Action & Adventure
![Bryon Quertermous - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B007TNZ6O6.jpg)
Jackpot (A Teddy Fay Novel)
Teddy Fay hedges his bets in the latest thriller from #1 New York Times-bestselling author Stuart Woods.
When Peter Barrington and Ben Bachetti come under threat while working at a film festival abroad, Teddy Fay is lured to the glittering city of Macau to resolve the problem. He'll soon come to find that world of posh casinos, luxurious developments, and boundless wealth has a dark underbelly of crime and political intrigue . . . and that the biggest players behind the scenes may be far closer to home than anticipated. With international deals and private vendettas at stake, the villains behind the plot aren't about to let Teddy stand in their way. What they don't know is that this seemingly harmless film producer has more than a few tricks up his sleeve.
When Peter Barrington and Ben Bachetti come under threat while working at a film festival abroad, Teddy Fay is lured to the glittering city of Macau to resolve the problem. He'll soon come to find that world of posh casinos, luxurious developments, and boundless wealth has a dark underbelly of crime and political intrigue . . . and that the biggest players behind the scenes may be far closer to home than anticipated. With international deals and private vendettas at stake, the villains behind the plot aren't about to let Teddy stand in their way. What they don't know is that this seemingly harmless film producer has more than a few tricks up his sleeve.
Editorial Reviews
"Good for readers who enjoy James Patterson and Harlan Coben."-Booklist
Readers Top Reviews
Wolfgang PollmannHap
This book is substandard Stuart Woods. A convoluted story, missing all the excitement and entertainment of previous books by Stuart Woods. And even the main character appears just plain boring, much different from what we were used to in previous stories.
Short Excerpt Teaser
1
Teddy Fay just wanted to sleep. He'd never had trouble sleeping, even in war zones and on the trail of high-profile targets. But a series of Hollywood scouting meetings across three continents in seven days in his identity as movie producer Billy Barnett had done him in.
He was in the first-class lounge at the Hong Kong airport waiting for the final leg of his flight back to Los Angeles, when he felt someone approaching. He ignored his instincts and closed his eyes tighter. When the sensation of being watched wouldn't go away, he opened his eyes just in time to see a face leaning in toward him.
In one motion, Teddy rolled off the leather couch he'd been curled up on and shot his right elbow out toward the face in front of him. When he hit the ground, he was fully awake and expected that to be the end of it. But the person was still there. It was an Asian woman with hard, beautiful features and a lithe frame. She took a step toward him and stretched out her hand. He swatted at her hand as he stood up, but instead of pulling away, she engaged with his hand and tugged his arm.
As Teddy fell toward the woman, he spun around so his back was facing her and dropped into a less than graceful version of the splits. He snapped his right leg back at the woman and swept her legs out from underneath her. Again, he expected that to be the end of it. If this woman was a thief looking for a quick score from a sleeping tourist, Teddy had made it very clear he was not an easy target. Since it was the middle of the night, there were only a few other people around, and all were absorbed in their own business. Maybe she would go away and pick a new victim.
Or maybe she wasn't trying to rob him. Maybe she was trying to kill him.
As far as Teddy knew, the short list of people looking to kill Billy Barnett had been taken care of back in Los Angeles. Was she there for Teddy? The list of people wanting to kill Teddy was more robust, but he wasn't traveling under that name and he'd taken great care to keep Teddy in the shadows as much as possible.
He never carried a gun when he was traveling on Centurion Studios business, and that had rarely been a problem. Now he was looking around the minimal furnishings of the lounge area to see if there was anything he could use as a weapon, but his thought process kept being interrupted by the woman repeatedly coming at him.
Teddy rolled around the floor away from her approaches, quickly processing his surroundings. Before he'd settled on a course of action, he saw security approaching and, for once, he was happy to see armed guards in uniform. He stopped rolling and lay flat on his back, waiting for the guards to take the woman away. But they came for him, too. He saw the Tasers just before he felt them, and then he was finally asleep.
ÓI wasnÕt attacking him, I was trying to wake him,Ó Teddy heard a woman say in clear English.
He opened his eyes and saw he was in a brightly lit small office that looked like a bathroom with all the fixtures removed. An enormous man in a pristine white security uniform with thick black hair and a thin, drooping moustache sat behind a desk with a gold nameplate that read sergeant lam. The woman who had been attacking him was standing in front of Sergeant Lam, waving her arms dramatically.
"Your hand-to-hand combat is as good as mine," Teddy said, without thinking.
"You're a movie producer and I'm a secretary," the woman said, spinning toward Teddy, giving him a meaningful look. "I wouldn't say either of us should be good at hand-to-hand combat."
This woman clearly knew more about Teddy than he was comfortable with.
Sergeant Lam sighed and gripped the sides of his desk tightly. Teddy watched the man's knuckles drain of color. When Sergeant Lam finally spoke, his words were precise.
"Fighting in the lounges is forbidden," Lam said.
Teddy cringed at the word forbidden. It sounded so dramatic and ridiculous. He just wanted to get back to L.A. and to the two lives he led that nowadays rarely involved hand-to-hand combat that wasn't staged.
"I'm sorry, sir. I haven't been sleeping well and my emotions got the better of me," Teddy said.
Sergeant Lam groaned but didn't say anything.
"I'm a movie producer," Teddy continued, "and I've been working on an action movie that has a lot of-"
"I don't care. Leave now. No more fighting."
Teddy didn't need to be told twice to leave and was out of the office and almost back to the lounge before he heard the woman yelling his name.
"Leave me alone," Teddy said.
"Peter B...
Teddy Fay just wanted to sleep. He'd never had trouble sleeping, even in war zones and on the trail of high-profile targets. But a series of Hollywood scouting meetings across three continents in seven days in his identity as movie producer Billy Barnett had done him in.
He was in the first-class lounge at the Hong Kong airport waiting for the final leg of his flight back to Los Angeles, when he felt someone approaching. He ignored his instincts and closed his eyes tighter. When the sensation of being watched wouldn't go away, he opened his eyes just in time to see a face leaning in toward him.
In one motion, Teddy rolled off the leather couch he'd been curled up on and shot his right elbow out toward the face in front of him. When he hit the ground, he was fully awake and expected that to be the end of it. But the person was still there. It was an Asian woman with hard, beautiful features and a lithe frame. She took a step toward him and stretched out her hand. He swatted at her hand as he stood up, but instead of pulling away, she engaged with his hand and tugged his arm.
As Teddy fell toward the woman, he spun around so his back was facing her and dropped into a less than graceful version of the splits. He snapped his right leg back at the woman and swept her legs out from underneath her. Again, he expected that to be the end of it. If this woman was a thief looking for a quick score from a sleeping tourist, Teddy had made it very clear he was not an easy target. Since it was the middle of the night, there were only a few other people around, and all were absorbed in their own business. Maybe she would go away and pick a new victim.
Or maybe she wasn't trying to rob him. Maybe she was trying to kill him.
As far as Teddy knew, the short list of people looking to kill Billy Barnett had been taken care of back in Los Angeles. Was she there for Teddy? The list of people wanting to kill Teddy was more robust, but he wasn't traveling under that name and he'd taken great care to keep Teddy in the shadows as much as possible.
He never carried a gun when he was traveling on Centurion Studios business, and that had rarely been a problem. Now he was looking around the minimal furnishings of the lounge area to see if there was anything he could use as a weapon, but his thought process kept being interrupted by the woman repeatedly coming at him.
Teddy rolled around the floor away from her approaches, quickly processing his surroundings. Before he'd settled on a course of action, he saw security approaching and, for once, he was happy to see armed guards in uniform. He stopped rolling and lay flat on his back, waiting for the guards to take the woman away. But they came for him, too. He saw the Tasers just before he felt them, and then he was finally asleep.
ÓI wasnÕt attacking him, I was trying to wake him,Ó Teddy heard a woman say in clear English.
He opened his eyes and saw he was in a brightly lit small office that looked like a bathroom with all the fixtures removed. An enormous man in a pristine white security uniform with thick black hair and a thin, drooping moustache sat behind a desk with a gold nameplate that read sergeant lam. The woman who had been attacking him was standing in front of Sergeant Lam, waving her arms dramatically.
"Your hand-to-hand combat is as good as mine," Teddy said, without thinking.
"You're a movie producer and I'm a secretary," the woman said, spinning toward Teddy, giving him a meaningful look. "I wouldn't say either of us should be good at hand-to-hand combat."
This woman clearly knew more about Teddy than he was comfortable with.
Sergeant Lam sighed and gripped the sides of his desk tightly. Teddy watched the man's knuckles drain of color. When Sergeant Lam finally spoke, his words were precise.
"Fighting in the lounges is forbidden," Lam said.
Teddy cringed at the word forbidden. It sounded so dramatic and ridiculous. He just wanted to get back to L.A. and to the two lives he led that nowadays rarely involved hand-to-hand combat that wasn't staged.
"I'm sorry, sir. I haven't been sleeping well and my emotions got the better of me," Teddy said.
Sergeant Lam groaned but didn't say anything.
"I'm a movie producer," Teddy continued, "and I've been working on an action movie that has a lot of-"
"I don't care. Leave now. No more fighting."
Teddy didn't need to be told twice to leave and was out of the office and almost back to the lounge before he heard the woman yelling his name.
"Leave me alone," Teddy said.
"Peter B...
