They say there is honor among thieves, but that honor is thin on the ground in Michael Kardos’ Bluff. This is unfortunate because magician Natalie Webb could use all the help she gets after a trick goes wrong at one of her rare gigs. Her bright idea to make some money to pay her legal bills lands her in bigger trouble than she could ever have realized.
When Natalie does things wrong, she does them spectacularly wrong. At her corporate gig, she lets a jerk get under her skin and throws a card in anger, almost blinding the man. The jerk doesn’t end up blind, fortunately for Natalie, but the jerk sues her for more money than she can make even if her career weren’t on the skids. She comes up with the bright idea of profiling a professional cardsharp (basically a cheat) because there are a lot of similarities in how they handle cards. Everyone tries to dissuade her, but she dives headlong into the idea.
The first card cheat she finds is awful, but he accidentally introduces her to a woman with real skills. When that woman offers Natalie a one-time-only-big-pay-low-risk scam, Natalie tries to resist. She doesn’t see herself as a cheat. She’s a magician. But those bills aren’t getting any smaller, so she says yes. And then things get even worse.
Reading Bluff is like watching a car wreck. I couldn’t look away. I just kept hoping that something would go right for Natalie. Her problems are not really her fault. She just has poor impulse control. I don’t want to say what happens at the end of the book; that would ruin a fantastic heist plot. But I can say that at least the book delivers a big payoff for its readers. I had a blast reading this book.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss, for review consideration. It will be released 3 April 2018.