Finn is a thief of old fashioned ways. He steals large items and is just out of prison attempting a large heist of precious metals. He is talented at his profession, ruthless and determined. This is a thriller that should be a movie with Ray Liotta playing Finn. It is brimming with excitement and great characters. I loved the scenarios of his thefts and how he plotted brilliantly to steal. Its heart pounding excitement that never ends until the last page. A fun read.

Mike Cooper writes an interesting character in Finn. Finn is an ex-con who is introduced to a Wall-Streeter who needs his help to perform the heist of all heists. This will make you think of Ocean's 11 crossed with Boon Dock Saints.

If this was a movie it would be "Oceans something." It includes a variety of colorful and interesting characters attempting an impossible heist. The well-written story has twists, surprises, and betrayals as the plot unfolds. Despite the difficulty involved and the final betrayal, the ending is satisfying. Finn is a brilliant, old-fashioned criminal dealing with the different world he finds when his prison sentence is completed. The suspense deals with his growth, the attempt to find his betrayer, how to conduct a major crime without being caught, and how to deal with his growing interest in the woman who is his contact. There is more than enough to keep the reader occupied and interested. Definitely a great book.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat. It is fast paced and believable. This is my first book by Mike Cooper but it won't be the last. Finn is an old school criminal that doesn't use any computer systems to plan and carry out his heists. He is like the guy you would meet in a dark bar and click with. I really like him and look forward to reading more.

The Downside

by Mike Cooper

Open Road Integrated Media

MysteriousPress.com/Open Road
Mystery & Thrillers

Pub Date 05 Sep 2017

I am reviewing a copy of The Downside through Open Road Integrated Media and Netgalley:

Finn is the last hard hat in the age of cybercrime. He is a professional thief who only steals big things, autoraks, factory lines and other machinery.

Finn is just out of prison when he has a line on his biggest job yet. He is flat broke so the timing is right. A beautiful woman with an agenda of her own puts him in touch with a crooked Wall Street Billionaire. He wants him to break into a vault and haul out fifty million dollars worth of the precious metal Rhodium. It's big and heavy and right up Finn's alley?

Will he be able to pull this job off, or will he get caught trying to break into the high-security underground vault in New Jersey?

Find out in The Downside.

Five out of five stars.

Happy Reading.

In an age of cybercrime, Finn is the last hardhat. He's a professional thief with a unique specialty: He only steals big things--autoracks, factory lines, machinery. You might call what he does "heavy lifting." And he's no stranger to the downside of his chosen profession; he's done seven years' hard time to prove it.

Fresh out of prison and flat broke, Finn has a line on his biggest job ever. A beautiful woman with her own agenda has put him back in touch with a shady Wall Street billionaire. The job? Breaking into a private commodities vault and hauling out fifty million dollars worth of the precious metal rhodium. It's big, it's heavy, and it'll pull a lot of exposure. In other words, it's right up Finn's alley.

The vault is located underground in a high-security rail yard in New Jersey. The plan? Tunnel in. But there's only one group that can get it done, and Finn will have to call in the crackerjack team that landed him in prison in the first place: Asher, a cranky oilfield driller; Corman, a bearlike railway man; and Jake, a charismatic machinery expert--joined by Nicola, a female hacker who alternates between white and black hats.

Cracking the most heavily guarded private vault in North America? No problem. Hauling fifty million dollars in precious metal out past guards, dozens of policemen, and an armored SWAT battalion? Even easier. But navigating the betrayals of double-crossing partners, the machinations of a hedge-fund billionaire gone bad, and the ambiguous proposals of a woman with her own agenda? That's when things get twisty. This is the heist that will truly test Finn's mettle, and he'll need nerves of steel just to get out alive. But he's sure of one thing: This time, there's got to be an upside.



* * * * *



Wow! I just finished THE DOWNSIDE and fell in love with Finn who is definitely an old school criminal. No computers for him. In fact, he reminds me of guys that you will meet in your local neighborhood bar after their shift except for the fact that he tends to get paid a lot more when things go right. And it's his turn for things to go right.



I do have to say that Mr. Cooper does a brilliant job with his characters. Some of them you will click with, others not so much. Just like the folks that you meet in real life. Along with Finn, I really liked the characters of the hacker Nicola and Corman who is a jack of a lot of trades.


The reader is given the inside view to a caper that definitely involves some heavy lifting. We get to see as all the details fall into place as the big night comes closer and closer. We even get to join the gang as the heist takes place. A lot of twists and turns as the tension ratchets up.


I would recommend THE DOWNSIDE to any of my readers who enjoy a good thriller or crime drama. Personally I am hoping to see some more books with Finn and his crew.


*** I received this book at no charge from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions expressed within are my own.

What do you do when you get out of jail? You plan to break in and rob the most secure vault in the world. Finn has just done 7 years for a similar crime. Finn did the most jail time of the group that worked the last heist and really wants to know who turned them in. One of them did. He's approached by one of the group involved in the last heist - to see if he wants to plan and manage the goes after this vault job. There's a multimillion dollar payoff if they succeed. But Finn's real motivator is revenge-gather the same crew together for this job and figure out who dropped the dime on them last time. This book took a few pages to get into but then you're hooked and have to keep reading to see if they suceed and Finn gets his revenge.

Fans of the Oceans 11 heist genre will love this book. The motley crew of characters behind the heist is even lovable and zany, and the situation is involved but interesting, the descriptions realistic and fascinating. I really enjoyed this book.

(1 1/2). This book has a good start, a fun ending and a pretty darn muddy middle. Finn is fun and the two ladies, especially Nicola, really are the stars of the show. A little too much over the top in the presentation but a mildly fun ride.

THE DOWNSIDE by Mike Cooper is advertised as being a "fast moving thriller....hurtling along at breakneck speed". This reader did not experience the thrill AT ALL. It my opinion, I felt it the pace is laborious, slowed down by technical jargon ( tunnel boring machines, excavator dimensions and weight, tapping into high voltage power lines, etc). All the technical details muddle the action of the storyline. The transitions from one chapter are choppy, jumping from one scenario to another, which disrupts the flow of the plot and is confusing. The characters are flat and one dimensional; I did not relate to or embrace them, and did not care about them or their fate. Therefore, the characters nor the action push the plot along, and instead of building to dazzling excitement, I was dazed with frustration and confusion. Another major flaw in the ( lack of) character development is the fact there is no MOTIVE behind their actions to commit another heist, funded by the same person who betrayed them before, which caused their arrest and imprisonment. I mean, how stupid is that? These are intelligent people, supposedly, yet they jump back in the fray after just being released from prison? No mention was made of parole checks? All the red flags are presented as a warning they are being duped and betrayed again...Whaaat? As has been quoted by Jodi Picoult, " When you have been burned by fire once, you don't jump into the flames again." Exactly. But these people do just that, defying logic and common sense, which makes this caper silly, implausible, and a waste of time.

I thoroughly enjoyed this heist/caper book. It was well written, suspenseful, and chock-full of characters that I found amusing and intriguing. There was just the right amount of atmosphere and technical jargon to satisfy the storyline but not overwhelm. Right from the start, the author hooked me into caring about this story and his characters, without weighing me down with too much analysis or extraneous detail. I look forward to more from Mike Cooper, maybe even more about this cast of characters.