This is a violent, deep, and darkly amusing crime thriller featuring Waverly, a wizard with cards and an ex-jailbird and an ex-ex-academic, who gets caught in a life and death struggle with some very nasty characters, just because he stopped to help out a damsel in distress. The plot of Michigan Roll is quite straightforward, but Kakonis has filled it with some rich characters, especially those of Waverly and the nasties, Shadow and Gleep. That is not to say the remaining characters are not well turned out. With graphic descriptions of violence and crisp, cracking dialogues, the well-paced narrative is engrossing. Included in the mix is some high philosophy, to be expected with the intellectual protagonist, which made my attention wander at times. The ending has something left hanging, a promise of further adventures. I liked this hard-hitting thriller and will get to the other ones in this line sometime soon. ( )

This is the fourth Tom Kakonis book I have received as a reviewer for Brash and really, I can't get excited by his writing. I started this one a few times and kept putting it down, which is a bad sign for a thriller.

The books was first published in 1970 and it has not stood up over time. The plot lacks immediacy, pace is slow, the characters are who they are but I found myself not caring. Perhaps because I have read so very many thrillers containing bad guys who employ violence to gather facts, I found the two reprehensible thugs boring, not scary. Waverly as a poker player does not jump off the page.

I received a review copy of "Michigan Roll: A Waverly Thriller" (Brash) directly from the publisher. It was originally published in 1970 by Pan Books it was reissued in 1988 by St. Martin's Press and in 2002 by Thunder Bay Press. In addition to this present Brash edition, Amazon lists only the 1988 St. Martin's release. ( )