The Stakes
Reviewed By Ian Banks March 5, 2018
Author Ben Sanders
Distributor: Allen and Unwin
ISBN: 9781760632755
Publisher: Allen and Unwin
Release Date: February 2018
Website: https://www.allenandunwin.com
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In the end it is all about the money, or is it. Miles Keller is heading towards early retirement, but decides he needs a good deal more money than he earns as a Detective for the NYPD. He has found what seems to be a fool proof, barely detectable way of making sure he retires well.
But regardless of how careful he is about relieving the department of a percentage of crime based money, it seems there are questions beginning to be asked and he realises that he may need to move out to retirement and another lifestyle, some other place, sooner than anticipated.
So…, Miles make a decision to relieve a crooked lawyer of some of his illegally gained money and then move far away, under a new alias that is, until things begin to come unravelled in his carefully laid plans. A stake out is going down and he kills the hitman, Jack Deen, deciding that this is not really murder, just getting rid of the unlovely; unfortunately for Miles the higher authorities decide it is anything but and begin an investigation into his part in the shooting.
Meanwhile his ex-lover Nina, wife of underworld boss Charles, turns up with a deal that he finds he can’t resist, even though he can resist Nina and her advances. Nina has recently parted company with Charles, but he has decided he wants her back and sends Bobby Deen to get her. Bobby is the cousin of Jack Deen, killed at the hand of Miles Keller, and a man who has been besotted by Nina for many years.
Things start to go badly wrong for Miles when a sting set up by the NYPD goes terribly wrong with their undercover man getting caught in the gunfire, Nina playing a game of both ends against the middle for her own benefit, and Miles being left to clean up the mess, something he once did for Nina many years ago. He figures she owes him big time, but discovers that you really can’t trust a crook, at all, any time!
Who can you trust, when it would seem the delicately balanced lifestyle of crime Miles has created, is going to badly affect his dear and long-time friend Lucy, and when it comes to the end of the game, in the final wash-up, who is going to be the winner?
Fast paced, full of suspense and a storyline that is all too plausible, Ben Sanders latest thriller makes for a great read that once begun, will be seriously hard to put down.