The Scam: A Fox and O’Hare Novel
By: Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg
Rating: 5 of 5
“The Scam” is the newest book in the Fox and O’Hare series by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg. I’ve read the previous books and really enjoyed them and this is the best one yet.
The characters in the story bring Elizabeth Peter’s Vicky Bliss mysteries to mind, except that Kate O’Hare is a tough and well trained FBI agent. The background for these books is that Kate has been on the trail of master criminal Nicholas Fox for years and finally brought him down. Almost immediately, Nick is back out and working with the FBI and especially Kate to bring down other criminals around the world.
It is really fun reading these stories as they take me to far-off places. It is evident that the authors have done their research well and are able to describe the places and people so well I feel almost like I am there, too. In “The Scam”, the action centers around Macau, Las Vegas, the North Shore of Ohau, Hawaii, and of course, Kate’s home stomping ground of Southern California.
The story involves money laundering and gambling as well as shoot-em-ups and lots of funny dialog. It was great to see some of the characters from previous books back in the action again. Kate’s father, Jake, is a favorite of mine with his propensity to teach young family members survival skills, including a tad bit of bomb making. Another favorite is the actor, Boyd Capwell, who gets so far into his roles in the cons for Nick and Kate, that he sometimes seems to forget that it is a role and not his real life. His embellishments are always good for a laugh.
Kate and Nick work together to bring down the house of cards that a small time gambler turned entrepreneur, Evan Trace, has managed to build into a multi-million dollar business. At the same time, Kate wants a little pay back to a Hawaiian mobster who has threatened her father.
I really enjoy this series and could easily see it being made into movies – the characters are well drawn, the dialog is snappy, the plots are fun, and the descriptions are top-notch. In the meantime, the books are really great to read and I recommend the entire series/
I received a digital ARC copy of this book from the publisher, Bantam (Random House) via Netgalley.
