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Black Market:
"Black Market" delivers a tense, street-level crime thriller that feels immediately believable. The plot moves quickly, with sharp twists and a sense of danger that builds from chapter to chapter." - S.
Venture capitalist Charles Tannenbaum III has an exquisite art collection. That is, until it gets ransacked by a gang of professional thieves. Now he’s lost his most cherished possessions and will pay whatever it takes to get them returned. Enter Jake Barrow, investigator par excellence.
Jake soon discovers something important the police and the prior PI missed. But how can he tell Tannenbaum it was his sweet beloved daughter who was responsible for the theft because of a dreaded secret she had to keep hidden?
Now he must penetrate the seamy Black-Market underworld of shady characters, criminals and mobsters in search of the stolen antique artifacts. The trail is cold, but he’s determined to recover his client’s precious art despite the life-threatening dangers that await him.
Black Market is a fast-paced crime thriller with plenty of suspense keeping you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. If you enjoy books by Michael Connelly, Harlan Coben, Jeffery Deaver, John Sanford, Robert Parker, Robert Crais, and others like them, you’ll love Black Market.
Venture capitalist Charles Tannenbaum III has an exquisite art collection. That is, until it gets ransacked by a gang of professional thieves. Now he’s lost his most cherished possessions and will pay whatever it takes to get them returned. Enter Jake Barrow, investigator par excellence.
Jake soon discovers something important the police and the prior PI missed. But how can he tell Tannenbaum it was his sweet beloved daughter who was responsible for the theft because of a dreaded secret she had to keep hidden?
Now he must penetrate the seamy Black-Market underworld of shady characters, criminals and mobsters in search of the stolen antique artifacts. The trail is cold, but he’s determined to recover his client’s precious art despite the life-threatening dangers that await him.
Black Market is a fast-paced crime thriller with plenty of suspense keeping you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. If you enjoy books by Michael Connelly, Harlan Coben, Jeffery Deaver, John Sanford, Robert Parker, Robert Crais, and others like them, you’ll love Black Market.
411 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 29, 2025
7 people are currently reading
14 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 4, 2025
This is actually a sequel to “Dirty Money.” Jake isn’t a licensed PI, but he’s getting paid to troubleshoot like the ex-CIA agent in the “Burn Notice” TV series.
We start out watching a South Carolina college master’s student working as a prostitute getting blackmailed for access to her dad’s art collection. The items Jake recovers aren’t enough to pay for his hospital bills, his gun, his car, or the phone with all the evidence, but he doesn’t give up his quest to find them all and steal them back, breaking as many laws as the bad guys.
The scenes are stiff, short, repetitive, and choppy at first, but that smoothes out after the main character starts working the case. Several times, I was jarred by unlikely events like the dial tone on a cell phone. The student has to Uber everywhere until the escape scene, where she suddenly has her own car. The cops in one of the many cities would have charged him for (mal)practicing without a PI license, which would make it impossible for him to ever get one. Remembering a license plate after being beaten unconscious is also unlikely. At least the timeframe and symptoms of the concussion were realistic, unlike the Rockford Files. When he places framed paintings in a bag, wrestles several thugs, and hops in a car, they would have been damaged. Until the finale, only one person got hurt by the frequent gunfire, and that was by mistake. If you just treat it like a TV show, it’s all entertainment.
We start out watching a South Carolina college master’s student working as a prostitute getting blackmailed for access to her dad’s art collection. The items Jake recovers aren’t enough to pay for his hospital bills, his gun, his car, or the phone with all the evidence, but he doesn’t give up his quest to find them all and steal them back, breaking as many laws as the bad guys.
The scenes are stiff, short, repetitive, and choppy at first, but that smoothes out after the main character starts working the case. Several times, I was jarred by unlikely events like the dial tone on a cell phone. The student has to Uber everywhere until the escape scene, where she suddenly has her own car. The cops in one of the many cities would have charged him for (mal)practicing without a PI license, which would make it impossible for him to ever get one. Remembering a license plate after being beaten unconscious is also unlikely. At least the timeframe and symptoms of the concussion were realistic, unlike the Rockford Files. When he places framed paintings in a bag, wrestles several thugs, and hops in a car, they would have been damaged. Until the finale, only one person got hurt by the frequent gunfire, and that was by mistake. If you just treat it like a TV show, it’s all entertainment.
February 9, 2026
Good book. I enjoyed it.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews