Review: Elmore Leonard meets "It's a Wonderful Life"
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 25, 2012
This is the kind of well-written story that would have provided "filler" in a "PODT" ("published on dead tree") magazine of the '50s through 80s, such as The Atlantic or Esquire.  Now, sadly, those kinds of magazines are going the way of the Wooly Mammoth, but, happily, we are seeing writers connect directly with readers, without the mediation of those magazines and their many stories and much advertising, for less than a buck.This story is a gem.  It is a wonderfully crafted and written story about a thief who is impresssed into service to find 12 lost kilos of heroin in the week before Christmas.  Bart Sagan is a thinking man's thief, but a bottom feeder in a city run by crime kingpin, Harry King.  Bart also knows the other bottom feeders who are allowed to exist in King's city.  Now, when King's heroin gets mailed out by a mistake to 12 civilians, Bart is told to get the heroin back or else his friends will suffer.The story develops from there as a very human story of friends in low places and concludes with a satisfying surprise ending.  The Christmas element consists of the Christmas deadline and the planting of parallels with the story of the Nativity.  The story is a short read - around 20 - 30 pages.  The characters are enjoyable, the writing is highly accessible and the biblical parallels make for a fun mental puzzle to reflect upon.