The Stakes

The NYPD is investigating detective Miles Keller, the hero of this entertaining if sketchy crime novel from New Zealand author Sanders (Marshall’s Law), for killing Jack Deen, a hit man he believed was targeting his ex-girlfriend, former police informant Lucy Gates. On the side, Miles robs wealthy criminals. His current extracurricular project is intercepting a payoff to a rich and ruthless lawyer playing go-between in an assassination plot. Meanwhile, a rich gangster sends L.A. hired gun Bobby Deen, Jack’s cousin, to New York to locate his missing wife, the irresistible and brilliant Nina. Nina just happens to be in the heist business, too, and tempts both Miles and Bobby with her latest scheme. Fast-paced alternating viewpoints—Miles’s and Bobby’s—challenge the reader to keep track of the complicated plot. Convincing dialogue and unexpected twists help compensate for a surfeit of heists and insufficiently filled-out characters (where Miles lives is never clear). References to New York’s “freeways” and subway “carriages” suggest Sanders could have used more editorial direction. Still, fans of Donald Westlake’s caper novels will find much to like. Agent: Dan Myers, Word/Link Literary Agency. (Mar.)