SAFECRACKER

5 stars out of 5

On occasion, I get an offer, usually from a publicist, to read and review an upcoming book. While I always appreciative and consider myself fortunate when that happens, unless the description is enticing, I'm likely to turn it down. This one, though, sounded appealing- and now that I'm finished, I don't hesitate to recommend it.

The book is narrated by uber-successful safecracker Michael Maven, who mostly handles jobs offered by his boss-lady, Liz. By day, he owns a Sundown Cinemas, a motion picture theater in New York City through which he passes his financial gains and, on many occasions, treats himself to a movie or two. When Liz tells him of her interest in a a very rare coin (the fifth most rare in the world, in fact), he's hot to trot and performs his usual pre-job due diligence. When he learns that the wealthy owner of the coin will be attending a splashy event, he puts his considerable expertise to use to let himself into the guy's apartment and open the safe.

This time, though, turns out to be a worst-case scenario; just as he's about to snatch the coin, he hears the apartment door open. Uh, oh, he thinks - the man has come home early. That's bad enough; but the situation quickly becomes more complicated because he's brought with him a beautiful woman. Getting out without being detected (hopefully with the coin in hand) might have been possible, but escaping the notice of two people - who have just entered the bedroom where Michael is hiding in the closet just isn't likely to be a happening thing. As Michael ponders his next move, though, the woman murders the man as he watches, horrified, through the closet door slats. When she grabs the coin from the safe, though, his terror turns to anger: How dare she take what was meant to be his?

In the process of trying to stop her, Michael - who is trained in martial arts - is injured and she gets away with the coin. Still ticked off, he puts Liz and other friends to work trying to track her down. When they meet again, it's not under the best circumstances, shall we say - and the time after that is even worse. Now, Michael is ordered by a nasty drug lord to break into the safe of his rival - the leader of a competing cartel - in Miami. It's an order he can't refuse lest members of his family and friends will die. And as if it were possible to make matters worse, he's forced to team up with - you guessed it - the woman he watched murder the owner of the aforementioned rare coin.

The rest of the book follows Michael's efforts to get the cartel guy's job done without getting himself or anyone else killed; from that point on it's anyone's guess who will emerge triumphant (although since this is the first in a series, readers certainly can expect that the hero will live to see another day, no matter what happens to him here). The devil is in the details, as they say, and how it all goes down kept me on the edge of my seat from that point on. 

Aside from being a good, action-packed story, I must say one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much is that it's highly reminiscent of another favorite series of mine: The Burglar Who by Lawrence Block. The character there, burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr owns a bookstore, not a theater, nor does he usually get embroiled in situations quite as dangerous as this book's Michael Maven. But everything else, including the writing style, brought back happy memories of the Block works - as well as happiness that I've found a new series to love. Now, I can't wait to read the next one in this series (scheduled for release next year, or so I've read). Bring it on!

Safecracker by Ryan Wick (Thomas Dunne Books, December 2020); 320 pp.