Spooky tales of vanished sailors, wandering phantoms and lost treasure scattered across the ocean floor” from Florida's husband and wife ghost hunters. Treasure Coast is a region on the east coast of Florida.It has beautiful beaches and many opportunities to see nature, and have fun. It is comprised of Indian River County, St.
The Treasure Coast is such a popular destination that some choose to never leave. From the spirits of ancient Indians who once inhabited the beaches to the pirates who spied for passing victims from the safety of the inlets and coves, the region is infused with eerie, tragic history. A phantom widow keeps watch from the Boston House window for men long ago lost at sea.
Spirits of the victims of a murderous cop linger at the Devil's Tree, where their bodies were found. The dreaded pirate Black Caesar still steers his ghost ship toward Dead Man's Point in the St. Authors Patrick and Patricia Mesmer navigate through spooky tales of vanished sailors, wandering phantoms and lost treasure scattered across the ocean floor.
Treasure Coast is the wild new thriller from Tom Kakonis, the acclaimed author of Criss Cross and Michigan Roll.A compulsive gambler goes to his sister's funeral on Florida's Treasure Coast and gets saddled with her loser-son, who is deep in debt to a vicious loan shark who sends a pair of sociopathic thugs to collect on the loan. But things go horribly awry.and soon th Treasure Coast is the wild new thriller from Tom Kakonis, the acclaimed author of Criss Cross and Michigan Roll.A compulsive gambler goes to his sister's funeral on Florida's Treasure Coast and gets saddled with her loser-son, who is deep in debt to a vicious loan shark who sends a pair of sociopathic thugs to collect on the loan. But things go horribly awry.and soon the gambler finds himself in the center of an outrageous kidnapping plot involving a conman selling mail-order tombstones, a psychic who channels the dead and the erotically super-charged wife of a wealthy businessman. As if that wasn't bad enough, a killer hurricane is looming.It's 'Get Shorty' meets 'No Country for Old Men' on a sunny Florida coast teeming with conmen and killers, the vapid and the vain, and where violent death is just a heartbeat away.
In the late 1980s and early '90s, Tom Kakonis established himself as a writer who created very good plots but who was especially gifted at populating each of his books with a cast of eccentric, interesting characters and then setting them into motion with sometimes truly inspired results. Now twenty years later, he returns with Treasure Coast, a book which clearly demonstrates that he hasn't lost a step in his time away.The book is set on Florida's Treasure Coast, basically the Palm Beach area a In the late 1980s and early '90s, Tom Kakonis established himself as a writer who created very good plots but who was especially gifted at populating each of his books with a cast of eccentric, interesting characters and then setting them into motion with sometimes truly inspired results. Now twenty years later, he returns with Treasure Coast, a book which clearly demonstrates that he hasn't lost a step in his time away.The book is set on Florida's Treasure Coast, basically the Palm Beach area along the Atlantic. It opens as Jim Merriman, a compulsive gambler whose luck has turned so bad that he's now barely eking out a living as a bookstore clerk, travels cross country to visit his sister who is near death. Jim and his sister have not been particularly close for years, but as she expires she makes him promise to watch after her son, Leon.Leon is twenty-one but appears to be much younger.
His mother has left him $25,000, and so Merriman figures that the kid should be in pretty good shape, at least until Leon reluctantly confesses that he owes $45,000 to a loan shark. The debt is long overdue and even as Leon outlines his problem, two particularly nasty enforcers are on their way to collect. It was Uncle Jim who taught the kid how to gamble in the first place and that, along with the promise he made to Leon's mom, persuades Jim that he can't abandon his nephew in this time of crisis.On the brighter side, while sneaking a cigarette outside the medical center, Jim encounters the very beautiful and sexy Billie Swett.
Like Jim, Billie hails from the Dakotas and has had an 'interesting' past, culminating in a job where she gave manicures at a place called Get Nailed. There she fortunately met a client named Lonnie Swett. Lonnie is an older, gross, pig of a man, but he's also enormously wealthy and when he offers make Billie the fifth Mrs. Swett, she readily agrees to swap her nail files for a huge diamond wedding set. Jim and Billie are clearly attracted to each other, though, and probably no good will come of that.Kakonis adds to the cast a 'preacher' with a mail order degree who, with a young female assistant, is selling mail order tombstones and helping bereaved and gullible rubes send and receive messages to and from their loved ones in the Great Beyond. Kakonis then turns all of these people loose in pursuit of their various objectives, most of which involve a quick score of one sort or another.
As all of their paths intersect, the plot becomes increasingly roiled but Kakonis has a great deal of fun with these characters, and so does the reader.The characters are all very well defined, and, with perhaps one exception, each is sympathetic in his or her own way. The story is very engaging and often hilariously funny. As another Michigan writer, Kakonis has often been favorably compared to Elmore Leonard and, on the strength of his earlier series featuring Timothy Waverly, I thought it was a very fair comparison.
With Treasure Coast, Kakonis demonstrates that he clearly deserves to be considered in the same league as Leonard, certainly in the quality of his output if not in the quantity. Set in Florida, Treasure Coast also evokes comparisons to Carl Hiaasen, and fans of either author are sure to enjoy this book very much. Well, this turned out to be way more awesome than I had any reason to expect it to be. Never heard of the author, not even huge on tales of low life bumbling criminals per se, but Kakonis spun such a fun yarn here with a genuinely original wild cast of characters and plenty of humor. There is a great charm to the author's style, his writing has a cadence and a vernacular of its own and the quality is way above what is traditionally customary of the genre.
Florida is about to be washed clean by a Well, this turned out to be way more awesome than I had any reason to expect it to be. Never heard of the author, not even huge on tales of low life bumbling criminals per se, but Kakonis spun such a fun yarn here with a genuinely original wild cast of characters and plenty of humor. There is a great charm to the author's style, his writing has a cadence and a vernacular of its own and the quality is way above what is traditionally customary of the genre.
Florida is about to be washed clean by a hurricane Chris, which may or may not interfere with scamming, kidnapping and murder, not to mention romance and manicure.Wildly cinematically entertaining book. Very enjoyable. Highly recommended. Thanks Netgalley.
Tom Kakonis wrote some good thrillers back in the nineties and then dropped out of sight; now he's back with another entertaining look at the way dysfunctional low-lifes live and conduct business. A reformed gambler is called to his dying sister's bedside in Florida; she asks him to look out for her hapless goof of a son. The son is deep in debt to a bookie, who has just dispatched two arm-breakers to collect the debt. Meanwhile a phony preacher and his female assistant have dreamed up a new way Tom Kakonis wrote some good thrillers back in the nineties and then dropped out of sight; now he's back with another entertaining look at the way dysfunctional low-lifes live and conduct business.
A reformed gambler is called to his dying sister's bedside in Florida; she asks him to look out for her hapless goof of a son. The son is deep in debt to a bookie, who has just dispatched two arm-breakers to collect the debt. Meanwhile a phony preacher and his female assistant have dreamed up a new way to get gullible people to throw money at them, and a gazillionaire's trophy wife (who has caught the gambler's eye) is one of their first targets. All of the above collide as a hurricane approaches the title coast.One blurb compares Kakonis to Elmore Leonard, but the resemblance is only in that they both write about dead-enders and the people who prey on them; Kakonis's style is very different. Where Leonard's is laconic and subdued, Kakonis brings a highly literate and sometimes downright florid style to the subject matter. The effect is playful and ironic, at odds with the bleakness and violence of the characters' lives.Which makes for an interesting read. Here's hoping Kakonis has more up his sleeve.
Brash Books, founded by Lee Goldberg and Joel Goldman, publishes both new and old books that interest them. Mostly crime, but other genres as well.TREASURE COAST was my first book by Tom Kakonis and I must say I was impressed.
A lot goes on between the covers. Former gambler, Jim Merriman, retired because of a run of bad luck, comes to Florida's Treasure Coast because his sister is dying from cancer, She extracts a promise from her brother to look after her son, a twenty-one year old screw-up na Brash Books, founded by Lee Goldberg and Joel Goldman, publishes both new and old books that interest them. Mostly crime, but other genres as well.TREASURE COAST was my first book by Tom Kakonis and I must say I was impressed. A lot goes on between the covers. In addition to comparisons of Tom Kakonis's writing to Elmore Leonard and perhaps Carl Hiaason, I would also add Donald Westlake in his humorous mode to that list.My favorite characters were the bogus preacher and his partner in crime, Waneta.
I loved the flowery prose the preacher spouted while carrying out his cons and scams. Although I enjoyed the first half of this book quite a bit, and especially some of the characters, I did not think the second half worked as well in keeping with the hu In addition to comparisons of Tom Kakonis's writing to Elmore Leonard and perhaps Carl Hiaason, I would also add Donald Westlake in his humorous mode to that list.My favorite characters were the bogus preacher and his partner in crime, Waneta. I loved the flowery prose the preacher spouted while carrying out his cons and scams. Although I enjoyed the first half of this book quite a bit, and especially some of the characters, I did not think the second half worked as well in keeping with the humorous flow, and I found it lagged a bit. The language spouted out by one of the hardened criminals was offensive, although I realize Kakonis was using this to define his awful character.
And the violence in the latter part of the book comes suddenly and jarred my enjoyment of the first part of the story. But I appreciated his writing, and I remember reading him years ago.
Noir storytelling does not have to be set in the dead of night to be dark. It can occur in sunny locales like the South Florida of Tom Kakonis's tale of a cardsharp, the grifters and toughs he meets and the woman he may love. Maybe it's just me but there's one thing that noir must be: brief. For this type of storytelling to cast the proper spell, go easy on the prose.
Say a lot with a little. While Kakonis writes well, he takes too long to get to the point way too often. Since he seems to take E Noir storytelling does not have to be set in the dead of night to be dark.
It can occur in sunny locales like the South Florida of Tom Kakonis's tale of a cardsharp, the grifters and toughs he meets and the woman he may love. Maybe it's just me but there's one thing that noir must be: brief. For this type of storytelling to cast the proper spell, go easy on the prose. Say a lot with a little. While Kakonis writes well, he takes too long to get to the point way too often. Since he seems to take Elmore Leonard as a model for his tale, he should have taken to heart Dutch's rule to take out all the parts people don't read. Unfortunately, I found myself skimming many of the passages, looking for dialogue to break the monotony.
Also, he could take a lesson or two from Leonard about making his villains a bit more distinctive and even a bit likable. Three and a half stars; should have been more. Really don't like writing these kind of reviews. So let's get this out of the way straight off: this was not a book written for me. Which doesn't mean I couldn't appreciate it's strengths - and it certainly could've won me over (others I didn't think were for me have), but it really didn't. I certainly disliked it less by the end then I did at the beginning.This is a book that's very much a tale of two halves.
![Book Ghosts Of The Treasure Coast Book Ghosts Of The Treasure Coast](https://i.etsystatic.com/12290581/r/il/fd9f7d/1735391167/il_fullxfull.1735391167_m1ng.jpg)
In the first half we get introduced to several characters, all of whom (with one poss Really don't like writing these kind of reviews. So let's get this out of the way straight off: this was not a book written for me. Which doesn't mean I couldn't appreciate it's strengths - and it certainly could've won me over (others I didn't think were for me have), but it really didn't. I certainly disliked it less by the end then I did at the beginning.This is a book that's very much a tale of two halves. In the first half we get introduced to several characters, all of whom (with one possible exception) are very unsympathetic, and there's really only one of which I had any hope of becoming a tolerable character by the end of the book. It was a slog to get through, and I really had to force myself.
It was a large number of ugly people doing ugly things to other ugly people. But aside from one excessive beating, the ugly things were pretty small - and all just to establish character (and lack thereof). It's just about 150 pages of setup.The second half contained most of these characters, though three of them vanished for all intents and purposes; but it moved faster - there was a point to the action, for that matter, there was action. Where the first half could be seen as potential energy, the second half was all kinetic. Sometimes that kind of book can work well - but you run a risk in putting all your eggs in the second half.
It's too easy to just walk away unless that hook is set well at the beginning. And Kakonis didn't really accomplish that. The characters start interacting, the storylines overlap and intertwine. And all the 'best-laid schemes o' mice an' men' get busy fulfilling 'Gang aft agley / An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, / For promis'd joy!' While the first half was all set up - it set up a handful of characters and associated storylines that are just abandoned in the second. I didn't understand that.
Why spend extra time putting up dominoes that you don't intend to knock over?Ignoring the story problems, the language the novel was told in was deplorable. Orwell said, 'Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent,' Twain put it more succinctly, 'Don't use a five-dollar word when a fifty-cent word will do.' If they'd read Kakonis, Orwell would've included 'obscure slang' - thankfully, with maybe one or two minor exceptions were decipherable with context clues, but I had a hard time believing that most of these characters would have so large and varied a vocabulary. But beyond the general slang, was the vulgarity and ugly racism - I learned at least one new derogatory epithet for the police, a couple for females/female genitalia, and was reminded of a couple for Hispanics. Sure, I understand, that these characters were by and large uneducated, lower class, and criminals - not the type that you're supposed to want to emulate in word choice. But this was just horrible, wretched.
A real block to my enjoying - even tolerating - huge passages from the book. It seems to me that Kakonis was inspired by Elmore Leonard in the structure, tone and subject for this book. And Leonard wasn't afraid to have racial/sexual epithets come out of his characters.
But for him, it worked, they never came across as vile, just human.So, yeah. Not for me - but I can see where some people might enjoy it. If the appeals to you, give it a shot. Hopefully it works better for you than it did for me. Tom Kakonis has chronicled a complicated plot featuring a cast of shady characters, some of which are out and out thugs, and builds a very entertaining story around them. Their paths cross in Florida along the Atlantic seacoast, where Jim Merriman, a card shark whose career path hit the skids a few years back, has come to see his sister on her death bed in Palm Beach Gardens. And before death comes, she extracts a promise from him to take care of her son, Leon Cody.
How hard could that be? He's Tom Kakonis has chronicled a complicated plot featuring a cast of shady characters, some of which are out and out thugs, and builds a very entertaining story around them. Their paths cross in Florida along the Atlantic seacoast, where Jim Merriman, a card shark whose career path hit the skids a few years back, has come to see his sister on her death bed in Palm Beach Gardens.
And before death comes, she extracts a promise from him to take care of her son, Leon Cody. How hard could that be? He's already 21.At the hospital he meets another smoker, the very attractive Billie Swett, who is there to see the dying mother of a friend of hers. They both sense a spark between them, but their visit on the curb is interrupted when her husband comes to pick her up.In the meantime a small time shyster and his female sidekick are selling mail order tombstones door to door in North Carolina.
Along the way the Reverend B. Noble Bott, aka: the shyster, stumbles onto a scheme that promises to make them rich even quicker, so they set out for Florida to work the new scam.And about that same time two enforcers have arrived in North Florida to collect for the bookie, Mr. Berkowitz of Miami.
One of the delinquent clients is Leon Cody.The thug/enforcers are both ex-convicts and spend their time one-upping anecdotes from their life stories to one another. One of the thugs is a racist/bigot/sadist/bully but the other is a tad more laid back. They use language that is crude and is likely to be offensive, so be forewarned.I did care about most of the characters, who are likable even as they continue to make choices that bring them closer and closer to a disastrous end.
Will the end come through greed, violence, or natural disaster? Oh, and did I mention there is a hurricane on the way?I received an e-copy of the book through NetGalley.
It was published by Brash Books in 2014. A colorful cast of characters including a bigoted bully, so beware if racial slurs are offensive.
A twisting tale of deception and delusional aspirations laced with despicable acts, criminal behavior, and desperation. The action filled story gives plenty of humor (depending on the reader’s sense of humor). This is not a story centered on one super hero who uses Krav Magna, jiu-jitsu, Wing Chun, Tae Kwon Do, or any other super method of putting great gobs of hurt on their victims. Simple guns, kn A colorful cast of characters including a bigoted bully, so beware if racial slurs are offensive. A twisting tale of deception and delusional aspirations laced with despicable acts, criminal behavior, and desperation.
The action filled story gives plenty of humor (depending on the reader’s sense of humor). This is not a story centered on one super hero who uses Krav Magna, jiu-jitsu, Wing Chun, Tae Kwon Do, or any other super method of putting great gobs of hurt on their victims. Simple guns, knives, and fists are the disciplinary methods in an effort to obtain a goal that is never achieved. Believable for the ordinary characters of both the high, middle and low station of life. Believable for the scams and the portrayal of the scanners. Brash Books claims to publish the best crime novels and this work by Tom Kakonis fully lives up to that brag. This book had a lot of elements that appeal to me.
Quirky characters. A 'lame' caper.
Florida setting and. A hint of black humor.And, although it was entertaining in parts, it disappointed me. Any time an author has been compared to Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiassen, he has a lot to live up to. Those comparisons were unfair to Tom Kakonis because they set my expectations way too high. The characters in Treasure Coast easily could have populated a Leonard or Hiassen novel, but t This book had a lot of elements that appeal to me. Quirky characters. A 'lame' caper.
Florida setting and. A hint of black humor.And, although it was entertaining in parts, it disappointed me. Any time an author has been compared to Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiassen, he has a lot to live up to.
Those comparisons were unfair to Tom Kakonis because they set my expectations way too high. The characters in Treasure Coast easily could have populated a Leonard or Hiassen novel, but the pacing, character interplay, language and plotting didn't reach the level of those other authors.This book has all the elements to be entertaining and suspenseful, perhaps one more well-polished draft could have made it a really good read. I enjoyed the plot and characters in Treasure Coast very much. Tom Kakonis weaves an intricate tale involving a down-on-his-luck former gambler, his nephew who owes a loan shark big bucks, the loan shark's collectors, a con man and his partner, a millionaire and his trophy wife, and a hurricane. I won't get into the plot, mainly because it's so twisted that I'd only confuse you.
The language in this book is harsh, very harsh. I rarely complain about the language in a book I'm reading, but this o I enjoyed the plot and characters in Treasure Coast very much. Tom Kakonis weaves an intricate tale involving a down-on-his-luck former gambler, his nephew who owes a loan shark big bucks, the loan shark's collectors, a con man and his partner, a millionaire and his trophy wife, and a hurricane. I won't get into the plot, mainly because it's so twisted that I'd only confuse you. The language in this book is harsh, very harsh. I rarely complain about the language in a book I'm reading, but this one made me wince. I think it could have been toned down without losing any of the character development the author was going for.
That being said, the plot was sound. Recommended with reservations.Thanks to Brash Books via NetGalley for the advance copy in return for an honest review. Contrary to the other reviewers of this novel, I was not particularly impressed by it. I found the humor, and there was lots of it, to be forced and the novel itself to be a slightly lesser Elmore Leonard, Carl Hiaasen or Tim Dorsey. The characters were certainly eccentric and the language that of scammers and petty gangsters, but they weren't likable or captivating at all. The plot, however, was the one really redeeming quality for me and was what kept me coming back until I finished it. This w Contrary to the other reviewers of this novel, I was not particularly impressed by it.
I found the humor, and there was lots of it, to be forced and the novel itself to be a slightly lesser Elmore Leonard, Carl Hiaasen or Tim Dorsey. The characters were certainly eccentric and the language that of scammers and petty gangsters, but they weren't likable or captivating at all.
The plot, however, was the one really redeeming quality for me and was what kept me coming back until I finished it. This wasn't at all surprising since I am and have been a Kakonis fan. Treasure Coast is an interesting story with very real characters. Each page left you wondering what decisions the characters would make and what mayhem that would lead too.The author carefully brings several seemingly unrelated stories lines together where people who would normally not have reason to interact with each other together.The only negative comment I have about the story is the language and how some of the characters are overly rude to each other. I know the author did this to make th Treasure Coast is an interesting story with very real characters. Each page left you wondering what decisions the characters would make and what mayhem that would lead too.The author carefully brings several seemingly unrelated stories lines together where people who would normally not have reason to interact with each other together.The only negative comment I have about the story is the language and how some of the characters are overly rude to each other. I know the author did this to make the characters realistic, but it does detract from the actual story in some cases.