He's known as Morrow

Morrow is a mystery. He doesn’t smile, can blend effortlessly into a crowd, and lives a spartan lifestyle. Having grown up on the streets under the tutelage of a con man mentor, he’s ready for his first real “job.” Until he finds it, he’s working security for a mob boss’ motor pool in Phoenix.

When an opportunity arises for him to steal back a priceless painting for a powerful client, he knows this is just what he’s been training for his entire life.

A methodical planner, Morrow aims to control every variable he can for the upcoming heist with the precision of a master chess player. He maps out the target, assembles the perfect team. What can go wrong?

Lots actually. The least of which is the fact that you can’t escape the mob.

But it’s the obstacles and unseen threats a con man faces that prove his merit in a world filled with thieves and deceit.

Keeping his true motives close to the cuff, can Morrow execute his first big job and get away with it? Or will the con man be outconned by a move he can’t see coming?

If you love heist novels full of twists and thrillers with complicated plots, Morrow’s Con is for you. Featuring a lovable criminal main character and his ragtag entourage of con men accomplices, you’ll be cheering this team on with each seemingly insurmountable hurdle until the final score.


KIRKUS BOOK REVIEW

A young con man striking out on his own hits nothing but trouble in James’ suspense thriller.

This series debut features a felon named Morrow, already a prison veteran when he’s released at 22. Seven years after being freed, he abandons his efforts to “not draw any attention” to himself and becomes fully ensconced in the Santangelo crime family business, working in Phoenix as a car cleaner and infrequent driver for mob boss Arnie Westcott. When Morrow finally tires of the grunt work and the thugs he’s forced to collaborate with, he seizes an opportunity to go out on his own. A one-time apprentice to a confidence man, Morrow reenters the nefarious world of grifting with a scheme to steal back a painting previously heisted en route to its new owner, a powerful “rich Jewish dude” named Jacob Almeda, who issues a deadline ultimatum for the artwork’s retrieval. With $600,000 (and their lives) at stake, Morrow, using an alias, begins assembling what he believes to be the ultimate “A-squad” of operatives, including elusive lookout Ghost, musclebound brothers Brady and Shady (who’s mute), and husband-and-wife duo Tommy and Connie.

Meanwhile, veteran Phoenix police detective Clyde Fuller teams with Morgan Sawyer, an investigator who needs law enforcement’s assistance in retrieving the painting to recoup the insurance company’s loss. A frenetic chase plays out for who can recapture the artwork first, with Morrow and his team fumbling through missteps yet always landing on their feet. With the fast-approaching deadline to deliver the painting to Almeda, the suspense mounts quickly. The story involves deadly mobster machinations, but in the author’s sure narrative hands, they are consistently delivered with a wry smirk and the perfect micro-dose of black comedy. Once the timeline is whittled down to mere days until the bounty must be recovered, James will have rapt readers right where he wants them as Morrow attempts the ultimate “well-planned cool out,” with all of his tracks covered. Interested readers will find further Morrow adventures in the series’ subsequent installments.

A locomotive of a thriller packed with action and featuring a colorful gang of (relatively innocuous) bad guys.