Fifty Grand

by Adrian McKinty

This knockout punch of a thriller from a critically acclaimed author follows a young Cuban detective’s quest for vengeance against her father’s killer in a Colorado mountain town

A man is killed in a hit-and-run on a frozen mountain road in the town of Fairview, Colorado. He is an illegal immigrant in a rich Hollywood resort community not unlike Telluride. No one is prosecuted for his death and his case is quietly forgotten.

Six months later another illegal makes a treacherous run across the border. Barely escaping with her life and sanity intact, she finds work as a maid with one of the employment agencies in Fairview. Secretly, she begins to investigate the shadowy collision that left her father dead.

The maid isn’t a maid. And she’s not Mexican, either. She’s Detective Mercado, a police officer from Havana, and she’s looking for answers: Who killed her father? Was it one of the smooth- talking Hollywood types? Was it a minion of the terrifying county sheriff? And why was her father, a celebrated defector to the United States, hiding in Colorado as the town ratcatcher?

Adrian McKinty’s live-wire prose crackles with intensity as we follow Mercado through the swells of emotion and violence that lead up to a final shocking confrontation.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Thriller, Audiobook, Suspense, Mystery Thriller

319 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Adrian McKinty is an Irish novelist. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and grew up in Victoria Council Estate, Carrickfergus, County Antrim. He read law at the University of Warwick and politics and philosophy at the University of Oxford. He moved to the United States in the early 1990s, living first in Harlem, New York and from 2001 on, in Denver, Colorado, where he taught high school English and began writing fiction. He lives in Melbourne, Australia with his wife and two children.

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adrian McKinty has an awful lot to answer for. Sitting down to read FIFTY GRAND, I thought this would be another good book from an author whose books I've increasing come to like. What I didn't expect was a nearly straight reading sitting, leaving the entire household making do with scratch meals, and the dogs threatening to pack their bags and leave home if meals and playtime didn't get back to normal pretty darn quick.

FIFTY GRAND features a new character from McKinty, Cuban cop Mercado. There are some vague similarities to earlier books in plot location though - set in the USA, via Mexico as Mercado pulls a bit of a swifty on Cuban authorities to get to America. Courtesy of a trip to check out a University Course in Mexico, Mercado skips that country, illegally entering America all in the hopes of finding out the truth behind the death of Mercado Senior. The settling of scores over the death of a father who skipped Castro's Cuba and lived the rest of his life in the US, never contacting either of his children might seem a little odd on the face of it, but Mercado Junior is no normal cop; definitely a child that a Dad like Mercado Senior could have been very very proud of.

Opening up with one of the most chilling scenes, FIFTY GRAND is all about a very short period of time. Mercado has a limited visa for time to be spent in Mexico, so has to get into the US, find the person who left their father for dead on the side of a road, deliver due retribution and get back into Mexico, in order to return home on time and avoid regime wrath on the family still in Cuba.

Because of this limited timeframe everything, quite rightly, in this story is done at supersonic speed. The action rarely lets up, yet at no stage does it seem odd that Mercado would be on this pilgrimage, nor would events not unfold as they do. The pace is frantic, but the characterisations don't suffer as a result. There's tremendous humour, and quite biting sarcasm - the cameo's of Hollywood stars and their excesses are hilarious - but all of that is balanced against the difficult life of the illegal immigrants in American society and the strange way that whole economies are built around their labour, the abuse and the resulting power games that seem to inevitably rear their heads when money and people and control are out of wack. There's the politics of fear and separation as well, but in the middle of all of that action, violence, control and sheer excess, somehow McKinty injects sympathy, compassion, sadness, a compelling pathos around Mercado that just makes you want to cheer for the success of the pilgrimage. Somewhere in the middle of it all you really really really care what happened to this fractured little family.

FIFTY GRAND is undoubtedly a suspense novel, and it's rapidfire style has the distinct possibility of making you feel a little battered and bruised by the end of the book, but as strange as it sounds, there's a real sensitivity in the message that's being told here. The writing, the language, the styling is a sheer joy to read - brutal and lyrical often at the same time, and there really is a great central character in Mercado. Reading FIFTY GRAND in a single sitting might have upset the household arrangements just a little, but it was so very very worth every sad sigh, every cheese on dry biscuits meal and all the reproachful looks they can throw at you.

[Amos · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good editor could've whittled this down to a tight, crisp thriller instead of the slightly fluffy and uneven tale that made it to print. A (possible) gemstone in the rough....

2 1/2 Seesawing Stars

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

***3.5 Stars***

[Daniel Sevitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm. There are plenty of McKinty’s trademark interaction with real famous people. At one end of the scale Brad Pitt sticks his head round the door in an utterly gratuitous cameo that does nothing to advance the plot. At the other end, Castro looms throughout. Mystery-wise it’s not wholly satisfying, but the action scenes are tense and well written.

[LenaRibka]

DNF at 50%

Sorry, Adrian, but this one is a total miss for me. The writing was as always very solid and I loved the beginning, it was more than impressive, and then the plot turned into something...ridiculous strange. My biggest problem was the motivation of the main character for her revenge trip as well as the all characters in this book:

I. JUST.DIDN'T.CARE.ABOUT.ANYONE.AT.ALL.

And I have to confess, it is not easy to achieve: I am a sensitive reader, I have always compassion for the characters in my books, yes, even for evil ones, if I feel indifference, it is a bad sign. To feel nothing for someone with whom I am supposed to empathize with is difficult but possible. This book is proof for that.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uneven. That's a one word summary of what this book turned out to be. It starts out with crackling action narrative and dialogue as good as any I've read by Thomas Perry. The initial chapters of a mysterious passenger illegally crossing the Mexican border with a coyote is masterfully written. It's not until we are into the book that we learn that the passenger is a female Cuban police detective on a mission of revenge. Her father, who had defected years earlier, was killed in a mysterious hit and run in a small Colorado mountain resort inhabited by Hollywood's rich and famous and controlled by a corrupt sheriff. She has three days to get to Colorado, find her father's killer, and sneak back to Cuba via Mexico City where she was supposedly given permission to attend a seminar on crime fighting methods before Cuban intelligence declares her a defector.. Oh, really now?
The action, quality of dialogue, and believability of the characters and plot takes a nosedive as soon as officer Mercado reaches the town of Fairview, CO. Fairview is described as the next Vail and is inhabited by the Hollywood Scientologist cult (Cruise, Travolta, etc) and B-list actors. I'm not sure what slant this was supposed to provide but it was completely out of context and poorly executed. All of the characters in Fairview are one-dimensional and totally unbelieveable. Scenes where Brad Pitt drops in to party with a bunch of B-list actors made no sense and added nothing. It's almost as if this terrific writer of the first part morphs into a below average pulp fiction writer which completely turned me off just when I was thinking I had something great here. McKinty does manage to regain some traction during the chapters where officer Mercado is having flashbacks of events in Cuba and eventually finds out what really happened but everything that takes place in Colorado is a total zero as far as I was concerned.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eek. I was expecting a lot more out of this one. The writing was still wonderful - McKinty has a beautiful way with words, especially when characters are in the most dire of circumstances - but I just could not stand the story.

I could give two craps about the lame Hollywood stuff, which I get is supposed to come off as lame, but is instead just really really boring. I think the most painful part of the whole story was that i just could not suspend the disbelief that Mercado could find her father's killer in the amount of time, when she herself doesn't believe it. A reviewer somewhere nails it spot on when she says that Mercado spends the whole book trying to out man the men, which is annoying when men do it to each other and is especially so when McKinty had the chance to write a strong female lead. Instead she was just kind of boring.

The knife fight in New Mexico is awesome though, and worth reading through that at least! I still really look forward to other McKinty's other work, because I do so love the Dead series.

[Emma OBrien · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oof. I really love Adrian McKinty's Detective Sean Duffy books, but this standalone thriller was not in the same class. First of all, books written in first person present tense really rub me the wrong way. This book started off with some pretty gruesomely violent scenes, then got mired down into extremely boring dialogue of various self-centered Hollywood actor characters and an underdeveloped relationship between the lead character and her closest ally. Then more gruesome violence and then some baffling plot twists that I somewhat saw coming but were also incredibly farfetched. I wouldn't recommend this book to those who liked McKinty's other books, but I do recommend McKinty overall as an author. This book just didn't hit the mark.

[Anne Fenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adrian McKinty must be one of the most clever writers currently working in crime fiction. This novel is set in the US. He lived in Colorado for a while, that explains his familiarity with the area. This is is established when we see illegal border-crossing Mexicans looking for work. But Cuba? Get your head around a Cuban police sergeant posing as a Mexican maid, but she's out for revenge. He makes such authentic-seeming characters, it's impressive . His plot weaves around the impact of life at the bottom of the heap in all three countries. Cuba sort of comes out worst. This is a tough, gritty book, action packed and highly entertaining.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow—just not a fan of this and may be over McKinty. I’ve read a couple of his other books where it seemed like the good writing outweighed the sour worldview, but this book is just SO dark and it’s hard to like any of the characters. Need to read some “Anne of Green Gables” or Patrick O’Brian to get the taste out of my mouth. :-) And wonder if McKinty’s editor talked him into a book with an American local and b-list celebrities? If your worldview is affirmed by nasty people doing nasty things, this is a book for you. Me? Peace out!

[Annette · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt like this book was full of itself. It sounded like it was filled with flowery introspection to make it sound more intellectual. I was pretty disappointed as a whole. The story would have been more interesting if the main character had a motive, but even at the end, she admits she didn't know why she was there. If she doesn't know, why should we care?

[Yigal Zur · Rating 3 out of 5]

not good. the parts in Havana are nice, good athmosphere & characters. the other parts mainly L.A too much hollywood are not good and so boring. putting big names of actor dont creat a story.

[Andy]

DNF. Not grabbing me.

[Rob Kitchin · Rating 5 out of 5]

McKinty’s narrative is taut, lyrical and well crafted. Fifty Grand is all muscle and no flab. The characterization is superb, the dialogue snappy and real, the story compelling, and the prose often reads like poetry. Mercado is a well drawn character, flawed, determined, conflicted; at sea in a consumerist society of which she has no experience, using her cop instincts to get by. McKinty does an excellent job of exposing modern Cuba and the politics and corruption of small town America and Hollywood celebrity without it ever becoming a sermon. There were a few plot conveniences and coincidences, but then there nearly always are and nothing stuck out as being so improbable that it ruined the story. I was hooked from the first page, gripped by Mercado’s journey and the various twists and turns.

[Midwest Geek · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a standalone mystery. The protagonist is Detective Mercado from Havana. She's a very strong MC. I know that many readers were disappointed, but I liked it very much, probably because I so appreciate McKinty's style of writing.

Paula Christensen is excellent as the narrator, which enhanced my enjoyment of the book.

[William · Rating 2 out of 5]

Narration by Paula Christensen was excellent and helped me finish a very disjointed and very improbable story. After reading McKinty's first three Detective Duffy stories I was expecting a much better effort.
I would not recommend this to other readers and will question some of the reviewers that have given it more than two stars.

[Lenine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do we really want revenge and to learn the truth?
We will never be the same person when we do.

A great book, hard to get, if you find a copy grab it and enjoy it.

[Michael Martz · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Fifty Grand' is an interesting look at a couple topics familiar to most Americans: illegal immigration and Cuba. In McKinty's novel, young female Havana Detective Mercado travels to Mexico in the guise of interviewing for a spot in graduate school to illegally cross the border into the US and investigate the death of her father in Colorado. Her father had defected to the US years prior, was considered a traitor by the Cuban government, and had been killed in what was deemed an accident on an icy road in the mountains. She doesn't believe the cause of death, poses as an undocumented maid in the community where her father had perished, and performs her own investigation while surrounded by a bunch of people who may or may not have been participants in her father's demise. She discovers the truth, returns to Cuba via Mexico, and that's that. Or is it?

50 Grand is an exciting story with Mckinty's fine writing front and center, plus I feel I learned a bit about Cuba along the way. I did, though, have a few problems with the story. I don't think it was realistic that Detective Mercado did what she was described as doing over the course of a week, it didn't sound as if she was physically gifted enough to survive the harrowing experiences she had en route to the US, and her Cuban accent I believe would have betrayed her to the real Mexicans she encountered. Otherwise, it's a propulsive story with a nice twist at the end.

[Kate Gould · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seeking to avenge the death of a father she hardly knew, cop Mercado flees unrelentingly bleak Cuba for the celebrity-filled Colorado ski resort where he was killed in a hit-and-run, his death covered up with a pay-off to the sheriff.

With a luxurious façade maintained by the labour of impoverished illegal immigrants, the place is sordid in the extreme and how the celebrities fictionally placed there – Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Matthew Broderick – will feel about being associated with its drug dealers, slave labour, bent cops, and murderers, I’m not sure.

A female protagonist could have given a fresh angle to a crime novel, but attempting to create a tough-talking heroine, McKinty’s overdone it. Instead of a female character, she is merely attempting to out-men the men, a parody of male cops of a similar ilk. Perhaps appearing more macho than her male contemporaries is a job requirement, but until the final chapter when McKinty gives her some poetic depth and expression, she might as well be any other affectedly tough-talking male cop.

McKinty has some poetic moments – “We Cubans are the vagabond descendants of the Muslim kingdom of Granada,” says Mercado – it’s slick, well paced, and the minimalist, punchy delivery is striking, but it’s over-stylised and he’s trying too hard.

Really, it depends why you’re reading it. If you want a fast-paced cop tale with plot twists and suspense, that’s exactly what it is. If you’re after originality and a fresh take on the crime genre, it will likely disappoint.

[Soha · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took a bit to hook me, but I was

I had some trouble getting into this novel, as it got off to a hectic, horrifying, confusing start.

I had no idea what was happening, but it was scary and violent.

Things started at the climax, and moved backwards.

I found a wonderful sense of place both for present day Cuba, and how truly terrifying America can be for the "invisible people",
Illegal immigrants at the mercy of people and systems that abuse them and leave them too afraid to report the abuse.

By the time the book looped back to the climax, I was engrossed, wondering what Mercado would do, how she could possibly escape and whether she would be able to live with whatever decision she made.

The was also a mystery within a mystery.

She was searching for her father's killer, but also for the reason he abandoned his family, and her.

I was thoroughly engrossed in this story, and will be mulling it over for quite a while.

A word to the squeamish, there are several very violent scenes.

E

[Anita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite Michael Forsythe, but Detective Mercado is an interesting (female) protagonist and the issues addressed in the book are thought-provoking. McKinty is a poetic writer, able to convey a lot of information with few words. It was amusing to me the way he used actual events and people from Colorado (as I'm from Colorado) like Tancredo and his anti-immigration platform & its effects, as well as the strange culture of the rich and the poor who inhabit the elite mountain towns like Vail, Aspen, and in this case, Adrian's version: "Fairview". Some good twists and turns at the end and Mercado does shed some light on Cuban culture. But I must admit, I wish he'd bring back Forsythe. There's something about that feisty-Irish fighter-immigrant that I just couldn't get enough of. Plus, Forsythe's funnier, and I think his sense of humor helped to balance out all that violence. This book is darker, more profound in a way, but didn't grab me the way his "Dead" trilogy did.

[Mainer207 · Rating 3 out of 5]

It kills me to not like an Adrian McKinty book. It really does. His writing is brilliant but this story didn't interest me at all. I finished it and felt so let down when it was over.

I don't think I ever really liked Mercado. I wanted to. My favorite character was actually Paco. He turned out quite surprising.

McKinty's prose is great. I did enjoy the descriptions of Cuba but most of what happened in Colorado confused me. I still have no idea why the movie people were included. Name dropping added nothing. The narration was so-so. After Gerard Doyle's narration of the other AMcK work this is a let-down.

I love McKinty's other books a lot. To me, this is a one-off that didn't work.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

McKinty is such a fearless and creative writer. I love that he sets out into new territories, writing stand-alone stories totally unrelated to his tried-and-trues -- unrelated in location, era, even in the protagonist's ethnicity or gender. I loved this book for the most part (though the events on the icy lake in the last third or so of the book almost lost me - too ridiculous). McKinty's prose is superb. Detective Mercado, the principal character, is a member of the Havana, Cuba police force, posing as an illegal in Colorado to investigate and avenge the suspicious death of her defector father.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great listen excellently narrated by Paula Christensen. (Thanks to my sister for nagging me about this book. :-)) McKinty has risen to the top of my favorite authors list, sharing space with Michael Connelly and Robert Crais.

[Harvey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uneven and lacking conviction throughout.

[Hermien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite gripping and topical with Fidel's recent passing.

[John Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This murder suspense takes us from the distant communist shores of Havana Cuba to the mountains of a posh Colorado town full of celebrities and illegal immigrants that serve them. A female Cuban police officer heads there on false pretenses, risking everything to find the killer of her defected father, who left them when she was 13 years old. Classic McKintey suspense, with a lot of name dropping and quick wit. Raw and gritty, as we know and appreciate!

[Laurel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not finish.

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read for second time and am glad I did. Great female protagonist, interesting views of Cuban culture, and distressing examples of illegal immigrants being abused. An a good mystery to boot.

[Kelly Roll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm, this is the first McKinty I read and while I found sections of the book to be quite interesting - specifically flashbacks to Det. Mercado's past in Cuba I had other problems with the book.
Detective Mercado decides to investigates her estranged father's death in Colorado but I never felt why she had this compulsion. By leaving Cuba to investigate she could cause serious problems for her boss and for her mother and brother and it is quite clear she feels great affection for her brother. She hadn't seen her father since she was 13 and her own brother tells her that their father was a no account so why go to all this trouble, especially when it could bring about repercussions for her remaining family? Since I kept wondering why throughout the book I just didn't enjoy it very much.
As a side note I also kept wondering why the author kept hammering away at Scientology and Tom Cruise. It added nothing to the plot and was somewhat distracting.
The narrator was fine for the most part but could not do American male voices well and she almost made the characters sound like the parody of a typical American redneck. I've been told though that Mr. McKinty is quite good so I may end up trying another