One Thursday night Alex presents his friends with his dilemma. Divorced from his wife for several years, he is behind on his support payments. His ex-wife has remarried and has told him that she and her new husband Scott are moving to Phoenix because of Scott’s new job. That would be fine with Alex except he will not get to see his ten-year-old daughter. In addition his boss, John Loverin, alias Johnny Love,  is applying pressure for Alex to act as a bodyguard for him during a meeting with an unnamed man that Alex suspects is a drug dealer.

In prior meetings with his boss, Alex has learned the combination to his boss’s office safe. With this piece of information Alex is able to determine what his boss has recently covertly deposited in said safe. It amounts to a substantial amount of money. The friends, almost as an exercise in wouldn’t it be neat if sort of scenario, decide to stage a robbery of the safe just prior to the arranged meeting of Johnny and the drug dealer. Ian, with a bit of a drug habit himself, has access to guns. Mitch considers the caper a chance to be more assertive, and Jenn thinks the whole proposal is a great adventure.

As the time for the proposed meeting draws near, all for friends are nervous for different reasons. None of them wants to be the one to call a halt to the plan, but each has serious doubts of its success. The cast assembles with Alex playing bodyguard and Mitch and Ian storming Johnny’s office. Jenn is watching the alley on alert to warn the others of the drug dealer’s arrival. Then things go horribly wrong….

Marcus Sakey is a master at placing his characters in believable situations in which they must make life changing decisions. There is no clear-cut correct answer, yet an answer is mandatory. It is entertaining to not only watch the characters come to grips with what solution would be most beneficial from their point of view but how a given decision will affect their relationship with their friends.

As befitting a thriller, the consequences of the characters’ actions become much more wide reaching that they could ever imagine. What each character thought was a victimless crime turns out to be anything but. How each individual wrestles with the personal and moral consequences of their actions provides a Thanksgiving size portion of food for thought.

Mr. Sakey has a command of the English language that is admirable.  Alex’s feelings for his ex-wife are “a cocktail that he drank often: two parts rage to one part aching frustration, flavored with a dash of self-pity.” He describes Ian’s state of mind just prior to pulling off the caper as “static electricity and piano wire.” The images are unforgettable.

Although the purpose of a thriller is primarily to entertain, Marcus Sakey has improved on the formula. Like his cocktails which describe Alex’s emotions, Sakey provides one part entertainment, and several other parts questions concerning appropriate actions in situations that will ultimately affect not only a small circle of friends but large parts of humanity.

--Andy Plonka