Kindle Edition Download to your Nook (eBook) Amazon Bradley Jay Meyer Category:  Action/Thriller Publisher: Bradley Jay Meyer ISBN-10:  1466131780 Type: Fiction Pages: 200 Copyright: March 7, 2012 Told in a compelling, driving voice, this wise-cracking first-person narrative is fraught with friction. This is literary Noir, ever edgy yet free of any gratuitously high body counts or self-satisfied mugging to the audience. Jake’s Take is the story of an ex-cowboy who takes a break from working as a stuntman to follow his latest premonition that he’s about to get lucky. Told in a compelling, driving voice, this witty first-person narrative is fraught with friction. This is literary Noir, ever edgy yet free of gratuitously high body counts or self-satisfied mugging to the audience. For that matter, Jake’s got too good of a memory to be satisfied with himself. After accidently flipping up a couple of symbol-laden face cards while playing solitaire, Jake decides to head out from L.A. to Vegas to pursue money and love. He gets to town, and has already started winning at blackjack when he suddenly sees a young woman who personifies his idea of female perfection. Despite her initial coolness, her desperation to locate her younger, heiress sister within a week eventually prompts her to enlist his help since the detective agency she’s been using has come up empty. The sexual tension between them remains unresolved the next day, when she is forced to return to New York to help her company prepare to go public. After spending some time on a wise-cracking tour of the town’s casinos, Jake decides to ignore Allie’s insights into her sister and check out a few of the most upscale topless clubs in town. After a while, he gets a lead on a girl who might be Banff - but has the night off. Returning to his hotel, he stumbles his way into picking up an actress who is also out from L.A. The following evening, he leaves Cassie at the hotel and finally meets Banff, who is disguised in a wig but has the requisite mole just below her navel. Soon realizing her beauty is more than skin deep, Jake finds himself in his first dilemma. He had come out to Vegas with the vague hope of meeting someone special, but now doesn’t know which of these three exceptional women that might be. The action that follows involves various shady characters, a couple of side-kick cowboys, overly inquisitive cops, betrayal, revenge, a nefarious plot and other intrigue. The pacing builds like a freight train on a mountain downgrade, moving inevitably from a measured pace to that of a runaway locomotive hurling toward destruction. Excerpt ONE The Golden Nugget's got a beautiful casino, if your taste runs to boxy white pillars and enameled walls trimmed in brass, bare-shouldered cocktail girls and hundreds of what the industry calls games of chance. The inlaid ceiling's white and gold too, except for its profusion of black surveillance mirrors. After hours of late-afternoon driving through sun-baked desert, it all seemed practically genteel. I was thinking about surveillance as I glanced around from my perch at one of the room's many blackjack tables. I looked back across the table at Judy, a pleasant-faced brunette with shoulder length hair, as her slender fingers starting flashing cards out of a six deck shoe. If anyone asked, I could almost honestly say I'd come out to Vegas with the trite idea of changing my luck. My motivation would have come on the previous evening, appearing in the form of a couple of cards. I'd been thinking about calling it a night as I sat alone in my west Hollywood bungalow, playing solitaire. I was in the middle of a distracted shuffle when the deck jumped from my hands. The loose pack bounced off the carpet and two lone cards flipped up. One was the King of Diamonds, that old thief. In attendance was the other big guy, the one with the heart. It was a lovely sign, if one bought into that sort of thing. I had shrugged off similar portents in the past. Or maybe they'd shrugged me off. After taking a moment to feel cautiously optimistic I did the sensible thing and went to bed. I got up at a respectable hour in the afternoon, ransacked my place and hit the road. After an hour at my first card table I was five hundred dollars and one partly-digested Porterhouse ahead. I thought back for a moment to the cards. For all I knew, I would have been further ahead if I'd stayed in L.A. and met a well heeled divorcee in the local supermarket's produce aisle. But I'd already had an excuse for travelling to the land of enticement. Right or wrong, it promised to be more exciting than my typical trip to Piggly Wiggly's. Truth be told, I had probably needed a vacation from that. That, and other things. Not that the stunt work I did was all that exhausting. The typical job was really quite boring, aside from the meticulous rehearsing and brief moments of terror. The only highlight of my last job was an actress I'd met on the set. Her classy reserve had reminded me of my mother, as had the fact that she was married. Available or not, she had done a fair job of reminding I'd fallen off my game. I waved a hand over six inches of felt to let the hidden overhead camera record that I had decided, of my very own free will, to stand on the two tens Judy had dealt me. As I waited for what I hoped was the payoff I took inventory. Whenever I looked in a mirror these days I knew I was older. Not that I'd lost any muscle tone or the ruggedly passable looks. The old wolf eyes still held the occasional glow and my smile did not look too grim. But the wide, carefree grins were not leaping to my lips with the same reckless abandon. Judy went bust and started dishing chips. I told myself it was ridiculous, really. I was still well on the slim side of thirty five. And just then it hit me, a theory for why I'd lost half a step and a bit of my verve. Maybe some time when I wasn't looking I'd bought into the idea that the women I wanted were too good for me. But now I was back up and running, hoping I wasn't just heading for another rocky rut. I doubled my bet and dredged loose a few memories from years gone by. When I had first been getting over what I sometimes called my Sandy episode, I had traded in women like they were used cars, giving up all sense of attachment for the prospect of better performance and a fresh smell. But that lifestyle had finally gotten old, and I had recently settled into a monkish sort of detachment. Aside from its simplicity, the change hadn't been all that good. And now this. If only I actually could buy into the idea of destiny, I considered, wouldn't that mean I could just sit back and let things work out on their own? I glanced over Judy's shoulder and an entirely different question asked itself. An incredible blonde stood facing me from an aisle away. I saw her in glimpses as the flow of the crowd intervened. Her features were at once smooth and strongly defined. They remained fixed in quiet concentration, suggesting a glacial elegance. I could see her selling bikinis, in Alaska. Her gaze flicked across the crowd just to my right. Her eyes were a deep and mysterious green. Was she somehow supposed to be right for me? I wondered. And I could I manage to do anything about it, if she was? As the crowd shifted again and her gaze slipped further off, my survey took in more ground. There seemed to be a solidly-racked chassis beneath her little orange halter-top dress. Her lips were painted an amusing pale violet, almost blue. I even found the rat's nest of her hair somehow charming. Her eyes swung around, as if sensing my presence. They settled coolly on me, delivering an ancient jolt of desire. Somewhere out of my line of sight Judy murmured "Insurance." The tall goddess's eyes moved on. A flicker of impatience tugged cutely at her lips. I knew a couple of things then that I'd not known before. I realized I was staring at my personal ideal of female beauty. And I knew she was looking around. What I did not know was whether she could prove to be the answer to my abandoned dreams. She turned away, to the sound of coins clanking into slot machines like desperate wishes dropped down empty wells.

Page Turner
A cowboy turned stuntman decides after having a bit of good luck at the cards to go to Las Vegas and try his luck. While there, he meets Allie, a woman who’s beauty knocks him off his feet. But that beauty is hiding something, the disappearance of her little sister, Banff. She asks Jake to find her sister, in 5 days before she is due to inherit a large sum of money, and is willing to pay him for his help.

Thinking the sister was gambling and lost, she would need some sort of income to continue gambling. What better way to make fast cash in a good amount than to work at a strip club? Deciding she would work at a higher end club, Jake began his search for Banff. As luck would have it, “Brandy” was one of the dancers at a club.

Biding his time on how to talk to “Brandy”, he spent some time in a casino and met Cassie. Now Jake has met 3 beautiful women. Funny thing though, Cassie had been hired by Allie to keep an eye on Jake. Needless to say, Jake was miffed after finding out.

Jake decided to keep an eye on Banff, following her home after work, where she lives with her boyfriend, Max. Max seemed to be a shady type of guy. Proving what kind of guy he is, after beating Jake up with a baseball bat after a poker game, Jake needs to let Banff know how bad Max really is.

Jake found Banff, and her boyfriend, and another girl who looks remarkably like Banff. But that is actually Max’s girlfriend. What are they up to with Banff? Why are they so interested in her? Does Jake get the girl, and, if so, which one? Who lives, who dies and who gets the money? Who is behind it all?

Great mix of characters, from the in-charge to the gullible to the deceitful, and of course the poor, innocent guy mixed up in the middle of it all, who only wanted to follow what his cards told him. You really feel for the guy, feeling hurt from girls and beatings, to lucky in his findings and a bit of winnings too. Even if you have never been to Las Vegas, you can imagine the different types of places he visits, from the luxurious and seedy casinos, to the beautiful areas. Great read, keeps you turning pages to see what happens next to Jake, another fight, a little romance, whatever comes next.

Easy & Quick Read!
Jake's Take by Bradley Meyer is a story centered around Jake, a decently attractive stuntman, who falls for Allie, who is a business woman that comes to Vegas to find her sister. This book was very well written with snappy dialogue that flowed very well. Bradley's descriptive writing makes it easy to imagine the scenes, almost to the point that you feel like you are there with the characters experiencing it too. The characters are also very like-able, and easy to relate to. Jake has a sort of James Bond attitude and style. The only difference was that instead of Jake trying to get all the woman into bed with him (as James Bond did), it was reversed in that all the women took the role of trying to get Jake into bed with them. Allie and her sister's controversy was also very intriguing.

Jake's Take is a pretty easy, and quick, read. It also kept me from wanting to put it down at some points. The only real complaints I have for this book is that at some points, the descriptions were a little too lengthy, and that the ending came off a little rushed. Other than that it was great. If you are looking for something to entertain you, this is definitely your book.