Amazon.co.uk Review
Cassidy (Cassie) Black has been working at a Porsche dealership; as an ex-con, she's keeping as many secrets as she possibly can. Besides, she knows all too well that there are as many suckers with warped egos buying expensive cars as there were marks to rob back in Las Vegas, where she and her love, Max, were set up. The worst part of the fall they were forced to take was that it involved Max plunging to his death from an open window and Cassie getting the rap for the push.
Now she's out on parole and trying to stay within comfortable eye-shot of the daughter she bore--her only memento of the adored Max--and whom she gave up for adoption. Asking nothing more than to be able to see her from a distance and know she's safe, she suddenly must come up with a considerable sum of money to be able to follow the little girl to Europe where her family is planning to move.
That kind of money can only be realised quickly by means that she has supposedly foresworn. The situation becomes even more heart-pounding when she and a psychopathic enforcer wind up on opposing sides of a two-million-dollar package. Brought up by a magician father, the crafty, creepy Jack Karch is the sort of primal-slime villain who can use his sleight of hand to amuse a child one minute and deliver a murderous blow the next.
How Cassie struggles to stay one step ahead of him--while watching her allies fail at the same game--is what makes this tense, clever narrative ultimately sentimental in the best way. As a formula, the "tables turned" plot can never be beat, while Michael Connelly proves once again that neither can he. --Otto Penzler
