In the spirit of the holidays, I am hosting a wonderful giveaway for James Blakley, author of The Steal Deal. Details are following my review.
The Steel Deal
by James Blakley
It all started with the horses. Sonny Busco, private eye, aged 55, thought playing the horses would help him make ends meet. Business had dried up and he needed money badly. Living without running water or a telephone was not good for business, or for him.
He figured he’d cash in on the ponies, but as it usually goes, he lost. Enter Gator Grimes, the loan shark.
Sonny borrows $500 and before you know it, it’s $1.500. When he can’t meet the payment deadline, friends of Gator come callin.
Ziggy and Sully don’t get quite the reaction they were expecting from Sonny. He’s more like, can’t we be friends, than scared.
“You’re too chilly,” Sully carped. “You take the fun out of the collection biz.”
Things get worked out and Sonny gets an extension, a costly one. Then, as luck would have it, he gets a client.
Pixy Sage looks like her name. She’s a petite thing with short platinum blonde hair and black, large framed glasses. She looks like a school kid. But her offer is all grown-up.
$2,500 large to retrieve a package and have it in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 24 hours. Doesn’t sound like too big of a deal.
He could pay off Gator and maybe pay for the repairs on his car. The rusty olds still had some life in her, and he didn’t think the sleek black Stealth he was driving was right for spying on people. He kind of stood out from the crowd in it, but when Hub offered to loan it to him, he couldn’t resist.
It brought back memories of Magnum P. I. except Sonny’s a little slower, older and portly.
Sonny retrieves the package easily enough, but before he can even get to his car the men in black appear. And the woman who steps out of his loaner is taking the package even if she has to pry it from his cold dead fingers. What’s a guy to do, he tosses it to her and ducks for cover. The next sound he hears is his car being driven away.
So now he has no car, no package and no idea where they went. The sentient steel in that package must be the real deal.
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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Tuvnz2W_pc]
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Sentient steel makes me think of the cop in Terminator Two. It’s flexible, lightweight and incredibly strong and it can think and become whatever it chooses.
Now Sonny has a much bigger job and a sleuthing he will go.
I loved this book. The names and expressions the characters use when speaking were reminiscent of the old P.I. shows. I could just see Peter Faulk in Columbo, with his rumpled clothes and cloud of smoke following him, driving that old clunker. His appearance disguised a brilliant deductive mind, just like Sonny’s.
I even liked the bad guys. How could I not. They are so well written. The author makes it hard to guess who is telling the truth and who’s good or bad. He has you spinning like a hamster in his wheel.
A super mystery in a small package. Steel Deal is a very fast story that you’ll want to read to the end once you start. There’s too much fun and action to pick a stopping point.
Fun from first page to last!
An International Giveaway
Do I have a giveaway for you. James has been very generous, just check out what you can win!
$25.00 Amazon Gift Card
$15.00 Walmart Gift Card
Two signed Paperback copies of Steel Deal.
There will be four winners.
To enter, please leave your email address and answer this question, “What would you use sentient steel for?”
Contest ends December 18th.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Blakley was educated at Missouri Western State College and Washburn University. While at MWSC, he was a local and national award-winning columnist and co-editor of “The Griffon-News”.
Blakley worked 10 1/2 years as a page and as an Assistant Librarian for the River Bluffs Regional Libraries of St. Joseph, MO. He currently lives in Topeka,KS where he worked for The Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library before spending several years in clerical and customer support capacities for international computer companies such as EDS and HP.
For those “inquiring minds who want to know”, I’m almost finished with a screenplay version of “The Steel Deal.” And I’m rough-drafting my next novel (due out in late 2013/early 2014).
You can find James Blakley at Goodreads
*I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. My opinions are my own.
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