The Money Game - Michael A. Smith

The Money Game is an urban crime thriller in which the main characters are forced into a kidnapping/ransom plot that disrupts their individual plans to begin life anew. Marshon Johnson, gambling kingpin of the East Side, and the benevolent operator of a house of prostitution, had planned to relocate to an idyllic Caribbean island. There, he and his best friend, Richey Stanton, an unsuccessful actor, would establish an innovative gambling operation that includes a “private lottery.” Their lady friends have other ideas, however. Gail Thomas, a successful financial executive, wants Marshon to use his ill-begotten gains to become a respectable businessman. Richey’s significant other, Carmen Salazar, proposes that she and Richey revive their artistic dreams by forming a traveling entertainment troupe. Ace Semanski, a racist and psychopath, cleverly manipulates his new acquaintances to serve as “buffers” in a scheme he conceived while in prison. His other pawns include Kandie Givens, a needy single mother of three, and “Country” Long, a mentally challenged factory worker. As the kidnapping unfolds, it generates a vortex of violence, betrayal, death and confusion. The Money Game is a study of the critical influences that shape lives and life — childhood trauma, prejudice, cultural values, social pressures, career choices, love, hate, greed, hope, wisdom, fate, and pure luck.