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Friday, May 2, 2014

The King of Macau by Jake Needham

Genre: Thriller

Setting: Present day Macau and Hong Kong.

First sentence: No, it can't begin that way.

This novel is the fourth in Jake Needham's Jack Shepherd series.

Jake is a lawyer who specializes in solving legal and financial problems that no one else wants to touch.  In this novel, Jack has two problems to solve. 

To begin with, the chief of security at a Macau casino has asked Jack to investigate a cash flow problem at the casino.  It seems that there has been an unusual amount of cash coming into the casino.  It's possible that the local gangs in Macau have been laundering money through the casino.  For years, many have believed that the owner of the casino has been cooperating with the gangs.

At first, Jack is reluctant to take the case.  But when the casino owner's beautiful and extremely wealthy daughter asks for his help, Jack decides to get involved.  The casino owner is very elderly and the daughter wants to solve the case in a way that clears her father of any connection to the gangs.

In addition, Jack has been asked to do a favor for an acquaintance.  The acquaintance has a mysterious friend named Freddy who would like to get political asylum in Hawaii.  Although Jack usually does not handle asylum cases, he promises his friend that he'll see what he can do.

As Jack begins investigating both cases, things become a little more interesting when people start sending bullets in his direction.  Apparently, Jack's activities have attracted someone's attention.

Will Jack discover the source of the cash flow spike at the casino?

Will Freddy get his asylum in Hawaii?

And, what about the casino owner's beautiful daughter?

I am a big fan of Jake Needham and I really enjoyed this book.  Jack is a unique hero.  He uses information and investigation, rather than firearms and violence to solve his cases.  Don't look for a fairy tale happy ending.  Needham ends this book in a realistic, believable, and unexpected way.

Another great read from Jake Needham.


                                                                 

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