Satin Shorts [NOOK Book]

After two years in prison, Eddie O'Rourke is thinking payback for Nick the Book, the man who backstabbed Eddie after they ran a jewel heist, stole Eddie's wife, and talked her into shooting Eddie. Nick adds a twist to Eddie's plans when he calls and offers Eddie a chance to help out on a bank robbery. Nick has coordinated a daring multi-bank holdup and arranged an exchange in a money laundry. All Eddie will have to do is receive the money from the robbers, drive it across the border into Canada, and hook up with Nick who'll be waiting for him. For that, Eddie gets a couple hundred thousand dollars and, as a bonus, Nick sends Nadine, a "semi-retired hooker" to keep Eddie company.

Eddie has partnered with Nick before and discovered that Nick's promises tend to be a lot bigger than what he actually delivers. The way Eddie figures it, if he follows Nick's plan, his chances of surviving long enough to spend his two hundred thousand are close to zero. Still, with all that bank money, what an opportunity to turn the tables on Nick. First, though, Eddie needs to figure out how to deal with the complication of Nadine. At first, Nadine is just a woman--and Eddie has been two years without a woman. As he spends time with her, Eddie begins to feel again, want to trust again--something he's certain he can't afford. Trusting Nadine seems like a stretch, no matter how much Eddie wants to believe "she is coming along." After all, Nadine is only there because Nick sent her, and Nick never does anything without an angle. Eddie needs to bring Nadine to his side, but it's hard to do so without knowing exactly what pull Nick has over her.

Eddie's decision to stay alive and to cut Nick out of the robbery money escalates the action. Both Nick and his boss--the man Nick robbed to fund the bank heist--are after Eddie and the bank money--and they've got lots of gunmen who'd be happy to kill Eddie for a lot less than two hundred thousand. But Eddie has advantages of his own--the desert gold claim worked by Eddie's son turns out to be an ideal spot to ambush urban gunmen who find themselves in an unfamiliar world. Defeating one group of gunmen doesn't mean much, though. Eddie can never be safe until he breaks through Nadine's defences and learns what hold Nick the Book has on her--and discovers a way to defuse it.

Author George Snyder combines fast-paced action with the escalating emotional involvement between two damaged individuals in a well-written caper novel. Both Eddie and Nadine have been burned by trusting others--but until they learn to trust again, neither can be safe. And while a millions of dollars of bank money can buy a lot, the only thing certain is that it can purchase plenty of betrayal.