Review: Duke City Split
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 30, 2014
Duke City Split is a gritty, fast paced story about a bank heist. Main characters, and best friends, Bud and Mick have been successfully robbing banks for fourteen years. Bud is happily married, with two young daughters. His real-estate agent wife knows all about his bank robbing lifestyle and is fine with it. Bud remains a "work at home" father as a cover, robbing a banks every so often to bring in the cash. Mick is more on the gruff side, he's single and unattached.Enter a kid named Johnny Muller, who sells stereo systems for a living and is looking for a get rich quick scheme. Johnny tells these bank robbers about a job he wants to do with them. This bank has alot of cash because it holds the casino money. Mick and Bud aren't too sure at first because they always rob banks far from home to stay safe. This one is in their hometown of hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico.The thought of millions in cash is too tempting and they pull off the heist.What to do with the money though? They are close to home and have over 3 million dollars to hide. The story then goes into how these guys can successfully not get identified over the bank robbery since it was so close to home. It takes a few more twists and turns as blackmail, the mafia, detectives and murder, all play a part.All kinds of trouble follow these three bank robbers. Agents Pam Willis and Hector Aragon are detectives trying to break the case. Guard Diego Ramirez and his wife Dolores want a cut of the cash and try blackmail to get it. The mafia gets involved because the casino money was mob related and now the mafia doesn't want people thinking they can steal from them and get away with it. Luck only lasts so long, and Bud and Mick have a slew of people after them after robbing this bank.I enjoyed Duke City Split is a quick read, this is a dialogue-driven story. Funny enough, as the story flowed and I saw what Bud and Mick were doing, I still wanted them to get away.There's a few shocking scenes here as people get killed off."He felt sick to his stomach. Killing had never been part of the equation before. This was murder, no two ways about it."p.143, Duke City Split by Max AustinI did find the characters to be a bit cliched, but that didn't deter me from enjoying the story. For example, Diego Ramirez and his wife Dolores with her fake long green nails and her tacky outfits. If this book is ever made into a film, Rosie Perez all the way for that role.I do like this cover, it's pretty bad-a$$ and matches the storyline well. The ending wraps everything up, but it also leaves it open for a second book as this is the first in a trilogy.Overall, Duke City Split is a good story about bank robbers and just how tangled the mess they can get themselves into can be.disclaimer:This review is my honest opinion. I did not receive any type of compensation for reading and reviewing this book. While I receive free books from publishers and authors, such as this one, I am under no obligation to write a positive review.I received my free review copy of Duke City Split courtesy of TLC Book Tours in exchange for my honest opinion.