Fatal Odds: A Novel

by John F. Dobbyn

Overview

The fastest rising criminal activity on earth—the illicit trade in exotic and endangered species of wild animals

Danger escalates as Michael Knight and Lex Devlin enter into the defense of a Puerto Rican jockey charged with felony murder as a result of a fixed race at Boston's Suffolk Downs.

As their investigation exposes the jockey's role, they become embroiled in a conflict between two Puerto Rican crime gangs. One of these gangs is aligned for the first time with Boston's Italian Mafia in tapping into almost limitless profits from the illicit trade of exotic and endangered species of wild animals captured in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil and smuggled through the shoreline of the Florida Keys.

Working to free their client and to prevent the brutal abuse of these vulnerable animals, Michael and Lex find themselves squarely in the crossfire of rival organized crime gangs from the barrio of Jamaica Plain, Boston, to the gang-dominated streets of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.

Perfect for fans of James Rollins

While all of the novels in the Knight and Devlin Thriller Series stand on their own and can be read in any order, the publication sequence is:

Neon Dragon
Frame-Up
Black Diamond
Deadly Diamonds
Fatal Odds
High Stakes

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608091980
Publisher:	Oceanview Publishing
Publication date:	08/02/2016
Series:	Knight and Devlin Thriller , #5
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Best-selling author John F. Dobbyn, a graduate of Harvard College, Boston College Law School, and Harvard Law School, is a former professor of law at Villanova Law School where he taught criminal, constitutional, and corporate law. Prior to his teaching career, Dobbyn practiced criminal and civil trial work. Fatal Odds is the fifth novel in the award-winning Michael Knight and Lex Devlin Thriller Series, following Neon Dragon, Frame-Up, Black Diamond, and Deadly Diamonds and followed by High Stakes. Dobbyn is a Boston native and now resides in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Lois.

Editorial Reviews

06/13/2016
In part one of Dobbyn’s exciting fifth novel starring Boston lawyer Michael Knight (after 2013’s Deadly Diamonds), jockey Victor Mendosa is accused of murder after his older brother, Roberto, also a jockey, dies in a fixed horse race at Suffolk Downs. Knight, the Mendosas’ cousin, is determined to represent Victor, whose past association with a Puerto Rican gang soon leads the attorney to meetings with underworld types and threats against his life. Eventually, Knight follows Victor to Puerto Rico. Part two shifts to the Amazon rainforest, where Ancarit and his grandfather Ancuro are forced to capture rare primates and birds by intruders into their world. A Puerto Rican gangster delivers a tutorial on international animal smuggling that closely resembles the author’s note at book’s end. An additional plot thread involves drug smuggling. Dobbyn packs these pages with numerous criminal organizations, each more scary than the next, and plenty of action, which builds to a highly complex sting operation engineered by Knight. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

"John F. Dobbyn’s thriller Fatal Odds does everything right: a nail-biting plot to keep you turning pages, characters that shine brighter with every twist and turn, and a ripped-from-the-headlines authenticity that will leave you shocked. Here is a novel that expertly mixes thrills and smarts and will have you clamoring for more from this author.” —James Rollins, New York Times best-selling author

“Fatal Odds is a terrific read with a fast-paced plot and well-drawn characters that stay with you long after you close the book.” —Lisa Scottoline, New York Times best-selling author

“Boston attorneys Michael Knight and Lex Devlin are back with a case that starts local and goes global. Once again, John F. Dobbyn has crafted a first-rate legal thriller that's both topical and timeless.” —Linda Landrigan, Editor, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine

“Series characters Michael Knight and Lex Devlin debuted in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Among the broad array of fictional lawyer-sleuths, these two stand out for the passion they bring to their cases and for the warmth of the relationship between the younger attorney, Knight, and his mentor, Devlin. Add a gripping plot, and you've got the formula for a Dobbyn thriller.” —Janet Hutchings, Editor-in-Chief, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine

Praise for the Knight and Devlin Thriller Series

“This rapid pace adventure [High Stakes] delivers equal quantities of action, history, secrets, and conspiracies. Definitely an entertaining romp.” —Steve Berry, New York Times best-selling author

“[Frame-Up] is the best kind of legal crime fiction, where the real stories come not from legal minutiae in the courtroom, but from human beings caught in the legal system's fuzzy moral contours.” —Alafair Burke, New York Times best-selling author

“Dobbyn manages to tie the two story lines together in a secure knot in this fiercely violent story that somehow also tugs at the heartstrings. This should appeal to fans of Tess Gerritsen, Jon Land, and Dennis Lehane.” —Booklist

“. . . Dobbyn’s Deadly Diamonds is a Beantown beauty of a story, sometimes served with a Guinness and at other times with a Chianti, depending on which of the many warring, sleazebag mobsters Dobbyn’s lead character is confronting” —Foreword Reviews

“The story gets the reader’s attention in much the same way it gets Michael Knight’s—with a grin, the tip of a knife between the ribs and nowhere to go but onward . . .” —The Free Lance Star“The latest Knight-Devlin legal thriller is an exciting tale . . . filled with plenty of action the two lawyers and their friends try to prevent the hostilities from turning Boston bloody.” —The Midwest Book Review

From the Publisher

“John F. Dobbyn’s thriller Fatal Odds does everything right: a nail-biting plot to keep you turning pages, characters that shine brighter with every twist and turn, and a ripped-from-the-headlines authenticity that will leave you shocked. Here is a novel that expertly mixes thrills and smarts and will have you clamoring for more from this author. I know I want more.”
—James Rollins,New York Timesbest-selling author ofThe Bone Labyrinth

“Boston attorneys Michael Knight and Lex Devlin are back with a case that starts local and goes global. Once again, John F. Dobbyn has crafted a first-rate legal thriller that's both topical and timeless.”
—Linda Landrigan, Editor, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine

“Fatal Odds is a terrific read with a fast-paced plot and well-drawn characters that stay with you long after you close the book.”
—Lisa Scottoline, New York Times best-selling author of Most Wanted

"Nicely plotted, with a pair of genuinely likable protagonists and some well -designed supporting characters (Dobbyn writes about gangs without resorting to stereotypes). A worthy entry in a solid legal-thriller series. “
—Booklist

“Series characters Michael Knight and Lex Devlin debuted in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. Among the broad array of fictional lawyer-sleuths, these two stand out for the passion they bring to their cases and for the warmth of the relationship between the younger attorney, Knight, and his mentor, Devlin. Add a gripping plot, and you've got the formula for a Dobbyn thriller.”
—Janet Hutchings, Editor-in-Chief of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

“In part one of Dobbyn’s exciting fifth novel starring Boston lawyer Michael Knight (after 2013’s Deadly Diamonds), jockey Victor Mendosa is accused of murder after his older brother, Roberto, also a jockey, dies in a fixed horse race at Suffolk Downs. Knight, the Mendosas’ cousin, is determined to represent Victor, whose past association with a Puerto Rican gang soon leads the attorney to meetings with underworld types and threats against his life. Eventually, Knight follows Victor to Puerto Rico. Part two shifts to the Amazon rainforest, where Ancarit and his grandfather Ancuro are forced to capture rare primates and birds by intruders into their world. A Puerto Rican gangster delivers a tutorial on international animal smuggling that closely resembles the author’s note at book’s end. An additional plot thread involves drug smuggling. Dobbyn packs these pages with numerous criminal organizations, each more scary than the next, and plenty of action, which builds to a highly complex sting operation engineered by Knight.”
—Publishers Weekly

"Fatal Odds by John F. Dobbyn, which combines the reality of smuggling wild and endangered animals into the United States along with horse races being fixed, is an exciting thriller that will keep you reading far into the night. Don't miss this one."
—BookLoons

John F. Dobbyn