the price of the book.  Your support is appreciated.

THE STEPS hardcover

THE STEPS paperback/large print

THE STEPS Kindle

BLUE MOON: A JACK REACHER NOVEL by Lee Child /-View

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BLUE MOON by Lee Child

First sentence…

The city looked small on a map of America.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

The Greyhound bus was about to pull into town.  Reacher, sitting several seats behind, notices an old man with a thick bank envelope sticking out of his pocket.  A seat ahead of Reacher, a greasy haired man was also eyeing the packet. It wouldn’t take a crystal ball to see what was going to happen when the senior citizen exited the bus.  So Reacher decided to get off as well.

Sure enough, when the time was right (or so he thought) the greaser made his move.  Reacher ended the robbery but not before the old timer was knocked to the ground.  Reacher made sure the would-be thief went down too.  The creep would wake up with bruisers and maybe a little more respect for his elders.

As Reacher handed the envelope back to the old man, he realized the geezer was carrying $15,000 or maybe more.  It turns out the old guy was in debt to some very bad people.  The old guy’s daughter had cancer.  Insurance was slow to pay and the cancer was fast-moving.  So the old man borrowed from Albanian gangsters.  The excessive interest was causing finanacial ruin to the old man and his wife.  They’d soon lose their house.

Reacher decides to intervene.  He’s pretty sure he can square things with the loansharks.  That’s before he learns that the Ukranian gangsters have an uneasy true with a Albanian gang.  That gives Reacher an idea.  If it works, the old couple will be out of debt and a lot of gangsters will be dead.  If his plan fails, the old couple might be killed.  Worse still, Reacher would suffer a slow torturous death.

But once in a Blue Moon… everything goes just right.  Perhaps this will be one of those times.

+++

BLUE MOON is the 24th in the Jack Reacher series. All the Reacher novels are fun rides.  BLUE Moon is one of the best.

Rating:

HATCHET GIRLS by Joe R. Lansdale / Z-View

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HATCHET GIRLS: A HAP AND LEONARD NOVEL by Joe R. Lansdale

First sentences…

“Wait a minute, now.  You’re saying you want us to deal with a pig problem?” Leonard said.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Hap and Leonard agree to help a poor single mother raising several children.  She has a pig problem.  When Hap and Leonard say they’ll take care of it, they got much more than imagined.  Turns out the hog was attacking the woman and her kids every chance it got.  When Hap and Leonard arrived, the porker attacked them too.

Never ones to back down from a challenge, Hap and Leonard finally trap the hog.  In doing so they discover the woman’s neighbors are making meth and the piggie knows how to access the stash.  No wonder the oinker was so hyped-up all the time.

The cops are called.  An investigation finds no only the make-shift meth lab, but bodies buried in the back yard.  This brings Hap and Leonard smack dab in the middle of drug dealers, crooked cops, a mysterious crime boss who is called the Benefactor and worse still, a gang of women looking to take over the area’s drug trade.  The women, are smart, tough and ruthless.  Every one of them is a cold-blooded killer, who uses a hatchet to finish the job.

Unfortunately for Hap and Leonard, they’ve become targets for all involved.

+++

HATCHET GIRLS is the fourteenth in the series. If you like crime stories with the perfect mix of humor, action and mystery, then HATCHET GIRLS (and all of the Hap and Leonard tales) are for you!

Rating:

SCAR IN THE SKY by J. Todd Scott!

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J. Todd Scott’s SCAR IN THE SKY drops this coming Friday.  Here’s the lowdown…

Lightning never strikes twice —until it does.

A killer is hunting down survivors of lightning strikes in this dark and twisting thriller, perfect for fans of J. H. Markert and Richard Chizmar.

Everything changed for Andi Ellis when she was struck by lightning and her heart stopped. Andi was resuscitated, but she was never the same—electronics strangely malfunction in her presence: clocks can’t keep time; batteries swiftly die. And while many lightning strike victims are left with temporary “lightning tree” markings, on her they are permanent scars.

Years later Andi, her eight-year-old daughter, and a fellow lightning strike survivor have fled Texas and Andi’s dangerous ex to go off the grid in a strange and secluded desert community.

Meanwhile, two private investigators pursue a US senator’s missing daughter who they find too late. When searching for information on the strange lightning scars on the girl’s body, they find themselves pulled into an FBI investigation—people who have been struck by lightning are being murdered.

As the death toll mounts, the task force traces the killer farther west—closer and closer to Andi Ellis and her daughter, and the haven she’s carefully created.

Thriller and horror readers will be enthralled by the dark turns in SCAR IN THE SKY.

SCAR IN THE SKY paperback

SCAR IN THE SKY hardback

THE FRIENDS OF PANCHO VILLA by James Carlos Blake / Z-View

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THE FRIENDS OF PANCHO VILLA by James Carlos Blake

First sentence…

In 1910, I killed a policeman and went to prison for two years.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Rodolfo Fierro was a killer, an ex-con, a thief, a train-robber, a ladies man, a drinker, a soldier and ultimately Pancho Villa’s closest friend.  Fierro was by Villa’s side throughout the Mexican Revolution.  Many considered Villa a hero.  At one point he was nearly recognized as Mexico’s new President.  Others labeled him a villain of the worst kind.

In THE FRIENDS OF PANCHO VILLA, Fierro takes us through Villa’s rise and fall.  He pulls no punches (about Villa or himself).  The narrative is compelling.  We are there for the battles, the celebrations, the treachery, the losses and more.  We will Villa’s (and Fierro’s) savagery and compassion.  Readers will feel they are there… and be glad they’re not.

+++

James Carlos Blake’s THE FRIENDS OF PANCHO VILLA is based on research and fact.  Rodolfo Fierro was a real person and James Carlos Blake makes him come alive.  JCB has another winner.

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HUNTER’S MOON by James Byron Huggins! Sequel to HUNTER is Here!

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HUNTER by James Byron Huggins is one of my all-time favorite novels.  Now Huggins is back with a sequel titled HUNTER’S MOON.  Here the lowdown…

It Lives to Kill. He Lives to Hunt.

International bestselling author James Byron Huggins returns with the sequel to his novel HUNTER, delivering a story of primal terror, relentless pursuit, and ultimate confrontation.

A brilliant but twisted Army scientist has done the unthinkable. He has become the beast, an ancient, prehistoric monster powerful enough to survive anything, even death itself. Buried beneath ice for ten thousand years, it was meant to stay forgotten. Now it walks again, leaving a trail of blood and destruction across the English countryside.

No conscience. No mercy. No weakness.

Only one man has faced the creature and survived. Hunter. Once again, he is called to do what no one else can: track and destroy the unstoppable before it consumes everything in its path.

Driven by duty, haunted by memory, and pursued by the past, Hunter must go beyond fear, beyond pain, and beyond human limits to end what began in a time before history.

The battle has begun. The world hangs in the balance.

This time, there may be no return.

HUNTER’S MOON drops August 31st.  Get your order in now.  I did.

HUNTER’S MOON Paperback

HUNTER’S MOON Hardback

“Charley Varrick” (1973) directed by Don Siegel; starring Walter Matthau and Joe Don Baker / Z-View

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Charley Varrick (1973)

Director:  Don Siegel

Screenplay: Dean Riesner, Howard Rodman; based on THE LOOTERS by John H. Reese

Stars: Walter Matthau, Joe Don Baker, Felicia Farr, Andrew Robinson, Sheree North, Norman Fell, Benson Fong, Woodrow Parfrey, William Schallert, Jacqueline Scott, Marjorie Bennett, Rudy Diaz, Colby Chester, Hope Summers, Craig R. Baxley, Don Siegel, John Vernon, Bob Steele and Charles Matthau. 

Tagline: It’s not easy to rob the Mob and stay alive.

The Plot…

Charley Varrick wasn’t always a criminal.  At one time he was a stunt pilot.  Then a crop duster.  When his crop business went south, Charley became a bank robber.  He was always careful to pick small banks in remote locations.

When Charlie and his three man crew knock off a bank in a no name town, things go sideways.  Two of his crew are killed along with the bank’s security guard.  Charlie and Harmon get away with the loot.  They’re shocked to discover they have $750,000.00.  There is no way that tiny bank should have that kind of cash.  Radio reports are that the thieves made off with $2,000.00.

Charlie realizes that the bank was being used by the mob to launder money.  He knows that if you steal from the mob, they will find and kill you no matter how long it takes.  Charlie tells Harmon they’ll need to sit on the money for a few years.  If they’re lucky, they’ll live to slowly spend it.  Harmon just wants his cut now — he plans to live it up.

As if that isn’t bad enough, the cops are working the case.  Worse still, the mob has hired a stone cold killer to track down the cash and kill the thieves.

It’s not easy to rob the Mob and stay alive.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Walter Matthau’s son, Charlie plays the role of the little boy in front of the bank that gets robbed.

Director Don Siegel plays a character named Murphy.

Surprisingly Walter Matthau wasn’t a fan of the finished film.

Joe Don Baker is perfect as the sadistic killer who dominates every scene he’s in.

Charley Varrick (1973) rates 5 of 5 stars

GRAY DAWN: AN EASY RAWLINS MYSTERY by Walter Mosley!

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Any time a new Walter Mosley tale premieres, it’s cause for a party.  When it’s a new Mosley Easy Rawlins yarn, get ready for a festival.

On September 16th get your party pants on, because that’s the day GRAY DAWN: AN EASY RAWLINS Mystery drops.  Here’s what to expect…

In this thrilling mystery from “master of craft and narrative” Walter Mosley (National Book Foundation), Detective Easy Rawlins has settled into the happy rhythm of his new life when a dark siren from his past returns and threatens to destroy the peace he’s fought for.

The name Easy Rawlins stirs excitement in the hearts of readers and fear in the hearts of his foes. His success has bought him a thriving detective agency, with its first female detective; a remote home, shared with children and pets and lovers, high atop the hills overlooking gritty Los Angeles; and more trouble, more problems, and more threat to those whom he loves. In other words, he’s still beset on all sides.

A number of below-the-law powerbrokers plead with Easy to locate a mysterious, dangerous woman—Lutisha James, though she’s gone by another name that Easy will immediately recognize. 1970s Los Angeles is a transient city of delicate, violent balances, and Lutisha has disturbed that. She also has a secret that will upend Easy’s own life, painfully closer to home.

Walter Mosley’s Easy Rawlins tales are the best.  Pre-orders are available now.

EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD by Ace Atkins!

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Ace Atkins has a new novel coming out!  It’s called EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD.  Here’s the scoop…

Elmore Leonard meets Robert Ludlum in a rollicking comedic thriller set in 1985 from acclaimed author Ace Atkins, in which a suburban teen suspects his mom’s new boyfriend is the ultimate bad guy—a KGB agent.

It’s 1985, what will soon become known as “The Year of the Spy,” and fourteen-year-old Peter Bennett is convinced his mom’s new boyfriend is a Russian agent. “Gary” isn’t in the phone book, has an unidentifiable European accent, and keeps a gun in the glove box of his convertible Porsche. Peter thinks Gary only wants to get close to his mom because she works at Scientific Atlanta, a lab with big government contracts. But who is going to believe him? He’s just a kid into BMX and MTV.

But after another woman who works at the lab is killed, Peter recruits an unlikely pair of allies—a has-been pulp writer and muckraker named Dennis Hotchner and his drag performer buddy and heavy, Jackie Demure. Both soon become the target of an unhinged Russian hitman (Is it Gary? Maybe!) with a serious Phil Collins obsession.

Meanwhile, Sylvia Weaver, a young, Black FBI agent, investigates Scientific Atlanta in the wake of the employee’s murder and discovers a nest of Russian spies in the Southern “city too busy to hate.” Little does she know her investigation is being thwarted by a seriously compromised colleague in Washington, D.C., who is in league with a lovesick, hypochondriac KGB defector who is playing both sides of the Cold War to his benefit.

As Ronald Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev prepare for a historic nuclear summit in Geneva, what happens in Atlanta might change the course of the Cold War, the twentieth century, and Peter Bennett’s freshman year of high school.

Ace Atkins tales always entertain.  EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD drops on December 2, 2025.  Pre-orders are available now.

“Play Dirty” written & directed by Shane Black; starring Mark Wahlberg and LaKeith Stanfield – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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Play Dirty written & directed by Shane Black; starring Mark Wahlberg and LaKeith Stanfield – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

Shane Black has written some bangers in the past.  I hope Play Dirty joins the list.  It has a decent cast and is based on the Richard Stark Parker novels.

Deal me in.

It’s time to rob the robbers.

Play Dirty starring Mark Wahlberg and LaKeith Stanfield is streaming on Prime Video October 1.

An expert thief rolls out the biggest heist of his life in Play Dirty, an action-packed thriller from director Shane Black. Parker (Mark Wahlberg), along with Grofield (LaKeith Stanfield), Zen (Rosa Salazar) and a skilled crew, stumble onto a score that pits them against the New York mob in this gritty, clever caper.

Starring Mark Wahlberg, LaKeith Stanfield, Rosa Salazar, Keegan-Michael Key, Chukwudi Iwuji, Nat Wolff with Thomas Jane and Tony Shalhoub

Directed by Shane Black
Written by Shane Black & Charles Mondry & Anthony Bagarozzi
Based on The “Parker” Book Series By Richard Stark

“Capricorn One” written & directed by Peter Hyams; starring Elliott Gould, James Brolin, Brenda Vaccaro, Sam Waterston, O.J. Simpson, Hal Holbrook, Karen Black & Telly Savalas / Z-View

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Capricorn One (1978)

Director:  Peter Hyams

Screenplay:  Peter Hyams

Stars: Elliott Gould, James Brolin, Brenda Vaccaro, Sam Waterston, O.J. Simpson, Hal Holbrook, Karen Black, David Huddleston, David Doyle, Lee Bryant, Denise Nicholas, Robert Walden,  James Sikking, Alan Fudge, James Karen, Barbara Bosson and Telly Savalas. 

Tagline: Would you be shocked to find out that the greatest moment of our recent history may not have happened at all?

The Plot…

Capricorn One is set to be the first manned mission to Mars.  Mission Commander Charles Brubaker will be joined by Peter Willis and John Walker.  Just minutes before liftoff, the crew is secretly taken out of the capsule and driven to a remote desert military base.

In the meantime the launch proceeds as normal.  The world as well as mission control believe the crew is onboard.

The Capricorn One crew is met by NASA head Dr. James Kelloway.  Kelloway explains that it was recently discovered that Capricorn One’s life support system contained a fatal flaw. Had the crew been sent up, they would have died in route to Mars.

There was too much riding on the mission to cancel. A contingent of politicians already felt that the money to support the Mars mission and other NASA projects could be better spent elsewhere.  If Capricorn One failed, all funding would be cut off.  Private contractors and powerful politicians would lose billions.

So a secret plan was developed.  The mission to Mars would continue. The crew would perform their scheduled activities from a soundstage.  The audio/video would be sent via relays to appear that it was coming from Capricorn One. Very few people in the world would know.

Charles Brubaker isn’t buying it.  He believes that the public would understand. Peter and John agree.  They don’t want to fake the trip.  Funding need not be lost.  Kelloway says that powerful people aren’t willing to take the chance.  If Charles, Peter and John don’t agree to play along, not only are their lives in danger, but so are the lives of their families.

Reluctantly Charles, Peter and John agree to the charade.  Secretly Charles informs Peter and John when they return and their families are safe, he is going to come clean.

All goes well on Capricorn One’s trip to Mars.  The crew’s videos have everyone fooled.  The return flight to Earth is by the book.  Then on re-entry, the ship’s heat shield fails.  The ship explodes.  The crew could not survive.

Meanwhile back at the remote military base, Charles, Peter and John realize if they are thought to have died on the mission, there is no way that they can ever be seen again alive.

Miles from nowhere… in the middle of a desert… unsure where the closest city is, the three begin a run for their lives.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

NASA provided mock-up spacecraft, sets, vehicles and other technical assistance.

Capricorn One was the most successful independently produced movie of 1977.

Writer/director Peter Hyams wanted Robert Hooks or Bernie Casey for the role that went to O.J. Simpson. Simpson was the producers’ choice and they wouldn’t budge.

Peter Hyams also wrote and directed Outland (1981).  The corporation Con Amalgamate appears in both films.  In Capricorn One, it is the company that cut corners and made the faulty life-support system. In Outland, it is the corporation that runs mining on Io.

The scenes of the crop duster with Brubaker hanging on to the wing as it is chased by two military helicopters works!

Stunt pilot, Frank Tallman, said that the scenes with the crop duster chased by two military helicopters and all flying low to the ground through zig-zagging canyons was the most dangerous flying he ever did.

There were two different novelizations written for Capricorn One.  Each had a different author. Ron Goulart wrote the version published in the United States. Bernard Ross’ (aka Ken Follett!) take was published in the United Kingdom.  The U.K. version puts more emphasis on the reporter than the U.S. novel.

Capricorn One‘s two stars, Elliott Gould and James Brolin were both married to the same woman in real life.  Gould was married to Barbra Streisand from 1963 to 1971. Brolin married Streisand in 1998.

Capricorn One is my favorite film written by Peter Hyams.  It is also my favorite film directed by Peter Hyams.  It also features my favorite Elliott Gould performance.

Capricorn One is under-rated.

Capricorn One (1978) rates 5 of 5 stars

“War of the Worlds” starring Ice Cube & Eva Longoria – The Poster and Trailer is Here!

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The poster and trailer for a re-imagined War of the Worlds (based on H.G. Wells classic novel) is here.   War of the Worlds stars Ice Cube and Eva Longoria.

While it hasn’t sold me completely, I’d give it a shot.  Who doesn’t love a story about invading aliens trying to take over the world?

War of the Worlds premieres on Prime Video streaming on July 30th.

Ice Cube fights aliens to save his family and the world.

Premieres exclusively on Amazon Prime Video on July 30, 2025.

PEOPLE LIKE US: A GRIFTER’S SONG, Book 2 by J.D. Rhodes / Z-View

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PEOPLE LIKE US ( A GRIFTER’S SONG, BOOK 2) by JD Rhodes

First sentence…

Aunt Sally was the real deal, Sam said.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Sam and Rachel are lovers. On the run. That’s because they’re also grifters who conned the wrong folks. Mafia folks. Now Sam and Rachel have to keep moving. And they have to keep scamming to pay the cost of a life on the run.

When Sam is contacted by his former mentor, Aunt Sally, she says that she needs his help with a big money scam she’s set up.  A rich Civil War memorabilia collector needs to be reeled in.  Sam’s ready to join Sally on the score.  Rachel isn’t so sure.

Aunt Sally could be scamming them.  Luring Sam and Rachel in where the mob can punch their tickets.  THAT would put big money in Sally’s hands.  Sam says Sally would never do that.  Sally can be trusted.

The need for quick cash outweighs Rachel’s fears.  They agree to help Aunt Sally.  Soon Sam and Rachel will know if Sally can be trusted.  They’ll also learn that a mob hitman is in town, closing in on them.  Coincidence?

Rating:

THE CONCRETE SMILE: A GRIFTER’S SONG 1 by Frank Zafiro / Z-View

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THE CONCRETE SMILE: A GRIFTER’S SONG 1 by Frank Zafiro

First sentences…

“Jack-a-reno!”

Sam hated that.  Even if Jack had been his real name, he would have hated it…”

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Sam and Rachel are lovers.  On the run.  That’s because they’re also grifters who conned the wrong folks.  Mafia folks.  Now Sam and Rachel have to keep moving.  And they have to keep scamming to pay the cost of a life on the run.

Their latest mark is Jacobson.  He owns a concrete company.  Jacobson thinks some folks want to buy his business. Jacobson has done his due diligence.  The folks buying have an opportunity to make millions, but their timeline is running thin. And they need Jacobson’s company to make it happen.

So Jacobson thinks he has the upper hand.  He’ll buy THEIR BUSINESS and he’ll make the millions.  One of the first rule of a con — make the mark want to give you their money.  Sam and Rachel have the hook in.  They just need a few more days.

Then the pair discover that they’ve been discovered.  They need to blow town before the mob’s hitman zeroes in on them.  Sadly, they need the score more.

The clock is ticking… tick… tick… tick…

+++

THE CONCRETE SMILE: A GRIFTER’S SONG 1 is a fast, fun read.  Clocking in at just 71 pages, Zafiro has laid the foundation for a fun crime series.  I look forward to more Grifter Songs.

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