Jackpot by James Swain

I recently wrote about True Detective, and that I thought it would be fun if Hart and Cohle formed a private investigation firm that worked on missing children, much like Jack Carptenter of the James Swain novels. 
Read While Walking: True Detective (Spoilers) an alternative theory


Perhaps what brought that to mind was my current James Swain novel, Jackpot.  Jackpot is not part of the Jack Carpenter series, but is part of Mr. Swain's Tony Valentine series.


I find these novels an awful lot of fun.  They're light and fairly bright and upbeat.  They tend to take place in Las Vegas or other gambling meccas, but take the most positive view of those places that I've ever read in fiction.  The Tony Valentine novels provide Mr. Swain with an opportunity to showcase and explain con games, illusions and tricks used by cheaters to swindle (or beat) the casino, and Tony Valentine or his assistants figure out the swindles and catch the con men.  It's easy to see the enjoyment Mr. Swain takes in describing these cons, and there's always a bit of a temptation for the description of the swindle to overwhelm the story.

However, one of the things I enjoy more than a good heist plot is a good con-man story, and the rarity of the Tony Valentine novels is that the con man is not the protagonist.  So it makes an opportunity to watch and appreciate the con without the guilt or noir aspect of feeling conflicted over the guilty getting punished in one way or another. 


The Tony Valentine novels (like Perry Mason novels) accord the greatest respect for authority.  In these novels he (as a former Atlantic City copy) shows a great deal of respect and deference to casinos, casino security and gaming commission agents.  It's quite a different perspective than I usually see in novels relating to casinos and I find I really enjoy it.  That being said, these novels don't usually treat, nor do they look at, social ills related to or resulting from gambling.  Quite the reverse, they tend to have the perspective that casinos can save or significantly improve the quality of life for aboriginal peoples... but I wouldn't say there's a lot of depth in that analysis or review, it's pretty incidental.


This particular novel, Jackpot deals with a con man/cheat who appears to have figured out a way to predict or cause electronic gaming machines to pay out a jackpot.  While the earlier Valentine novels still dealt with mechanical slot machines, this is one of the first to address ways in which people could cheat the modern, computerized method of gambling.  Again, I found it fascinating to read about potential ways to cheat the machines, and had a strong sense that Mr. Swain enjoyed writing about them.


In this book, Tony is partnered with his son Gerry, and I really liked it.  In most of the novels, Gerry appears to be a bit of an embarrassment to Tony, who wants to separate himself from his son, the ex-con.  In this one Gerry does some maturing, and is able to bring his own abilities to the table to work together with his dad.  As such, I found I enjoyed the characters, and was much more invested in the plot than I sometimes am with the Tony Valentine novels.  It was still light and fun, and a good read, and it was nice to see Mabel get to do some investigating on her own as well.