Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Pros & Cons of Deception
SERIES: Pros & Cons
AUTHOR: A.E. Wasp
NARRATORS: Alexandre Steele and Tor Thom
PUBLISHER: Tantor Audio
LENGTH: 8 hours and 13 minutes
BLURB:
There’s nothing like being blackmailed by a dead man to really bring a group of cons together. The deal is simple, we do the jobs and Charlie’s lawyer wipes the slate clean for each of us, one at a time.
Job number two lands right in my lap. I’m Bond. Wesley Bond. (I can’t resist saying it that way. Blame my dad, if you can find him.) You could call me a hacker. I redistribute wealth – moving it from rich slimebags to poorer but infinitely more deserving people – and make a tidy profit as I do. My mission, should I choose to accept it, is to bring down some modern-day slave traders.
With the life of the one person in this world I love on the line, I can’t afford any screw-ups or distractions. Unfortunately, my biggest distraction is my biggest asset – Danny Monroe. Danny is a leftover complication from our first job. He’s a smart, funny, gorgeous ex-prostitute, who can’t seem to keep his clothes on. I can’t seem to keep my mouth shut around him. But I need a fake boyfriend, and Danny is the only option.
We don’t know who the bad guy is; we have no idea how to prove anything. If I’m going to do this, I’m going to need all the help I can get. Like it or not, we’re all in this together.
REVIEW:
Note: This is the second book in this series. While technically this could be read as a stand alone, there are major spoilers for the events of Book 1, and there is a bit of missing context without having read the first book.
This story begins with the second task that has been presented to a band of cons and merry men but Charlie, a deceased con man. They are all staying at Charlies house in Florida, having returned there from the successful caper of Book 1. In the story, Wesley needs to take down the bad guys in order to have his record swept clean from whatever it is that Charlie has been holding over his head. His job is to figure out what is going on at an exclusive resort with the help. It seems like there might be some nefarious business going on there But to do it, he’ll need to go undercover and he needs a boyfriend to help him. The only viable option is Danny Monroe – a friend of Breck’s from the previous story.
Danny is a young guy with a family that cut him off when he came out. The only person he has minimal contact with is his sister. He did what he needed to do to support himself – and it wasn’t pretty. He only has confidence in his looks and body and he knows he can get his way with that. But Wesley sees more in him (despite being an asshole generally around Danny at first). This helps Danny gain confidence in himself and his ability to play his part.
When Danny and Wes go under cover at the resort to determine how the foreign nationals are being treated there, Steele and Ridge and Breck and Carson and Leo all go with them in various roles. Steele running a kid army is one of the funniest parts of the book. Ridge as a maintenance guy is pretty good too. Leo does a good bartender and they all keep watch over Wes and Danny. The owner of the establishment is a bit elusive, but Danny works the son to see what they can find out. They also gain the trust of the employees and find out what’s been happening.
As they gather more information, it becomes clear that their initial target is not the brains of the operation. When they finally figure out who is behind the plot, it’s almost too late for one of their crew. There is again another exciting climax that ends in a crazy chase and recovery.
I liked this story quite a lot. The narration throws me off a little bit switching from one narrator to the other and their voice choices for the other characters when telling the chapters from one or the other POV got me confused from time to time. i like the kind of craziness of these plots that has the guys giving each other a lot of crap but coming through when the chips are down. There is quite a lot of humor in these books that I really appreciate. Mostly this is a book about both Danny and Wesley appreciate Danny for who he is and looking beneath the surface and assumptions based on the packaging. This was definitely an enjoyable read and would make a good caper movie 🙂 Recomended.
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