Rocks Beat Paper — Mike Knowles

In this “highly entertaining” heist thriller, there is no honor among jewel thieves (The Toronto Star).
 
A phone call brought Wilson and nine other men to a job in New York. At first, he couldn't see a way to make the heist work, but the score -- millions of dollars in diamonds -- motivated him to try. Wilson came up with a plan he knew would work . . . until the inside man got killed and took the job with him.
 
With no way inside, the crew walks away without the diamonds. Now, on his own, Wilson is free to execute the job his way. He sets a con in motion that should run as predictably as a trail of dominoes -- except the con doesn't rely on inanimate tiles, it relies on people. And when Wilson pushes all the pieces across the board, he finds that there are other players making their own moves against him. No one is willing to walk away because the job is about more than money. The job is about diamonds. And in this game, rocks beat paper every time.
 
“Wilson is a captivating character: cold, merciless, magnetic, and honest about the world he willingly inhabits . . . Combining the intense grit of Richard Stark's Parker series with the amorality of Jim Thompson's work, Knowles once again delivers a heady brew of tough-guy dialogue, byzantine plots, [and] vibrant characters.” -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)