Cashing Out [Paperback]

There were also some real gloss overs. The murder in Vegas, and the juicy threat to Tomb the Vegas cop set up was never delivered. He smoothed it over. Pleeeese. The romance angle seemed abit forced, though this was suppose to show how he was a stand-up guy, interested in the female cop (just as wounded as he) and not the beautiful whores that seem to offer themselves up to him. All in all Tomb was a victim, and not very interesting.

Also, there is no such thing as a Chevrolet Saturn to my understanding, Saturn makes there own vehicles, and seeing that on the first page of the first chapter was a real turn off. ...

This heist tale takes place mainly in San Francisco, with a side-jaunt to Vegas. Edgy ex-cop John "Tomb" Tomei has to help bookie friend Billy Rossi get even with some mobsters from Chinatown, lackeys of Kan Chin who have robbed Rossi and raped his girlfriend Sherri. Once Tomb links up with another loose cannon, Red Vanes, who has a grudge against Chin already, the only plan that emerges, sane or not, is to hit Kan Chin right back, to the tune of over six hundred dollars in poker chips, which can be spent like cash at all the best gambling spots in North America.

A few things help keep the book from being totally forgettable. First, Sherri's place in the story, after she has been raped, is always interesting. She goes on quite an adventure, but all the terrible things that get done to her only seem to make her stronger, and she is a key piece of the story right til the bitter end. Meanwhile, the first half of the book is the duller portion, consisting of very little action. But it is interesting to see the various opponents making their opening gambits against each other--that would include Tomb and his various friends and informants, some of them cops putting themselves out on a limb; and on the other side, we have two sub-sets of shady characters: Kan Chin and his array of thugs and enforcers, and some crooked politicians who want favours from Chin and thus can be used by him in turn, when it comes to the Chinese gangster's various complicated machinations. Finally, throw in one rogue Italian mobster from New York, freshly exiled from the Big Apple and trying to find new gangster friends in San Francisco's Chinatown. Slowly, all the key players converge.

The problems: the book stalls a lot. That would be the main-turn off. Tomei's heist against Kan Chin's coffers is simplistic, though at least there is a surprise confrontation inside the actual vault. A few scenes that would have added spice to the book merely get summarized after the fact; I speak of one death (involving rodents), and one shooting. I just don't know why these scenes were led up to, skipped, and then hastily described later; they would have been very dramatic if depicted as they happened. Meanwhile, a domestic subplot involving Tomei trying to keep his ex-wife from moving away with their child is very successful at showing Tomei's love and determination as an anguished father with a realworld dilemma--but the wrap-up to this subplot is kind of quick and, again, undramatic.

So, you would take your chances with this one. It is slick and very readable, but the tension level never really shoots high enough, except for a few brief moments, many involving Sherri and not Tomei, in the early-going. The end is all about retribution and just desserts, and is another quick morsel of excitement. Not an outstanding entry.