Cordelia Kingsbridge - A Chip and a Chair

Detective Levi Abrams and PI Dominic Russo are reunited and more committed to each other than ever, but they can’t truly move forward with their lives until the serial killer who’s been tormenting them is behind bars. When a secret burial site is discovered in the desert with the remains of the Seven of Spades’s earliest victims, that goal finally seems within reach. But just as the net is tightening, the Neo-Nazi militia Utopia launches their master plan with a devastating act of terror that changes the landscape of Las Vegas forever. 

As Levi and Dominic scramble to prevent the city’s destruction, they’re opposed by treacherous forces that propel them toward catastrophe. In the end, Levi’s fate may rest in the hands of the very killer he’s been hunting. 

The race to save Sin City is on, and these players are going for broke. No matter how hopeless things seem, as long as they’re together and they’ve got a chip to play and a chair to sit in, they’re still in the game.

Comment: This is the final installment in the Seven of Spades series, which I had intended - and accomplished - to finish reading in 2023.

In this final adventure, detective Levi and his partner Dominic are bent on savoring the good things in their life and in the life of those around them. However, at the same time, the aftershock of what the serial killer Seven of Spades has done, can't be ignored. Everyone is determined to catch the killer, but the connections are just too difficult to find, but things change when a white supremacist group decides to target the killer, attacking and kidnapping Levi. The Seven of Spades has been known to help or to defend Levi, sometimes by extreme measures, which means Levi will be rescued, but will he be ready to find out who the killer truly is?

From the start that the big secret in this series has been the identity of the serial killer who, for some reason, has always been on the side of detective Levi, even though what caused this or what kind of connection they might have is unknown. The hint that the killer had to be someone close to Levi has been more than obvious, but the question is who could fit all the criteria, considering past events.

Well, I think this would always be a surprise, no matter what, because the person had to belong to a small group of people. Some of the secondary characters have been part of the series for a while and the choices weren't many, but the author still managed to misdirect things here, until the final reveal and I confess I fell into her ploy and suspected a person who ended up being only red herring. When I found out who the person was, in a reveal scene, which was surprisingly simple, I was startled because of obvious reasons: this person always seemed to behave a certain way and that was, after all, fake.

In a way, and perhaps this is only an impression due to the fact I had to stop reading many times because of real life, and breaking up the flow might have that effect, I've felt that this last story was a little rushed. I did have the feeling the story was only about who the Seven of Spades really was and how cleverly everyone was deceived, and the other elements (such as stuff related to secondary characters and the romance between Levi and Dominic) took second stage. One could say this is expected, but I think the author could have written things differently... after all, I felt the drama was a bit too much on book #3 and now this one wasn't as shocking.

Let it be said that the explanation for the killer's identity to have been hidden so well is certainly possible, but... it was so well concealed that even rationally accepting such behavior as likely, as very much acceptable in terms of mental and social reasons, I still felt it came out of nowhere. Someone had to be the big villain, so... again, maybe it's just an impression. The plot pretty much revolves around this, until the very end, when a demanding situation has to be solved and the Seven of Spades, now know to Levi and other characters, actually helped. Hmm, this felt a bit too much, actually, in how one can accept unlikely scenarios...

As a whole, the series was definitely engaging and there were many things, details related to cases and the romance that I liked and that made me eager to keep reading. I think this final installment could have as well planned as the first two, which to me were the best, but I think that if the goal was to conclude an adventure with enough solid feature, this was achieved. The romance also had a romantic end, so to speak, with information that left me happy for them and the belief that these two were, indeed, in love, despite their obvious need to keep working on their trust issues.

All in all, a good enough end to the series, and I'm glad I've finished up another one.

Grade: 7/10