July 27, 2009

Review: The Amateurs by Marcus Sakey




Author's Website and Twitter page

The Thursday Night Drinking Club that met at Rossi’s each week consisted of four friends. Mitch is the loveable loser. He has absolutely no backbone and wouldn’t stand up for himself against anyone. Ian is the closet druggie and gambler. He’s facing some serious hurt if he doesn’t pay his gambling debts. Alex is the divorced father. Working as a bar tender he hasn’t been able to keep up with his child support payments and his ex-wife is threatening to take his daughter out of state. Jenn is the only girl in the group. She’s secretly sleeping with one of the guys and yearns for more adventure in life.

Playing the game of “What would you do with a million dollars?” one night gets them all thinking about an easy score when Alex mentions to his friends that his boss left a lot of cash in the office safe.

But when the easy score turns into murder, their ho-hum lives are turned upside down in the split second it takes to pull the trigger and the once close friends can no longer trust each other.

Seriously guys, this book was incredible and may have just taken the crown from Saints in Limbo as my favorite book this year.

The friends are each kind of damaged in their own way but they all step up when faced with the terrible consequences of their actions. My favorite character of the four is Mitch. I adored him for both his door mat self in the beginning and what he became after the robbery. The ending was a complete shock but plays well with the storyline. Really the whole book is genius and I can’t really say too much more without giving away some of the plot.

You have to trust me on this one and pick up your own copy here. This was my first book by Sakey but from his website I see that he has plenty more to offer that I can’t wait to read. I also saw that three of his previous novels were optioned for movies. I hope The Amateurs makes it to the big screen also. This is a must read for suspense and thriller lovers.

BookBlips: vote it up!

3 comments :

Unknown said...

I've never heard of the book or the author but I will definitely look into it. Sounds great.

Toni said...

I trust you.. sounds like a good one. Thanks for the review.

bermudaonion said...

You've made me want to read it!