Las Vegas Review-Journal - The Book Nook

  How do you get seven different writers together to write a single story without seven different outcomes? (And without them killing each other!) Very, very carefully, I would imagine.
  But that’s just what Geoff Schumacher, on behalf of the Vegas Valley Book Festival, managed to do when he gathered seven of Las Vegas’ best known authors to form Las Vegas Writes. Given a few simple guidelines — the story had to be set in Las Vegas, had to be fiction, and each chapter had to be 3,000 to 4,000 words in length — the group of seasoned writers has produced the gritty, fast-paced suspense novel in “Restless City.”
  Private investigator Daniel Brady has been hired by one of Vegas’ high-rolling gamblers to find out why a seemingly harmless old lady has been murdered and why her granddaughter suddenly has tried to commit suicide. What seems to be a routine case quickly turns into a deadly web of intrigue and deceit as the story travels from the tired, old-school casinos of downtown Vegas to the spectacular high-rise towers of the Strip.
  Brady soon finds that the people he thought he could trust and count on have turned against him, and his own life is in eminent danger as he seeks the truth. Scam artists, hookers, Christian bikers, and a hand or two of naked poker, and the answers Brady seeks will come soon enough; but not before a beating or two has taken place. It’s a hard way to earn a buck.
  “Restless City” is a fascinating book on two different levels. This is a great crime noir story, reminiscent of the style of crime writers of days gone by. But it also is captivating for the reader to experience the diverse writing styles of seven different authors in one tale. H. Lee Barnes sets the tone of the story from the start, with character development and back story. John H. Irsfeld gives readers a taste of downtown Vegas, and Brian Rouff takes them on a field trip out to Laughlin, the poor man’s Vegas.
  Surprisingly, it’s Leah Baily, one of the two ladies of the group, whose chapter deals with the violence of the Vegas underworld, while John L. Smith remembers the glory days of Vegas’ past. Constance Ford visits the ancient mobster who knows all and sees all, and has all the answers, but you’ve got to get naked to get them. Vu Tran wraps up the action in a satisfying manner that brings closure to the story.
  Having lived in Vegas, and being familiar with the area, I was pleased by how instantly this story took me back to the glitz and glamour, the muck and filth that make up Sin City. There’s no where else like it in the world, and these seven diverse authors capture the mystery of Las Vegas beautifully in “Restless City.”