Sunday, June 2, 2013

REVIEW: "Lucky Bastard" by Deborah Coonts

Disclaimer: This book was given to me in exchange for a review.

Type: Mystery, Humor, Women's Fiction, Contemporary, Vegas!, Series, Book Four

About the Book: Lucky O’Toole, the newly promoted vice president of Customer Relations for the Babylon, Las Vegas’s primo Strip property, has never met a problem she couldn’t handle. But when a young woman is found dead, sprawled across the hood of a new, bright red Ferrari California in the Babylon’s on-site dealership, a Jimmy Choo stiletto stuck in her carotid, Lucky’s skills are maxed out. Of course her life is already on overload. Her mother, Mona, is pregnant, hormonal, and bored — a triple threat. A song that Teddie, Lucky’s former lover, wrote for her is getting national airplay as he hits the talk shows, pleading for her forgiveness. Lucky is less than amused by the high-powered “infotainment” spotlight on her personal life. She’s having enough trouble fending off Chef Jean-Charles Bouclet, the Babylon’s tasty new dish. All of this and The Smack-Down Poker tournament, the second-largest poker tournament in the world, is holding its final round at the Babylon. Hookers, thieves, players, cheaters, media, and hangers-on descend, looking to win or to score. When one of the players turns up dead, Lucky starts to make connections between the two murders, putting her in the crosshairs of the killer. After a revelation by someone close to her sends her world reeling even further, Lucky struggles to keep her life in balance, and a murderer from killing again as bodies pile up. Then, just when she’s losing control… life deals another major complication to her personal life… and it’s not going to be pretty. Lucky struggles to keep her life in balance, and a murderer from killing again as bodies pile up. (From Goodreads.com)

My Review: This is one of those books that properly falls under the category of "un-put-downable." Though I was rather daunted by the size of the first few books, they were so fascinating that they truly flew by. I love Lucky's life, but I definitely don't envy her the amount of stuff she has to put up with. I do hope she gets some breaks between all the death and catastrophes!

Lucky is a truly well-done character. She's has her obsessions (shoes and cliches), and she has her passions (also cliches... but also Vegas), and she does her job well - even to her detriment. She works herself ragged, and the author does an excellent job changing her character to suit how little sleep she has had throughout the murder investigations.

It was wonderful to see beloved characters from the past come back once again, and to see how they have grown and changed along with Lucky and Vegas, and how relationships between the characters have matured over the course of the series. And the ending - ah the ending! Once again, Deborah Coonts had me shaking my book in frustration. I want to know what's going to happen! I don't know how she expects me to wait until the next book releases.

This is a series that I highly recommend to pretty much anyone, and I'm even looking into doing one of them for a Mystery Book Club I help run at my local library.

Cover Lovin': Considering how important shoes are in this book, the cover is very apropos. And I do love how the different charms reflect different aspects of the book. Another well done cover for Deborah Coonts.

Recommendation: Definitely for fans of adult, funny, contemporary mysteries. There is a little romance to appeal to romance fanatics, and enough mystery and suspense to keep the mystery fans going.

Final Rating: FIVE out of FIVE (5/5). I couldn't put this down. I'm not the biggest mystery and suspense buff, but these books are so fun, I can't wait for the next one!

Series in Order:
Wanna Get Lucky?
Lucky Stiff
So Damn Lucky
Lucky Bastard
(Also: check out the eBook shorts!)

Happy Reading!
~!~ Amanda ~!~

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