Lightning Rider

by Rick Mofina

Twenty-six year-old Jessie Scout had endured a life steeped in pain. She had come to Las Vegas, a city of risk, not to gamble but to collect. “Lightning Rider,” by Rick Mofina received Canada's top literary prize for crime fiction, the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Short Story presented by the Crime Writers of Canada. It is one of four gripping tales in his crime anthology, DANGEROUS WOMEN & DESPERATE MEN.MICHAEL CONNELLY selected "Lightning Rider" for inclusion in DEATH IN New Crime Tales of Gambling and Desperation, the #1 Bestselling anthology on Kindle that he edited.About the Mofina is a former crime reporter and the award-winning author of several acclaimed thrillers.The International Thriller Writers, The Private Eye Writers of America and The Crime Writers of Canada have listed Rick Mofina's titles as being among the best in the world.His books have been published in some 20 countries and have been praised by James Patterson, Dean Koontz, Michael Connelly, Lee Child, Tess Gerritsen, Jeffery Deaver, Sandra Brown, James Rollins, Brad Thor, Nick Stone, David Morrell, Allison Brennan, Heather Graham, Linwood Barclay, Peter Robinson, Håkan Nesser and Kay Hooper.

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Fiction, Mystery Thriller

49 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 29, 2011

About the author

Rick Mofina is a former journalist who has interviewed murderers on death row in Montana and Texas, flown over L.A. with the LAPD and patrolled with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police near the Arctic. He's also reported from the Caribbean, Africa and Kuwait's border with Iraq. His true-crime freelance work has appeared in The New York Times, The Telegraph (London, U.K.), Reader’s Digest, Penthouse, Marie Claire and The South China Morning Post, (Hong Kong). He has written more than 20 crime fiction thrillers that have been published in nearly 30 countries.

His work has been praised by James Patterson, Dean Koontz, Michael Connelly, Lee Child, Tess Gerritsen, Jeffery Deaver, Louise Penny, Sandra Brown, James Rollins, Lisa Unger, Brad Thor, Nick Stone, David Morrell, Allison Brennan, Heather Graham, Linwood Barclay, Peter Robinson, Håkan Nesser and Kay Hooper.

The Crime Writers of Canada, The International Thriller Writers and The Private Eye Writers of America have listed his titles among the best in crime fiction. As a two-time winner of Canada's Arthur Ellis Award, a four-time Thriller Award finalist and a two-time Shamus Award finalist, the Library Journal calls him, “One of the best thriller writers in the business.”

Series:
* Tom Reed and Walt Sydowski
* Jason Wade
* Jack Gannon

Awards:
Arthur Ellis Award
◊ Best Novel (2003): Blood of Others

Reviews

[Sandie Parrish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lightning Rider

Molina comes through again only this time the story was over way too soon. This isn't a book, rather it's a short story yet it has the characters painted so vividly just as you think you are getting to understand the story and people it's over. 😥

[Mary Rowe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short and Bittersweet Heist Tale

No clue where the story is going until nearly the end. A self-professed almost-retired bigot, a Hispanic and a half-breed Native American are an armored car crew doing drop-offs in Las Vegas and then....

[Dee Cash · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not Mofinna's Best Work

I know it's just a short story and a writer can not get really detailed in a short story. However just as I got a feeling for the three characters in the armored car, the story was over.

[Irene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great short story with characters that are greatly described to the reader to make you feel like story is going to be longer . This short story should be extended into a book

[Penny Post · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was just a short story, would be wonderful to follow them in a book. I hated the bigoted crew boss.

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great short story making you want mor!

[Mark Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Left me wanting more

Great short story. Interesting characters written in a gritty style. I really like Rick Mofina's work. I hope to read more of his stuff.

[Mary Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent short story. Characters are uniquely described and the end a satisfying surprise.

[Jeanne · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would have given a 0 if I could. This is an incredibly boring and badly written short story about a heist of an armored money truck. I hope this is the first thing he ever wrote.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read but am not a fan of short stories as was over way too soon.

[Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2011 by Carrick Publishing

This short story does a great job of creating a vivid cast of characters. The setting is in an armored car that collects from Las Vegas casinos. The crew is headed up by Elmer Gask, a mouthy sexist racist who is one week from retirement. He is very proud to have never been successfully robbed and is looking forward to getting a reward of $22,000 for 22 loss-free years of carrying millions of dollars every day.

His crew today consists of Latino Gil Perez and Native American Jessica Scout. They are frequent targets of Gask's abusive tongue-lashings, although Scout seems to be a special target because not only is she a minority, she is also an extremely beautiful young woman.

But, as Gask finds out, today will not be a normal day in the armored car...

I rate this kindle book 4 stars out of 5 due to the clunky ending. But the rest of the story is quite good.

http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't realize that this is a VERY short story. I thought the writing was actually pretty good (especially for a Kindle freebie!) but there just wasn't enough time for any real character development. I actually thought that it was a sample, and might have bought the entire book if that was the case because I was interested in the characters. As it is, though, the story ended very abruptly, and even if I had known from the beginning that it was a short story I would have been disappointed.

[Terry · Rating 1 out of 5]

Free books are often not worth the price unless they are a classic. This is a great example. Fortunately, it was very short! The writing wasn't that bad but not nearly enough to develop the plot. Oh well, got to use the new Kindle Fire.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5