A money-hungry grifter, an egotistical card counter and a rage-prone casino security guard team up to swindle the head honchos of Las Vegas out of tens of millions of dollars. It almost sounds like the setup for a joke; if so, the punchline is that THE DRUPERMAN TAPES is one of the best thrillers of the year.

New in paperback, the book takes its title from the target of the extortionists, Galaxy hotel/casino head Emmett Druperman, who doubles as the head of the super-secretive Las Vegas Casino Association and the town’s unofficial most notorious sonofabitch. One day he receives an unmarked package containing a Dunes poker chip, a strangely worded threat and a videotape with a clip from SEVEN – the combination of the latter two suggesting the group plans to poison someone at the Galaxy to make its power known. Druperman immediately involves his security chief, former LVPD cop Steve Forrester, who obviously picked the wrong week to quit smoking.

Forrester isn’t sure whether to take the threat seriously, and if so, to what degree. When a gambler succumbs to a fatal dose of Spanish Fly, however, it’s evident the group isn’t playing games. Their second package, found at the scene of the crime, warns of an impending electrocution. And as for the third and the fourth … well, let’s just say the ante is upped. Significiantly.

In any other thriller, the criminals may be faceless. But Goodger plays his cards correctly by stopping the action before any crime is committed and jumping back six months to show how the terrorist trio came together and why, allowing us to see them as characters rather than caricatures. Though we follow their steps of their sinister plot, we aren’t made aware of their true intentions until Druperman and Forrester are, making it all the more tightly wound.

As colorful, dangerous and addictive as the city in which it takes place, THE DRUPERMAN TAPES is a stellar achievement for Goodger, for whom this is – quite remarkably, given its polish – a debut novel. If Michael Connelly’s recent MURDER IN VEGAS anthology left you longing for something more long-form, your wish has been granted. Like all good crime stories, it’s suspenseful throughout, thanks to a crafty plot and Goodger’s lively writing style. It’s all also quite funny, without growing unrealistic or absurd. A subplot about Forrester’s budding romance with a Galaxy floor supervisor is a little forced, but not to the point where it becomes a detriment. With its many fine twists and good-natured humor, DRUPERMAN is a caper that reads in such a way it should be called OCEAN’S THREE, except you won’t be rooting for the bad guys, but Goodger himself.