Book Review: Against the Odds by Mara Jacobs (Anna Dawson Book 1)

     Johanna is a professional gambler, and has done well for herself, Ben, and Lor in Vegas. Other than occasionally doing jobs for Vince to pay off a debt she has managed to stay out of trouble. That is until someone kills one of the Corporation, Jimmy. Poor Ben is beside himself, and with Gus being targeted next the police are in a race to find who is after the boys. Detective Jack is on the case and believes it is a revenge ploy. Between Anna and Jack can they solve this case before their demons get the best of them and those that remain of the corporation meet a similar fate?

    I got this book on impulse from Amazon in January of 2020. I didn't know this eBook was about gambling at the time as I have a bad habit of choosing books based on their covers instead of synopsis sometimes, but I really liked this book. I can't say that I understood half of the sports information as I don't know anything at all about sports. If I did it probably would have increased my enjoyment. As it was I mostly skimmed those parts of the book to get back to the murder mystery. 

    When we were getting more details throughout the story I have to admit that I suspected the reason why, but I didn't suspect the who. For some reason I thought the result knew one of them was the reason and was picking the Corporation off one by one as a result. The person I thought was the result wasn't either, instead they were just a random character in the story. I am glad it is who it is, but still. I am not sure if I will read more of this series in the future just because I don't understand sports. If I do I hope that I see more of Jack in the future. He was such a sweetheart and I completely understood where he was coming from. 

    He wasn't my favorite character, though. That spot is reserved for Ben. Who doesn't love the adorable old man who takes the younger generation under his wing? His "Hannah" would definitely have been lost over the years without him. I hope he finds out what we found out eventually. I think he will handle it well and it will give him something that he has always wanted. 

    If you are looking for a murder mystery filled with revenge and vices look no further. I seen some other reviews saying there were cliff-hangers, but I don't feel that way. It would be possible for the book to end where it is at and not be left wanting. Sure all of the characters don't know everything, but the same thing often happens in real life so it could end here without issue. This book is available for free on Amazon by clicking here.