The Amateurs

June 29, 2009
In Sakey's so-so thriller, four friends—travel agent Jenn Lacie, trader Ian Trevarian, hotel doorman Mitch McDonnell and bartender Alex Kern—meet every Thursday night at the Chicago restaurant where Alex bartends and commiserate over their unsatisfying lives. When Alex's boss, Johnny “Love” Loverin, asks him to act as muscle for a shady back-office deal, the group decides, almost on a whim, to steal Johnny's money. The heist goes smoothly until an altercation in the alley behind the bar leads to murder, and the four friends find themselves with $250,000 and a dead body. Making matters worse, Mitch and Jenn discover that the deal they interrupted wasn't about drugs or guns but something far more deadly. Sakey (Good People
) does what he can with the weak premise, but his characters will elicit little sympathy from readers who won't care why the foursome carried out their poorly planned and executed scheme.

August 1, 2009
Four thirtysomething friends meet every Thursday for drinks at a Chicago restaurant. Privately, all are realizing that adult life hasnt met their youthful expectations. Divorced bartender Alex may lose contact with his beloved daughter. Travel-agent Jenn longs for some adventure in her quotidian life. Trader Ians one big deal happened years before, and he fears hes already a has-been. Hotel doorman Mitch detests his job and pines for Jenn. Over drinks, they decide to take control of their livesand $250,000in a robbery that victimizes only drug dealers. But theyre amateurs, and their perfect crime doesnt go quite perfectly. Worse, the cash isnt drug money, and the victims are resourceful, relentless, and coldly lethal. As the professionals close in, the amateurs and the bonds between them unravel. Sakeys amateurs are deftly portrayed. So is the unraveling. Tension mounts, and some readers will stay up late to find out what happens. Amateurs. Sakeys three previous novels, also stand-alone thrillers set in Chicago, have all been sold to Hollywood. Four for four looks likely.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)