Posts Tagged: Tom Kakonis

A Brash Holiday Season is Coming

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The holiday season is upon us, and it's that time of year for gratitude and reflection. In this edition of the Brash Books newsletter, we share our fond remembrance of a beloved Brash author, along with another amazing award, a fresh new story, a rave review—and an abundance of upcoming releases for your reading pleasure. DOUBLE WIDE WINS AGAIN! The awards keep coming for DOUBLE WIDE and Leo W. Banks! Banks' debut thriller just received the 2018 Best Mystery Novel award from the New Mexico Book Co-op, announced at a gala awards banquet in Albuquerque on November 16th. Along with this latest honor, DOUBLE WIDE also has received two Western Writers of America 2018 Spur Awards and Best... more

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The Writing of BLIND SPOT…and the peculiar life and death of Adam Barrow

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Author Tom Kakonis tells the unusual story behind his haunting thriller BLIND SPOT, and why he originally published it, and his novel FLAWLESS, under the doomed pseudonym "Adam Barrow." In the late afternoon of a fine summer day many years ago, my wife and I were driving down one of those Interstates that ring the city of Chicago like a hangman’s noose. She, a suburban native of that city, was behind the wheel, I rode shotgun. Since it was nearing rush hour, that perpetually traffic-clogged highway was swarming with vehicles plunging headlong toward only god knew where. But as we approached a toll station, all of us began first to gradually decelerate, then slow to a crawl, then stop... more

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Ripley Reads: Thrilling Books for Your Summer

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Brash Books Author W.L. Ripley (Storme Warning, Hail Storme, etc) shares the thrilling books he's been reading lately...and that you might want to add to your summer reading list. Crush  (Phoef Sutton) – Phoef is an Emmy award winning writer for such luminaries as “Cheers,” “Newhart” and “Boston Legal.” His protagonist Caleb Rush (AKA: Crush) is a titanic hero who can do anything and everything and does it with panache and rollicking humor in a story that takes the reader on a wild carnival ride through the mean streets of the L.A. underworld. There is tension, black humor, pathos, quirky dialogue along with the humorous on every page. Sutton hits every note as Crush never... more

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Double Down on Waverly

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Novelist James L. Thane, author of No Place to Die and Until Death, shares his fondness for Tom Kakonis' thriller Double Down. This is the second book in Tom Kakonis's excellent short series featuring Timothy Waverly, a professional gambler whose business card wryly describes him as an "Applied Probabilities Analyst."The end of the first book, Michigan Roll, found Waverly in a world of hurt after he accidentally stumbled into a drug deal that went bad. When all was said and done, $500,000 worth of drugs wound up destroyed. The drugs belonged to a crime boss named Gunter Dietz who blames Waverly for the loss of the drugs and who expects to be repaid. Waverly and his best friend and... more

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Shadow Counter: Kakonis Scores Again

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Novelist James L. Thane, author of No Place to Die and Until Death, shares his fondness for Tom Kakonis' gambling thriller Shadow Counter. Shadow Counter is the third and final volume in Tom Kakonis’s excellent series featuring Timothy Waverly, a professional card player who has found nothing but trouble ever since Kakonis first introduced him in Michigan Roll. At the end of the second book, Double Down, he and his long-time partner Bennie Epstein had to race away from another dicey situation in Florida. It’s now 1993, and they’ve landed in Vegas, living in a pitiful house and trying to fly under the radar while they attempt to cobble together the stake that will put... more

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Michigan Roll: For Fans of Elmore Leonard

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Novelist James L. Thane, author of No Place to Die and Until Death, shares his fondness for Tom Kakonis' thriller Michigan Roll Timothy Waverly's business card describes him as an "Applied Probabilities Analyst," which is Waverly's idea of a little joke. Timothy is an ex-con out of Michigan who now makes his living in south Florida as a professional gambler, trimming the doctors, dentists and others who search out a little high-stakes action while on their Florida vacations. Waverly did a stretch for accidentally killing his ex-wife's lawyer. The ex-wife is now remarried and living in Traverse City, Michigan, with the young son that Waverly never had a chance to know. Restless,... more

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