Investigators Callie James and Cash Logan are back in action to locate a stolen Venezuelan fortune in Weissbourd’s latest series entry.
This fourth novel starring professional and romantic partners Cash and Callie is a high-stakes thriller that journeys to the glittering shores of Miami and the shadowy corridors of global finance and corruption. In a gripping prologue, a journalist, Luis, comes to his cousin Alvaro’s South Beach nightclub with a flash drive containing a photo that may be connected to the theft of $350 million from Venezuela’s military. Within hours, Luis is dead; Alvaro’s wife, Sara, is brutally attacked; and Cash, who’s Sara’s father, and Callie are drawn back into an investigative career they thought they’d left behind. Soon, they discover the stolen money has been funneled into Florida real estate developments through lawyer Alberto Leon and his client, Stanley White. Cash and Callie’s team includes Cash’s daughter, Sara, and two trusted allies, the Macher and Andre. Together, along with a Miami police detective named Rafael, they unravel a conspiracy involving international crime, betrayal, greed, and power. By the novel’s end, the team has suffered emotional loss at the hands of a violent adversary who employs arson, kidnappings and murder. An epilogue and afterword wrap up the fates of the characters, including an unexpected twist that has one of the main villains on the loose again. Weissbourd’s background as a film producer is on full display in a novel that often feels cinematic in scope. Scenes alternate between moments of explosive violence and intimate family reflection, giving emotional weight to the constant peril. Each scene unfolds with dialogue-driven tension and richly textured locales; Miami’s nightlife and South Beach’s vivid elegance serve as vibrant backdrops; one safehouse is a “lively, art-deco building” decked out in “lots of pink, aqua blue, and bright yellow.” In the end, the novel is about the persistence of hope in the face of overwhelming darkness. Weissbourd’s latest installment shows himself to be a master of sophisticated suspense, and readers will hope that Callie and Cash have many adventures to come.
A thrilling but deeply human tale of international intrigue.
Hope Dies Last by Burt Weissbourd is a pulse-pounding thriller that leaves you turning the pages, thanks to the unpredictable plot and the never-ending action that moves the story forward. Sara and Alvaro are drawn into a deadly conspiracy when a shocking photo hints at a connection to a $350 million Venezuelan military heist. What starts as a surprise visit from a cousin with a secret quickly spirals into violence, leaving Sara hospitalized and their young son terrified. Dead bodies begin to mount, and the couple turns to Sara’s father, Cash—an ex-operative with a lethal skill set and a network of allies. Together, they must unravel a web of offshore shell companies, networks, and powerful enemies determined to keep their secrets buried. From Miami to international networks of corruption, the race against time reveals a family’s courage to unravel deception. Perfect for fans of The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides and The Gray Man series by Mark Greaney, this relentless, resonant thriller explores how far some will go to protect their secrets—and what it takes to fight back.
Burt Weissbourd knows how to keep readers enrapt, and I got more than I expected in this crime thriller with complex characters and a plot that is taut and tangled. I enjoy crisp writing that balances descriptive prose with exceptionally written dialogue, and this book delivers that. The short sentences, timely paragraph breaks, and short chapters with cliffhangers make it hard to put this one down. But there is more: you’ll appreciate the humor, the quick pacing, and the sophistication in character development. Hope Dies Last masterfully explores characterization, thematic development, and conflict through a cast of vivid, morally complex characters. Callie and Cash make you think about what it means to be psychologically strong and determined, and about their resourcefulness and their willingness to confront danger head-on, like their daring plan to kidnap Ruben to leverage Stanley White’s interests. I am left in awe. Thematic threads of greed, betrayal, and justice are cleverly woven into the story. The layered conflict, complex characters, and exceptional prose are among the elements that make this novel a must-read.
I read Burt Weissbourd’s “Hope Dies Last” with the same anticipation as his prior novels. I had no question that I would be highly entertained from beginning to end. This latest action novel doesn’t disappoint. I love the premise. Here you have a tightly woven sophisticated family with an unconditional circle of devoted friends. Nothing out of the ordinary this, except that instead of doing what most families do, (pleasant run of the mill activities and leisurely travels to interesting destinations), they get unfailingly mixed up with high stake deadly adventures of international intrigue both financial and political – enough to give a seasoned CIA or MI6 agent a heart attack before lunch.
Mr. Weissbourd, being a man of the world himself, sprinkles his narrative with details stemming from his personal knowledge of great cuisine and even better drink from Paris to Seattle by way of the Caribbean and other world coordinates. The characters are both colorful and interesting to the bone; my favorites are The Macher and the main couple. Mr. Weissbourd was, formerly, a Hollywood film producer; and one can reads that background in his narrative style. This is a perfect book for adrenaline deficit sufferers; it, as well as his other novels, could easily be turned into a movie.
KIRKUS INDIE