Double Crossed by Ali Vali is the first book in the Vegas Nights series. It is also a riveting thriller with gambling galore, contracted killers, mob bosses and a wonderful mother who is trying to make a better life for her child and herself in the vibrant city of Las Vegas.
Contracted killer for hire and thief extraordinaire, Reed Gable only takes a job once the price is right and she will go wherever the job takes her. Reed was once a ward of the state and she couldn’t remember a time when she was ever loved by anyone or felt like she belonged somewhere. The system that was supposed to take care of her had failed her and she turned into the kind of woman no one expected her to become. Reed knows the ins and outs of the flashy streets of Las Vegas better than the people who think they own the city. She had to fend for herself from an early age and her resilience has made her the most sought after hit woman in her profession and she has no plans of quitting any time soon.
Brinley Myers is an accountant and she is new to the bright lights of Las Vegas city. She is overjoyed when she gets the job at the Moroccan Casino because she believes that her stream of bad luck and hard times are finally coming to an end. Her entire world comes crashing down when she discovers a well-organized money laundering operation that is being run by the New York mob and suddenly her life is on the line and her son’s life is jeopardized because of what she knows.
Reed has a clear shot at Brinley and she is ready to finish the job and collect her money but she sees Brinley’s son in the car with her and there’s no way she can go through with it. Even though Reed is a paid killer, she will never kill a mother in front of her child because she has suffered untold horrors as an orphan and she doesn’t want to be the person who ends up ruining this little boy’s life. Reed tries to come up with a way to close the contract and keep Brinley and her son safe but she is double-crossed and she will have to use every skill she knows in order to keep herself and her stunning mark, unscathed and alive.
Will Reed be able to get even with the person who double-crossed her? Can Reed keep Brinley and her son safe in the midst of lethal contracts and unknown enemies?
The Characters
April: Reed Gable is a highly skilled thief and hit woman. She lives for the thrill that comes with each challenging contract she accepts and she is meticulous and ruthless when it comes to getting the job done. I’m not a fan of killing people or stealing but there’s no way that I could stop myself from falling for a woman who has the kind of integrity many people lack and she has a heart of gold even though she earns the bulk of her money from killing people. Reed may be a cold-blooded killer but she isn’t completely numb inside because she has a soft spot for innocent people and adorable children. I really felt like I was cheating on Cain Casey because I kept swooning every time Reed was mentioned. I need to find a way to get into my kindle because I want to meet these gorgeous butch women!
Brinley Myers is an accountant and she is the newly hired number cruncher at the Moroccan Casino. Brinley wanted a new beginning in a place where nobody knew her, a place where she could leave her failed relationships and catastrophic mistakes behind her and she thought that Las Vegas was the perfect place. I really admired Brinley’s courage to start over from scratch in a city like Las Vegas because she wanted to give her son a better quality of life and she also wanted to create the kind of peaceful life she had always longed for. Brinley is the kind of friend I’d love to have in real life because her sarcastic sense of humour and her quick wit stayed with me long after the story ended.
Sheena: What April said.
The Writing Style
April: Ali Vali has perfected the art of keeping me engrossed in any novel she writes and she does an outstanding job of creating badass and endearing characters that I always fall arse over tits in love with. I couldn’t get enough of the vivid descriptions of the city that never sleeps and the shady characters who live to make money by any means necessary. I also liked the way the author allowed me to experience what life was like for Brinley and Reed because I could easily relate to them and I could empathize with the heartbreaking situations they had to endure.
The Narration
Sheena: Paige McKinney did a decent job of narrating this one. Her pacing was good and her characters were clear and with such a large cast that is an impressive feat.
The Pros
April: This story hit all the right spots for me because I got reacquainted with some of the beloved characters from Ali Vali’s other books and I got to meet my new crush for Woman Crush Wednesday and that woman can only be Reed Gable. I couldn’t be more pleased with the fact that Brinley is an accountant because I felt as though Ali Vali wrote this book just for me (I can’t tell you how many times I wish I could have traded places with Brinley! A girl can dream, right?)
Sheena: This is a fun action book that includes mob money in vegas. I love the whole hit woman with a heart thing.
The Cons
April: I’m just mad as hell that the sequel isn’t out as yet…
Sheena: There are a LOT of male characters for a lesfic story. And I am not sure that the cast wasn’t just too big. There were times when I got confused between them all because so much was happening.
Also note that there is some heterosexual sex in the book for folks who are not fans.
The Conclusion
April: As a true Ali Vali fan, I have no qualms about getting up on my highest ladder to sing my praises for this captivating story because I enjoyed every word of it! It’s not every day that a nerdy accountant like me gets to tag along with a professional thief and hit woman. I’m not ashamed to admit that if Reed was a real woman, I would have ditched my desk job to join her and we would have been a formidable duo!
Sheena: I enjoyed the audiobook. It was a fun listen if you are in the mood for the story of a hit woman turned good and a backdrop of vegas mobsters.
Excerpt from Double Crossed by Ali Vali
All the contracts she’d taken were easy, they’d always been easy. She aimed, she fired, she drove away to get paid. None of those marks clouded her mind or haunted her dreams because none of them mattered. They were, in a way, all like Victor in that they did bad shit for most of their lives, so their deaths shouldn’t have been a shock to them.
This woman, though, was different. She looked innocent, and that Reed had no experience with. Killing an innocent wasn’t in her makeup, and she couldn’t make herself aim and fire. She might’ve been emotionally stunted, but she wasn’t dead inside.
That rash decision had the potential to blow her world to shit. You couldn’t lie, collect the fee, and send the supposedly dead person back to their lives. The truth always came out, somehow.
Brinley Myers glanced back and held her kid tighter when Reed sped across the street, her tires squealing, and slammed to a stop next to her. The way Brinley’s eyes widened when she saw the gun in her hand was expected, but her turning away from her when she raised it was not. It was as if Brinley was protecting her kid from what was about to happen. It was foolish and courageous, but they were in the game now. She parked her car and got out.
“Put him back in his car seat and make it fast. Don’t make me say it again.” She lowered the gun to not attract attention, and watched as Myers did what she asked.
Brinley threw the diaper bag in the back seat and strapped the kid in as she kept glancing back at her. Her expression was one of fear and it was obvious she was trying to figure out what to do.
“If you want, take my purse and go. I don’t have much cash, but you can take my credit cards.”
“Less talking and more buckling.” She got into the driver’s seat and pushed it back to accommodate her legs. “If you don’t want me to leave with the kid, get next to me when you’re done, and it’s no time to get cute. Don’t yell, and hand your cell phone over.”
“Why are you doing this?” Brinley asked when Reed pulled into traffic. The kid was surprisingly quiet in the back, but Reed could hear him kicking the seat rhythmically.
“Shut up and let me think.” She took the streets that would avoid the Strip and started making her way out of town. Maybe by the time they got where they were going, she’d come back to reality and finish the job.
Get This Book On Amazon
(this link works for Amazon US, Germany, and Canada)
[tweetthis]I just read this review for Double Crossed by Ali Vali[/tweetthis]
Series
Vegas Nights Series
Double Crossed: Book 1
Bits and Bobs
- ISBN number: 9781635553017
- Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
- Narrator: Paige McKinney
- Ali Vali Online
If you enjoyed this book then you should also look at
Note: I received a free review copy of Double Crossed by Ali Vali. No money was exchanged for this review. When you use our links to buy we get a small commission which supports the running of this site
