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John Deal #1
Done Deal
In this absorbing new thriller by the author of Spill, the lives of a young Miami couple are shattered when they step into the path of some major league criminals who’ll do anything to pull off the scam of a lifetime.
Johnny Deal is a down-on-his-luck building contractor, struggling to revive his once-thriving family business in the new Miami. For Deal, raised on such quaint notions as a day’s work for a day’s pay and owning up to your mistakes, the transformation hasn’t always been easy, not when he’s trying to survive in a real estate glut.
Still, he owns one piece of land free and clear, the fourplex he’s building there is almost finished, and his wife, Janice, is finally pregnant after years of trying. The city too is engaged in a campaign of renewal, pursuing a baseball franchise that will bring America’s pastime to the tropics. To Deal, a former college ballplayer, this campaign is a gentle suggestion that things may, at last, be going his way.
Then Deal’s luck runs completely dry. Janice is driving his car when she’s forced off the precarious bridge that spans a rushing outlet from the Intracoastal to the Atlantic. The police find the car but not the body, and Deal is devastated because he knows it was supposed to be him in that car. When he learns that the killing is tied to one man’s scheme to profit off Major League Baseball’s arrival in Miami—and that Deal has been standing right in the way—the result is a single-minded quest for vengeance full of surprises, high-level chicanery, and a firestorm of violence that will change Deal’s life and the city he loves forever.
Johnny Deal is a down-on-his-luck building contractor, struggling to revive his once-thriving family business in the new Miami. For Deal, raised on such quaint notions as a day’s work for a day’s pay and owning up to your mistakes, the transformation hasn’t always been easy, not when he’s trying to survive in a real estate glut.
Still, he owns one piece of land free and clear, the fourplex he’s building there is almost finished, and his wife, Janice, is finally pregnant after years of trying. The city too is engaged in a campaign of renewal, pursuing a baseball franchise that will bring America’s pastime to the tropics. To Deal, a former college ballplayer, this campaign is a gentle suggestion that things may, at last, be going his way.
Then Deal’s luck runs completely dry. Janice is driving his car when she’s forced off the precarious bridge that spans a rushing outlet from the Intracoastal to the Atlantic. The police find the car but not the body, and Deal is devastated because he knows it was supposed to be him in that car. When he learns that the killing is tied to one man’s scheme to profit off Major League Baseball’s arrival in Miami—and that Deal has been standing right in the way—the result is a single-minded quest for vengeance full of surprises, high-level chicanery, and a firestorm of violence that will change Deal’s life and the city he loves forever.
261 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1993
About the author
Les Standiford
42 books160 followersLes Standiford is a historian and author and has since 1985 been the Director of the Florida International University Creative Writing Program. Standiford has been awarded the Frank O'Connor Award for Short Fiction, a Florida Individual Artist Fellowship in Fiction, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Fiction, and belongs to the Associated Writing Programs, Mystery Writers of America, and the Writers Guild.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 23, 2018
Soms beetje afgeleid
September 8, 2019
Filled with a lean plot, tough and fast paced action. When reluctant sleuth John Deal wises up, he does some serious damage. A fun start to this series, I look forward to the next one.
January 19, 2015
1.5/10
December 21, 2021
I was in my favorite bookshop the other day and one of the other 'regular' customers comes in raving about this book and begging for more of his stuff. So, naturally, I had to give it a go myself. I can't say that I'm as nuts about it as that other guy but it was a good and interesting read. You don't find many mysteries where the protagonist is a building contractor!
January 13, 2013
Book Review: Done Deal : A John Deal Novel by Les Standiford
Done Deal : A John Deal Novel by Les Standiford is the first title in the authors John Deal series. Set in South Florida, the book captures the early nineties Miami while weaving an intense tale of manipulation and murder.
John Deal is a struggling builder. He and his wife, Janice, are having issues within their marriage. When his father died, Deal learned that the building business he thought was successful was broke. Deal and Janice moved out of their fancy house and away from friends and contacts. Now Deal is trying to rebuild the once successful company.
When he is offered big money to sell a property he is constructing, he refuses, wanting to finish the project, then move on. Janice thinks he should take the offer—she's pregnant and wants life settled. Then things start going wrong.
I downloaded the book as a free for iBook title, and as is my habit, will now read the rest of the series. Standiford's character development was effective, making me want to read more about the people he introduced. (The promotion worked.) By the way, it was the first book I read on the iBook program. I found it to be a friendly program.
Done Deal : A John Deal Novel by Les Standiford is the first title in the authors John Deal series. Set in South Florida, the book captures the early nineties Miami while weaving an intense tale of manipulation and murder.
John Deal is a struggling builder. He and his wife, Janice, are having issues within their marriage. When his father died, Deal learned that the building business he thought was successful was broke. Deal and Janice moved out of their fancy house and away from friends and contacts. Now Deal is trying to rebuild the once successful company.
When he is offered big money to sell a property he is constructing, he refuses, wanting to finish the project, then move on. Janice thinks he should take the offer—she's pregnant and wants life settled. Then things start going wrong.
I downloaded the book as a free for iBook title, and as is my habit, will now read the rest of the series. Standiford's character development was effective, making me want to read more about the people he introduced. (The promotion worked.) By the way, it was the first book I read on the iBook program. I found it to be a friendly program.
April 1, 2015
Like John D. MacDonald, Les Standiford gives us another venue to enjoy South Florida fiction...this is the 1st of the John Deal series, and while Standiford is no MacDonald, it WAS an entertaining read, decent plot, interesting characters & surprising villians...John Deal is a builder, beginning a young family whose dealings are being squeezed by wealthy developers desiring to bring Major league baseball to Miami...I'll continue the series
October 5, 2011
I ran across this at Books & Books in Grand Cayman looking for some tropical mysteries with local color. Great hard-boiled suspense like early John D. MacDonald. Strong, no-nonsense writing. I remember Standiford from Bouchercon panels, but another Florida crime writer? Downloaded the next two from Amazon.
June 9, 2011
Love the writing style, a little too violent and graphic in the beginning and I almost stopped reading it, but I really like the character.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews