All In

Good read. Enjoyed the twist and turns of the book. would definitely recommend this book.

I hope to read anything written by these authors. A great fun read with interesting
laugh out laughs.

I thought the book was good.

To much deals ex machina, me thinks…

This was a different kind of book. The protagonist, being a thief, is still very likable, as is Jake, the gambler. The author is able to make the reader feel they are “there” even in the card games. I hope to read more about these 2. Hard to put down.

All in (Ireland and Carter Series book #1)
Cassie Ireland. Vogue-cover class beauty, Super intelligent, Harvard MBA, burglar, safe-cracker, embezzler, swindler, thief, mountain climber. No-#metoo victim. To make it ultra-diversity, African American. Ireland works as an independent contractor for a mysterious individual whose business is to right wrongs that cannot be done legally, charging a picayune $1 million upfront fee from his clients.
Jake Carter. Corn-fed, white American, college dropout, successful professional gambler, honest as much as a person who makes his living as a consummate liar can be. Good looking and flirtatious.
The two live in the same upper-class New York building where their intended target occupies the enormous penthouse, who is a Wall Street billionaire predator. They bump to each other (literally) in the elevator, and it is hatred at first sight.
That incident makes the story turn faster than one can say Jack Robinson, into a rom-com thriller soaked to the bone with girl talk, like periods, diapers, cleaning noses and backsides, template sex-scenes, although in a dream (who can control what is happening in a dream?) so the lady can keep her chastity intact making it all kosher.
The story moves to a luxury liner, the size of a small city, of which excursions to exotic locals, nudist beaches (where if-I-catch-you-looking-I-will-kill-you, without delivering on the promise, of course), helicopter rides, so the protagonists can fall in each other’s arms and still maintain dignity. Plus, all the off-shelf banalities one can cram into a book, as rom-coms usually do, very likely written in a week or less.
The villains are the evil billionaire and the sociopath son of a Greek shipbuilding magnate, both out for blood, one apiece for each of the two protagonists. Assisting characters are three Greek muscle enforcers, two psychopathic Irish, remorseless, merciless murderers, a brother-sister incestuous duo, a nymphomaniac with the best intentions, and a butler who would be the pipe dream of every British Lord, William Makepeace Thackeray could have imagined.
The luxury liner is the venue of a Slam Down Poker Contest, with a top price of $5 million in which Jake supposed to be the star contestant. The final table is world-wide televised by ESPN and close-circuited to the close the 5,000 passengers of the cruise.
After a lot of complications for the sake of complications and for showcasing Cassie’s brilliance a well expected Hollywood finish, and one villain is possible kept back for future episodes. The rest of the bad guys and girl peacefully rest at the bottom of the Mediterranean.
Goldman is the author of very decent thrillers/mysteries many a story of which are falling back on his legal background. I particularly liked the Lou Mason and Jack Davis series. I think I read every single one of them. The plots were convincing, good knowledge of the locale, flesh-and-blood characters, especially Lou’s aunt, who was no fiction for me because I had such an aunt. And not the least the Yiddishkeit. All out and gone in “All in.”
Please, Joel, say that you were forced at gunpoint to put your name on this “thing.” Because for the next one of the Ireland & Carter Series (already out) I am at the head of the line not to read it.
For the single star, I gave this book is perhaps because I was more disappointed than I hate rom-coms.
PS The print is rife with grammatical errors.

OK Witty, realistic,Very entertaining, lots of action

Good story line, but left out words (like ship name) numerous times which I found irritating.

Good story with good character interaction, suspense and plot twists. Enjoyed reading it very much. The kind of book that keeps you interested until the last page.

Good book.