At the start of this strong thriller from bestseller Mills (Fade
), career criminal Brandon Vale is in prison for a failed diamond theft when Richard Scanlon, an ex-FBI agent and security consultant, gets him released and offers him a job. The Ukrainian mob claims it has 12 nuclear warheads for sale, and Scanlon decides he'll save them from becoming ammunition in a terrorist plot by, with Brandon's help, coming up with the $200 million asking price by robbing a Vegas casino. With the aid of one of Scanlon's employees, Catherine Juarez, Brandon executes a brilliant plan, but finds himself mired in the terrorist plot. The likable Brandon wants nothing more than to be allowed to continue his life of cons and crime without the distractions of morality and patriotism, but this is not to be ("It was hard to believe that the planet's future—or lack thereof—was going to rest on the narrow shoulders of a thirty-three-year-old thief"). Fortunately for readers and the world, Brandon proves to be interesting, intelligent and more than equal to the task. (Aug.)
