What are the odds
Description
The debut novel from screenwriter and producer David List, What Are the Odds is an entertaining, binge-worthy, and addictive crime thriller.
Ray Dawson, a former NYPD detective unfairly forced into early retirement, never thought he would get another chance to be with his second wife and love of his life, Stephanie. So when she opens the door to the possibility, he spends his savings on an extravagant romantic getaway at a resort in Costa Rica. But Ray is still as much a cop as he is a man, and when, in the hotel elevator, he has a chance encounter with Wilbur Bailey—a wily, neurotic, and environmentally conscious fugitive with a $5 million bounty on his head—things get complicated.
IRS Special Agent Phil Dancourt is determined to bust Mika Salko, the corrupt CEO of Houston-based Amco Oil, and believes Wilbur Bailey, an Amco analyst with a conscience, is the one guy on the inside who could help bring Salko down. But in a bizarre twist, Bailey embezzles millions and disappears, putting Phil’s job on the line. Now, after Wilbur is sighted in Costa Rica, Phil is sent to retrieve him. But from the moment he steps off the plane and crosses paths with Ray and Wilbur, nothing goes as planned.
The encounter propels the three men into a harrowing, death-defying, life-changing, and often hilarious journey, attracting unwanted attention from a heroin-addicted dishwasher, a powerful, corrupt CEO, bloodthirsty gangs and drug cartels, and pandering government watchdogs. Along the way, they come face-to-face, in unexpected ways, with life’s larger questions: friendship, love, loss, faith, and the commitment to values larger than oneself. What results is a trio of unlikely friends, and Ray can only hope that once it’s all over, Stephanie will still be there.
More Details
Subjects
Criminal investigation -- Fiction
Ex-police officers -- Fiction
Friendship -- Fiction
Fugitives from justice -- Fiction
Loss (Psychology) -- Fiction
Man-woman relationships -- Fiction
United States. -- Internal Revenue Service. -- Intelligence Division -- Officials and employees -- Fiction
White collar crimes -- Fiction
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Published Reviews
Kirkus Book Review
The pursuit of an erratic white-collar criminal becomes a crazy thrill ride. In his fiction debut, screenwriter List's skill set is on display from the opening scene of his fiction debut: Tough-as-nails retired NYPD detective Raymond Dawson is flummoxed and frustrated to find himself "bloodied, bound, and buck-naked" in the middle of nowhere, while next to him sits owlish ex--Amco Oil executive Wilbur Bailey, a fellow captive who watches a scorpion crawl over his shoe. The story rolls back from this vivid tableau to the road these two protagonists followed to get there. Wilbur's dealings with shady Russian Mika Salko have landed him in the crosshairs of dogged IRS agent Phil Dancourt. Ray, a divorced ex-marine who took early retirement from the NYPD after being wounded on the job a handful of times, feels professionally adrift until he finds a lifeline in alluring Stephanie Morego. Wilbur, devastated by a cancer diagnosis and feeling heat from the law, goes on the run. A casual meeting between Wilbur, Ray, and Stephanie in an elevator begins a series of mishaps that eventually put Wilbur and Ray on a perilous path littered with a gallery of oddballs, with Phil in dogged pursuit as interpolated flashbacks fill in their backstories. List's title aptly foreshadows the erratic plot. His energetic depiction of every episode, full of sharp character portraits and droll details, engages interest and keeps the story moving. An outlandish and entertaining comic thriller. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.