Review: High Stakes by Iris Johansen (audio)

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing / Hachette Audio

Published: September 7, 2021

Source: Publisher

Summary:

All bets are off as #1 New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen introduces gambler Logan Tanner, a man with a secret past that’s about to come back to haunt him.

Logan Tanner lives the exhilarating life of a professional gambler, taking risks with nerves of steel. From casinos in Macau to Monte Carlo to Milan, he’s racked up a fortune and become a living legend. But all the glitz and glamor hide a dark and violent past as an extractor—a world that comes rushing back to him when the beautiful and innocent Lara Balkon enters his life.

Soon Logan is drawn into the conflict between two Russian mafia bosses over Lara, whose life now hangs in the balance. Logan has been offered something more valuable to him than money—information he desperately needs—in exchange for getting Lara out of Russia and to safety. Once together, Tanner discovers that Lara is a force to be reckoned with in her own right. Tanner’s search for the truth leads them to the bright lights of Las Vegas. Where the person who was hunting Lara now lies in wait for them.

With the stakes climbing with each deadly confrontation, Logan and Lara are soon catapulted into a game against pure evil. The odds are stacked against them, but it’s a game they know they must play…even if it may cost them their lives.

My thoughts:

If you’ve been a visitor here for any time, it should come as no surprise that I am a huge Iris Johansen fan. I just love her books. My all-time favorite are her Eve Duncan books, but I also love her stand-alones, which have a tendency to turn into series…is there a possibility that this we will see these characters again?

This was another fast-paced, action-filled story that I have come to love from this author. I quickly grew to love both Logan and Lara, as I typically do with Johansen’s main characters. I loved that this book featured a male protagonist – all her other books have featured female protagonists and it was a nice change of pace to see something different. Having Logan come from a gambling background provided a whole new set of skills that added a new level of intrigue to the story. It made the cat and mouse game that we have come to expect in these books just that much more exciting. There were just the right amount of twists and turns to keep you guessing as to where this one was heading.

I absolutely loved the surprise at the end of the book, though truth be told I should have expected it in some way. It probably was my favorite part of the book and now I’m curious to see what will come next. Will we see these characters again? I do hope so! There are so many possibilities now! Either way, this book further cements my love of this author…Iris Johansen has been a favorite of mine for over 20 years and I will continue to read her mystery thrillers as long as she continues to write them!

Audio thoughts:

I love listening to Iris Johansen books on audio and am thrilled that Elisabeth Rodgers is always the narrator. She really has a knack for narrating her books – she gets the essence of her characters and stories. Her pacing is always spot on and she manages to infuse just the right amount of tension, suspense and emotion into her voice as needed.