Loaded Dice

By: James Swain

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's Summary

Hard-boiled ex-cop Tony Valentine has a new profession: spotting casino cheats and exposing a casino's flaws to the owners. Now he must unravel the mystery of an amateur player impossibly raking in the dough on blackjack. However, his investigation stirs up a hornet's nest worth of problems. First of all, the suspect bears a distinct resemblance to Valentine's late wife; second, she's captured on a video surveillance tape with Valentine's lifelong enemy; third, his son Gerry is also in Las Vegas, getting lessons in illegal card-counting. Valentine now sees a new breed of criminal in Vegas, one who is not after money but, instead, is after maximum destruction of human life. It's up to Tony to stop the killings, or risk losing everything he holds dear.

Don't miss any of Tony Valentine's casino adventures.

©2004 James Swain; (P)2004 Books on Tape

Critic Reviews

"Great fun with just the right amount of edge, sort of like a night at the blackjack table." (Booklist)
"An expert on casino swindles, the author packs his books with mind-boggling cons and scams, how to do them and stop them, along with entertaining dialogue and vivid characters, notably the strong, sympathetic Tony." (Publishers Weekly)

Terrorists in Vegas

Although Audible has not yet designated it as such, "Loaded Dice" actually comes fourth in Swain's Tony Valentine series. Unfortunately, the first two entries in the series -- "Grift Sense" and "Funny Money" -- have not yet been recorded on audiobooks, as far as I know; so we have no choice but to start in the middle of this entertaining series. (I always prefer to listen to series novels in chronological order.) I recommend listening to "Sucker Bet" (#3 in the Tony Valentine series) before starting "Loaded Dice," just to pick up some backstory: Tony Valentine, retired Atlantic City cop, now works as a consultant to gambling casinos, exposing grifters. I enjoy this series a great deal. Swain clearly knows whereof he speaks, showing us the many -- frequently cunningly clever -- ways in which people can cheat the gambling establishments out of large sums. Most of these tricks involve deft sleight-of-hand, almost like that practiced by magicians. In "Loaded Dice," we get the additional element of Muslim terrorists thrown in, as well. Clearly this series will not suit everybody; however, I think that anybody who enjoys poker or craps or Las Vegas will probably get a kick out of all of James Swain's Tony Valentine novels. Narrator Paul Boehmer does not have a beautiful voice, but does a better-than-adequate job narrating "Loaded Dice."

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Once start listening hard to stop

I am a truck driver, I love these James Swaim books with Tony Valentine, makes my day go much faster never a time that losses my interest.

Dumbest?

I know that I am taking somewhat of a risk buying any book, even if it has good reviews. Well, the book folks sure put one over on me this time. After about 10 minutes I knew that I had been had. Take out the profanity and even a six year old will look for something else.

This book fails on all levels -- no matter how many or what they are. You don't need to know Latin to be familiar with the phrase, "Buyer beware."

5 of 10 people found this review helpful

a no star book

Got the audio book from the library...should have saved the gas and time...narrative is terrible...naive and illogical...reader is not good..nothing else to say that isn't bad....
PL in Ct

1 of 3 people found this review helpful