Loaded Dice
A Tony Valentine Novel, No.4  
By James Swain

      Tony Valentine is a 64-year-old retired Atlantic City cop whose special gift is the ability to catch swindlers in gambling casinos. This makes him in great demand by casino owners.

    He is hired by his friend, Nick Nicocropilis, owner of the gambling casino whose building stands in the way of a connecting walkway two other casino owners want to build. They are conspiring to ruin Nick with an elaborate scam. They have hired Frank Fontana, a world class card sharp and Tony's longtime enemy to run the scam. It is Tony's job to defuse the scam and capture the culprits in order to save Nick's casino.

    Tony is also checking on his son, Gerry, a loser, who is in Las Vegas with two new friends, Amin and Pash, whom he met in card counting school. Unknown to him they are terrorists en route to their assignment.

     This is the fourth in the series of Valentine's adventures and it is an exciting adventure; fast paced and suspenseful, full of plot twists. There are dramatic scenes with vivid Las Vegas characters, and the dialogue is entertaining. There is an encyclopedia of casino grifts and the process by which experts like Valentine spot the card sharps and show how the blackjack players use the new high tech devices to cheat. The many scams and the various ways to stop them are mind boggling. The reader is given a close look into the seedy world of gambling and into the city of Las Vegas and its casinos.

     The grand entrance at the Sin Casino where Valentine is working is adorned with immense statues of the owner's six ex-wives...just an example of the craziness of the city.

     This is a very entertaining tale that keeps its readers' interest throughout.