In for a Ruble

Turbo Vlost #2

by David Duffy

A pulse-pounding mystery featuring Russian-American detective Turbo Vlost, the deadliest ex-KGB operative to ever hit New York

Turbo Vlost is back. He's depressed, drinking too much, and terrified that the love of his life is truly gone.

Hired to test the security of billionaire hedge fund manager Sebastian Leitz's computer system, Turbo finds himself peeling back the fetid layers of an immigrant family living the American dream while unable to escape mysterious and unspeakable demons.

Turbo isn't the only one interested in the Leitzs. The Belarus-based Baltic Enterprise Commission---a shadowy purveyor of online sleaze---has its claws in Leitz's brother-in-law. So, it appears, does Leitz's brother. And Leitz's son, a teenaged computer whiz, is running his own million-dollar schemes.

Thanks to his legwork and his partner's data-mining monster, Turbo can see all the cards. But to play the hand, he has to join the kind of game he recognizes from his childhood in the Gulag---one where the odds suddenly grow short and losers don't always come out alive.

David Duffy's In For a Ruble will enthrall fans of Martin Cruz Smith in this action-packed Turbo Vlost adventure.

Genres: Fiction

368 pages

First published July 17, 2012

About the author

David Livingston Duffy spent 25 years advising U.S. and multinational corporations on how to position themselves and their brands in the financial, consumer and labor marketplaces. This experience turned out to be good practice for writing fiction. Along the way, he helped bring the "Antiques Roadshow" to PBS and income tax to Poland. He and his wife live in New York's Hudson River Valley.

Reviews

[LM Goodrich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great second book looking forward to the third book coming out soon.

I will not go into the story-line, many others have already done this so I will just rate the book on its elements (0 to 5 being highest):

Protagonist Development: 5
Antagonist Development: 4
Minor Character Development: 4
Storyline:4
Setting: 4
Theme: 4
Writing Style: 5
Overall Rating: 4

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good version of a spy/mystery novel. It had a hint of a private investigator procedural, but the characters were vivid and interesting; the plot was unique and it was not clear how it all would end. Good pacing and enough action to keep me interested. There was a cultural overlay of Solviet KGB, which was a just enough to add a unjque flavor.

[Reva · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came upon Last to Fold and this book, In for a Ruble by chance. Both are marvelous reads introducing a likeable cast of characters including a world-worn ex KGB agent operating in the U.S.A. as a tech savvy Sam Spade, an even techier side kick and a raunchy African Parrot. Both books well woth the time.

[sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent story line, good character development; could do with more rewrites and/or better editing, but terrific suspense nontheless...

[John Wintersteen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific book. Well written. Don't see anything coming up for a third book.