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Border Wars Trilogy #3
The Bridge of the Americas: A Jack Sloan Novel
A young girl is murdered on a dark highway during the winter of 1995. Fifteen years later, the crime sets in motion a string of events that provoke carnage and mayhem. Jack Sloan and his girlfriend, Darlene, are caught in the middle. It's up to them to find a way out. Readers of other Jack Sloan novels will recognize the geography of the beautiful barrancas and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Much of the action takes place near Flagstaff in and around the ponderosa pine forests that climb to the timberline. When you read The Bridge of the A Jack Sloan Novel, you will take a dangerous trip through the Southwestern United States, with stops in El Paso and Ciudad Juarez. The drug wars created the story, now Jack Sloan writes the conclusion. Larry Seeley has a special understanding of gambling and risk. He built a small business into the world's largest privately owned training company. He served a stint as CEO of a gaming company that built the first Native casino in Canada, but
282 pages, Paperback
First published June 19, 2013
180 people want to read
About the author
Larry Seeley
6 books18 followersLarry Seeley, author of the award-winning mystery/suspense novel, Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves (April 2010) and new followup, 17 Degrees North (March 2012), is the ex-CEO of the world’s largest privately-owned training company, the former CEO of the gaming firm that built the first Native casino in Maritime Canada, and a former professional blackjack player.
He and his wife, Katie, live twenty miles north of Santa Fe in a high desert valley bounded on the east by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and on the west by the Jemez range. There they care for several chickens, nine cats, and four dogs on their secluded rancho. Katie is active in finding foster and adoptive homes for lost and abandoned pets. Larry spends his time writing the third novel in the Jack Sloan series, Bridge of the Americas.
An army veteran, Larry speaks, reads and writes fluent Arabic. Among his many vocations, he considers building a Native casino in New Brunswick, Canada among the most educational.
Con artists and swindlers swarmed Native casinos in the early days, and learning to deal with them and discovering whom you could trust and who had a knife at your back gave Seeley a distinct edge in deciphering people—and a decided advantage in character creation and development.
The strength of his writing lies in his characters. Seeley’s protagonist, Jack Sloan, represents all good guys caught in bad situations. He’s tough, but fair, and takes the reader through the agonizing decisions faced by people who must choose between right and wrong, good and evil, and do what is necessary.
He and his wife, Katie, live twenty miles north of Santa Fe in a high desert valley bounded on the east by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and on the west by the Jemez range. There they care for several chickens, nine cats, and four dogs on their secluded rancho. Katie is active in finding foster and adoptive homes for lost and abandoned pets. Larry spends his time writing the third novel in the Jack Sloan series, Bridge of the Americas.
An army veteran, Larry speaks, reads and writes fluent Arabic. Among his many vocations, he considers building a Native casino in New Brunswick, Canada among the most educational.
Con artists and swindlers swarmed Native casinos in the early days, and learning to deal with them and discovering whom you could trust and who had a knife at your back gave Seeley a distinct edge in deciphering people—and a decided advantage in character creation and development.
The strength of his writing lies in his characters. Seeley’s protagonist, Jack Sloan, represents all good guys caught in bad situations. He’s tough, but fair, and takes the reader through the agonizing decisions faced by people who must choose between right and wrong, good and evil, and do what is necessary.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 19, 2014
This gripping crime thriller is told in the first-person of the main character, casino businessman and tough guy Jack Sloan, and alternates with third-person accounts from other characters who play key roles in the story. Author Larry Seeley intrigues us with a colorful cast of scheming personalities and weaves their interactions with skill as he drives the major plot and subplots of the novel forward.
The dialogue is crisp, the characters are cold and calculating for the most part (after all, we’re dealing with ruthless killers and swindlers), and the setting is at times remote and threatening. Short chapters, which often include cliffhanger endings, heighten the suspense and create a mood of apprehension, such that it had me turning the pages far into the night.
If you love contemporary crime stories with a “Wild West” influence and a theme that integrates political corruption, drug cartels, and con men (and in this case, “con women”), add this one to your reading list.
The dialogue is crisp, the characters are cold and calculating for the most part (after all, we’re dealing with ruthless killers and swindlers), and the setting is at times remote and threatening. Short chapters, which often include cliffhanger endings, heighten the suspense and create a mood of apprehension, such that it had me turning the pages far into the night.
If you love contemporary crime stories with a “Wild West” influence and a theme that integrates political corruption, drug cartels, and con men (and in this case, “con women”), add this one to your reading list.
April 12, 2014
This is an exciting roller coaster of a thriller ride, which gripped me from the first few pages and I couldn't put down.
We have an interesting group of characters with a likeable hero in Jack Sloan and baddies that aren't always bad. The characters have depth and the writing is high quality. I particularly liked the scenes with Mattie who has no compunction about one minute having sex with men or women and the next minute killing them.
The author introduces several strands to the story and then brings them all together in a thrilling climax. There are a couple of great twists.
I didn't relise when I started reading that this is the third book in a trilogy. At no time did I feel I was missing anything by not having read the first two books, which I now plan to read.
I strongly recommend this book to all lovers of thrillers.
We have an interesting group of characters with a likeable hero in Jack Sloan and baddies that aren't always bad. The characters have depth and the writing is high quality. I particularly liked the scenes with Mattie who has no compunction about one minute having sex with men or women and the next minute killing them.
The author introduces several strands to the story and then brings them all together in a thrilling climax. There are a couple of great twists.
I didn't relise when I started reading that this is the third book in a trilogy. At no time did I feel I was missing anything by not having read the first two books, which I now plan to read.
I strongly recommend this book to all lovers of thrillers.
August 29, 2013
I was recently asked if I would be interested in reading/reviewing “The Bridge of the Americas: A Jack Sloan Novel” by author, Larry Seeley. I found the book’s title to be unusual, and after reading the synopsis, I realized I was very familiar with this bridge. I just never knew what its actual name was. I lived in Phoenix, Arizona for many years so, every time I did a road trip and passed through El Paso, I would see this bridge. That fact, coupled with the “about” blurb, intrigued me, and I agreed to read it.
In “The Bridge of the Americas,” we start our journey in Flagstaff, Arizona during a winter storm. Tulip Prescott, a sixteen-year-old Native American girl has been forced to walk the twenty miles that separates her, from her house, because her uncle never came to pick her up. As she trudges along the road’s shoulder in her over-sized coat and too thin shoes, she prays desperately for a ride. Thankfully, someone sees her predicament, and stops. Unfortunately, once inside the vehicle, Tulip realizes she is not as lucky as she thought she was.
Fast-forward fifteen years and we come upon Jack Sloan, road testing his 1967 Corvette he just got back from the mechanic. He is on his way to meet with a Frank Pickel and an Indian Chief named Bear. He is supposed to meet with them on the Native American land just outside out Flagstaff. Jack has past experience with casino start-ups, and Frank and Chief Bear are interested in hiring him as the front man for another such venture.
Everything about this proposed project seems a bit too “cloak-and-dagger” for Jack’s taste; however, Chief Bear has given him a $100,000.00 check as a “signing bonus” of sorts. Jack can’t help but be intrigued. Against his better judgment, he agrees to help them. What follows is a convoluted and complex web of lies based upon a foundation of deceit. It’s a shaky house of cards that, with the merest puff of wind, will fall apart. There are other important players in this fictional tale, but I will leave it to the reader to discover for her/himself who they are and how they fit into this puzzle.
As I read, I did enjoy Seeley’s no-nonsense writing style. “The Bridge of the Americas” has a well thought out plot, and the various aspects of the tale were woven together with skill. The characters were believable, and there was sufficient development to hold the reader’s attention.
The only negatives I noticed were with some of the punctuation/grammar. Generally speaking, punctuation belongs inside quotations marks. Also, if a character is going to slur phrases such as: “What you want there?” it should be written out as something like: “Whatchu want there?” which is both fitting and believable, instead of the “What chew want there?” In the two separate instances I saw of this, the word “chew” was not appropriate to the sentence/aspect of the story. All it did was make me think of chewing food, or chewing tobacco…
In summary, a fast-paced and enjoyable read. Four stars…
In “The Bridge of the Americas,” we start our journey in Flagstaff, Arizona during a winter storm. Tulip Prescott, a sixteen-year-old Native American girl has been forced to walk the twenty miles that separates her, from her house, because her uncle never came to pick her up. As she trudges along the road’s shoulder in her over-sized coat and too thin shoes, she prays desperately for a ride. Thankfully, someone sees her predicament, and stops. Unfortunately, once inside the vehicle, Tulip realizes she is not as lucky as she thought she was.
Fast-forward fifteen years and we come upon Jack Sloan, road testing his 1967 Corvette he just got back from the mechanic. He is on his way to meet with a Frank Pickel and an Indian Chief named Bear. He is supposed to meet with them on the Native American land just outside out Flagstaff. Jack has past experience with casino start-ups, and Frank and Chief Bear are interested in hiring him as the front man for another such venture.
Everything about this proposed project seems a bit too “cloak-and-dagger” for Jack’s taste; however, Chief Bear has given him a $100,000.00 check as a “signing bonus” of sorts. Jack can’t help but be intrigued. Against his better judgment, he agrees to help them. What follows is a convoluted and complex web of lies based upon a foundation of deceit. It’s a shaky house of cards that, with the merest puff of wind, will fall apart. There are other important players in this fictional tale, but I will leave it to the reader to discover for her/himself who they are and how they fit into this puzzle.
As I read, I did enjoy Seeley’s no-nonsense writing style. “The Bridge of the Americas” has a well thought out plot, and the various aspects of the tale were woven together with skill. The characters were believable, and there was sufficient development to hold the reader’s attention.
The only negatives I noticed were with some of the punctuation/grammar. Generally speaking, punctuation belongs inside quotations marks. Also, if a character is going to slur phrases such as: “What you want there?” it should be written out as something like: “Whatchu want there?” which is both fitting and believable, instead of the “What chew want there?” In the two separate instances I saw of this, the word “chew” was not appropriate to the sentence/aspect of the story. All it did was make me think of chewing food, or chewing tobacco…
In summary, a fast-paced and enjoyable read. Four stars…
December 29, 2013
I received this book through a First Reads Goodreads giveaway.
I think it's important to state that I have not read any of the other books in the trilogy and therefore my review should be read in this context.
Spoilers will be in my review below.
Jack Sloan gets an invite to act as a consultant on a new casino on Native American tribal land. Quickly it becomes clear the deal is murky and a tale of bribery, corruption and murder develops.
Most of the major players in the novel are of dubious character - we have hitmen and murder seems a solution to most problems. Characters try to scam each other and double crosses occur throughout - the adage, 'you can't con an honest man' comes to mind.
I do think if you've read other novels in the series you'd like this, it seems a number of characters and strands from previous novels come together.
So what bothered me so much? First of all, I think the book would have benefitted from a better editor. At one point, Sloan convinces an 'on the run' hitman to free him after Sloan stumbles on his hideout which seemed to be a nonsensical decision. We're told Sloan convinces him - I'd really like to have seen that conversation play out more.
I also really couldn't understand why he stayed involved with Chief Bear really early on when it was clear the job wasn't on the level. Sloan just kind of says, 'well I'll stick around a bit longer and see what happens'.
There is a saying for authors to 'write about what you know'. After reading the book jacket and about the author it felt a little to close. I'm sure this isn't the case but at times I felt, 'am I reading the author's fantasy?'. Sloan certainly shares much of the characteristics I assume the author has.
I didn't particularly care for the sexual proclivities of Mattie Helms - she seemed the only strong female character in the novel. She's powerful, intelligent and exceptionally ruthless and single minded. Therefore I didn't care for the fact that virtually every section she is in involved a sex scene. I get that she uses sex as power but it also seems that it was a weakness - I may be reading to much into this but I didn't particularly care for the casual acceptance of one character to sexual assault and how relatively easy it is to turn a woman lesbian. Her last sex scene also suggested a little vulnerability which I felt wasn't in keeping with how I felt her character could be. The death of one Frank Pickel did put a smile on my face though.
I think it's important to state that I have not read any of the other books in the trilogy and therefore my review should be read in this context.
Spoilers will be in my review below.
Jack Sloan gets an invite to act as a consultant on a new casino on Native American tribal land. Quickly it becomes clear the deal is murky and a tale of bribery, corruption and murder develops.
Most of the major players in the novel are of dubious character - we have hitmen and murder seems a solution to most problems. Characters try to scam each other and double crosses occur throughout - the adage, 'you can't con an honest man' comes to mind.
I do think if you've read other novels in the series you'd like this, it seems a number of characters and strands from previous novels come together.
So what bothered me so much? First of all, I think the book would have benefitted from a better editor. At one point, Sloan convinces an 'on the run' hitman to free him after Sloan stumbles on his hideout which seemed to be a nonsensical decision. We're told Sloan convinces him - I'd really like to have seen that conversation play out more.
I also really couldn't understand why he stayed involved with Chief Bear really early on when it was clear the job wasn't on the level. Sloan just kind of says, 'well I'll stick around a bit longer and see what happens'.
There is a saying for authors to 'write about what you know'. After reading the book jacket and about the author it felt a little to close. I'm sure this isn't the case but at times I felt, 'am I reading the author's fantasy?'. Sloan certainly shares much of the characteristics I assume the author has.
I didn't particularly care for the sexual proclivities of Mattie Helms - she seemed the only strong female character in the novel. She's powerful, intelligent and exceptionally ruthless and single minded. Therefore I didn't care for the fact that virtually every section she is in involved a sex scene. I get that she uses sex as power but it also seems that it was a weakness - I may be reading to much into this but I didn't particularly care for the casual acceptance of one character to sexual assault and how relatively easy it is to turn a woman lesbian. Her last sex scene also suggested a little vulnerability which I felt wasn't in keeping with how I felt her character could be. The death of one Frank Pickel did put a smile on my face though.
March 2, 2014
This is an action packed book that is really fast paced. Not many slow spots in this one and the mostly short chapters make it really easy to read. Cover says it is the third book in a trilogy, but it "stood alone" very well. I didn't feel lost at all.
I received this book for free, but I am not really sure where it came from. Maybe direct from the author?
Now here is a little spoiler below so stop here if you don't want to know:
Two of the bad guys get away at the end. I hope Mattie shows up in another book!
I received this book for free, but I am not really sure where it came from. Maybe direct from the author?
Now here is a little spoiler below so stop here if you don't want to know:
Two of the bad guys get away at the end. I hope Mattie shows up in another book!
March 17, 2015
Staggeringly good. Great adventure and protagonist. Inside details about the drug war and Mexican/American law enforcement. Well-written, rather in the style of Hemingway. I highly recommend this novel and its predecessors: Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves, and 17 Degrees North.
January 3, 2014
This was a good book with an easy to follow story line. The character build up was great, and I didn't need to read the prior books to understand the story. Overall a nice, easy read, both enjoyable and exciting.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews