A GEM OF A TALE!

Speaking of twisted and shady, you’ll need a thousand-watt bulb to cut through the darkness that permeates Michael Rubin’s Cashed Out. Daring to write in the staccato, hard-nosed style championed by the likes of the incomparable Don Winslow, Rubin introduces us to “Schex” Schexnaydre, a name as challenging as his current plight.  Schex is a lawyer down and out enough to make John Grisham proud.  That is, until a businessman who’s made his fortune in the toxic waste industry is murdered with $5 million of his toxic cash stashed in Schex’s bank account.  Add to that the fact that Schex’s own ex-wife is arrested for the man’s murder and you’ve got the makings of a crack courtroom thriller staged against a starkly original backdrop. Cashed Out cashes in on a character culled from the likes of Michael Connolly by way of James Lee Burke, thanks to the steamy Louisiana settings.  A gem of a tale I’m so glad found its way to my in-box.

~ Jon Land (TopShelf Reviews)