The Seven Sins, by Jon Land

One of the side effects of attending BEA every year is a rapid accumulation of books, more books than I can read in any given year. Sometimes I acquire more than one book by a given author before I am able to read and review any of them, so one of my ways to trim down the books on my shelves is to focus on authors with multiple books on my shelves. Jon Land is one such author, and I've been eyeing his books up for a while. Recently I picked up The Seven Sins, named after a casino in Las Vegas where much of the action takes place.

The main character of The Seven Sins, Michael Tiranno, is a ruthless immigrant who rose from poverty to become the wealthy owner of the most spectacular casino in Las Vegas. This casino is so grand that its central feature is a humongous aquarium with multiple great white sharks swimming around in it. The story includes intrigues from the past, revenge, Islamic terrorists, and more. Michael is so powerful that he can even track down and kill terrorists on the streets and in the caves of Pakistan. I enjoy the occasional thriller, most of which strain readers' ability to suspend disbelief, but I have to admit that I found myself scoffing as the plot of The Seven Sins twisted and turned. The main character has no redeeming value whatsoever, and the story was so ludicrous I found it hard to care about it at all.

I decided to take a pass on the second book in my collection by Jon Land! Both books will go into the box headed for the State College branch of the AAUW Annual Used Book Sale. I know someone else will like them, as evidenced by the fact that Jon Land has published 38 books!

Jon Land. The Seven Sins. New York: Forge Books, 2007. 364 pages. ISBN 9780765315342.