Sunset Key

Letty Dobesh Chronicles #2

by Blake Crouch

Letty Dobesh is coming off a bender and hasn't had a job in months when she gets a very enticing offer. John Fitch, the ultrawealthy CEO of a major energy company, has recently been convicted of securities fraud. In four days he must report to a federal prison, where he will almost certainly spend the rest of his life. Fitch wants a female companion for his last night of freedom.
But Letty is no high-priced call girl, and this gig isn't about sex. The plan is to steal an original Van Gogh from Fitch's island retreat. A petty thief by trade, Letty has never had a shot at this kind of payout. It's certainly dangerous, but the money will set her up for life and allow her to regain custody of her young son. Besides, it's stealing from a very bad guy.
If all goes well, she'll be on Easy Street…but in Letty's life, all seldom goes well.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Crime, Mystery, Ebooks, Novella

141 pages, Paperback

First published March 31, 2013

About the author

Blake Crouch is a bestselling novelist and screenwriter. He is the author of the forthcoming novel, Dark Matter, for which he is writing the screenplay for Sony Pictures. His international-bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy was adapted into a television series for FOX, executive produced by M. Night Shyamalan, that was Summer 2015’s #1 show. With Chad Hodge, Crouch also created Good Behavior, the TNT television show starring Michelle Dockery based on his Letty Dobesh novellas. He has written more than a dozen novels that have been translated into over thirty languages and his short fiction has appeared in numerous publications including Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. Crouch lives in Colorado with his family.

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sunset Key is part of a series of novellas that feature Blake Crouch's all-time favorite character creation: Letty Dobesh. You may be familiar with this character from TNT's television series: Good Behavior. Sunset Key is a story that you haven't seen on the screen though. This one was psychotic and I absolutely loved it! The main twist is revealed about half way through and it was jaw-dropping for me. Everything is running smoothly as planned and then bam! Oh what a fun ride though! I was on the edge of my seat watching this play out and then a smaller but still impactful twist/turn is revealed again at the end. I don't know how they would ever be able to integrate this novella into the television series but I would love to see it. I'm a huge fan of all things resembling La Femme Nikita and this is a story that would fit in perfectly to a series like that. Check it out!

Note: I read this story as part of Blake Crouch's Kindle in Motion ebook: Good Behavior. Good Behavior comprises all three interlinked novellas (The Pain of Others, Sunset Key, and Grab), which together form a novel-length portrait of Letty Dobesh's character. I highly recommend this collection for fans of character-based thrillers.

[Dorian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A novella that packs a punch. Such a fun read.

[SUSAN *Nevertheless,she persisted* · Rating 4 out of 5]

Letty is a meth head,petty thief that is hired to do a job,with a payoff that would have her set for life.
Letty is to be the companion,for the evening,of a wealthy gentleman who will be going to a prison the next day. He defrauded millions of dollars from clients......Bernie Madoff anyone.
She is to take a boat to his private island,spend the day with him,charm him,drug him and steal a valuable painting worth millions.
The plan seems to going well until....well read it and find out, :).
I enjoyed this quick read but I was left wanting more. I enjoy the author's style of writing and his chracter development.

[kutingtin · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is season 2 lets go! ⚡️

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yes, this book is a "rapid reads" book. I did read it extremely fast right before bed. However this does not mean it is because I loved the book. I did like the book. I just never fully 100% committed to the characters. Letty, she was fine but I never really felt her desperation for pulling off the heist job. I wanted this in order for me to really feel like she needed this last job to really turn her life around. Also, from what I read and saw, she did not seem like a skilled thief. It is no wonder that she did not get caught sooner. The author it seemed tried to make Jack a likable guy but the way he did it, Jack came off more sleazy then he did likable. Also, I have to comment on the ending. So I read this book just to get to the ending and at this point I was half asleep. Both because I was laying in bed reading and also because this book was somewhat dull. However back to the ending. When I got to it and read it, I instantly woke up. Because I could not believe what I had just read. I was upset about the ending, it was not good.

[Zulfiya · Rating 3 out of 5]

A three star short read, and it exactly reflects what this little books is. It is either story nor novella; it is neither good nor bad; it is neither dull nor exciting: it is neither plausible nor improbable, a middle-of-the road read.

The characters are somewhat predictable, and we only have time to explore only one of them, and, of course - what a surprise - there is darkness in her past that haunts her for the rest of her life, and that darkness never lets her prosper or thrive.
The premise is somewhat interesting, and it does have the elements of noir, but the size of the "long short story" is not enough to develop characters, or plot, or atmosphere.

The ending also made my eyes roll a little bit, but it is always interesting to read about the hunter turning into prey and into a hunter again.

I am OK with Blake Crouch. He never actually blows my mind, but he is OK to read when I need to read something pacy. I like his sci-fi premise for his novels, and this time I dabbed my toes into his short fiction and of a different genre.

[Dhara Parekh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This took a nice delicious turn. I loved it. I know Blake Crouch is highly invested in Letty and it's one of his favorite characters but I am yet to see why. I did not find her special.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always love a good Blake Crouch story. Did not disappoint.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story in the Letty Dobesh series more than the first. She is an interesting character whose plans always seem to go awry. A fun, quick novella!

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Here's Johnny..."

"Sunset Key" is #2 on the Letty Dobesh hit list...oh, I mean hit parade. "The Pain of Others" is #1 and "Grab" is #3. These tales can be read out of order but definitely would be better to read in 1, 2, 3 order.

Letty heads to the Florida Keys this time for a huge heist, being hired by Javier to do the impossible. Sand, sunsets, sand sharks...ahh, I could almost smell the sea air as I read the story. As always, Crouch threw in some surprises along the way that I didn't see coming.

Superb characterization, exciting plotline - what more could you want? Well, maybe a full-length novel featuring Letty one of these days but for now I'm enjoying the heck out of these novellas.

[Shannon Rickert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a great book. I downloaded from Jasmine Library. I was on the edge of my seat and so could not stop reading this. This book is from the rapid read collection!!!

[Patrick Stirling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exactly what I expected! Crouch writes fun, fast page turners. I've read a couple of his books, Dark Matter and Pines; both were page turners but the writing was thin at best, totally plot driven, and overall somewhat unsatisfying. OTOH this book was much more enjoyable, perhaps because his writing style suits a short book better. It's just an episode in the life of our protagonist, who's a kick-ass woman, which makes it even better! She's not super powered or a ninja or anything, just smart and a survivor. I read this because I liked the TV series ("Good Behavior") with Michelle Dockery. Javier is not nearly as nice in the book, which is much more believable than the TV. One of the few problems with the TV series in fact.

[Jim Razinha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not normally my genre of choice, I still liked this one. Unfamiliar with the television series based on Letty, I looked it up on IMDB before reading the first novella and didn't recognize the name of a character that was in all 20 episodes of both seasons. Turns out Javier was in here.

I was surprised that Crouch called a 1907 bottle of champagne "wine" (yes, technically, champagne is a sparkling wine, but ...) And that a character of his was able to get a Macallan 1926 for only forty thousand dollars (last sale, yes, ten years after this was written, was $2.7 million).

And I got confused when Letty's watch said 7:45 but later "the hour and minute hands glowed in the dark. Seven thirty." Still, the story was interesting and had a nice twist near the end.

[Janina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having just finished watching the show, the changes are very interesting, especially how they morphed the book Javier character with Arnold (was that his name). Gotta say that I enjoy the TV version a bit more, because a character like Letty is just more fun and interesting when she has a counterpart, they balanced each other out so well in the show.
Nevertheless still highly enjoyed this short novella, reminded me a bit of the movie Ready Or Not (which obviously came after this).

[Debra Daniels-Zeller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book in the Good Behavior trilogy and Letty and Javier get together again for a big score. Things go askew and some of the characters aren't who they seem. A lot of switchbacks and surprises in this short novella, enough to keep me turning pages. The characters intrigued me. Letty Dobesh is one of the best female characters in modern fiction. I didn't see the TV series but I love reading her stories.

[Ryan Matheson · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the most part this is an intense thrill ride. With Leddy being a very interesting character and a few great twists and turns. I have throughly enjoyed all of Crouches early novellas and would say for sure he’s still batting a 1.000. But because I’m a sci-fi guy I still prefer that as my genre of choice.

[Andrew Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't realize it was a short story. Even when the story ended, I was left wanting more.

As a result, I will look for other Blake Crouch novels to see if the engaging writing style exists in his other works.

[Don Gorman · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3). I saw this available as an e book and I grabbed it. I had no idea it was more of a Novell or a long, short story than a regular book. The Letty Dobesh tales have been lots of fun, and so unlike Crouch’s other stuff. I really enjoy his work. Good stuff.

[Ame ^_^ · Rating 4 out of 5]

a page turned. well-paced. very different from the TV show.

[Jules (Never enough time to read) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sunset Key was even better than the first Letty novella, I'm looking forward to the next one.

[Ron Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick enjoyable read.

[Howell Murray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent suspense story.

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read and not bad at all. Had a good amount of suspense with a hint of twist! Just wished it was a little more detailed, but overall it was a good story. 3.5 stars.

[Britt Echols · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rich guy going to jail for rest of his life hires her to give him one last night of fun. She goes with the intent to steal a painting. Turns out he is having her to hunt and kill her. Decent story.

[Mira · Rating 4 out of 5]

In true Blake Crouch fashion, there is always a twist. That’s what I love about his books! I always end up surprised and not disappointed with how things turn out.

[Cori Arnold · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice little ditty.

[Nolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Letty Dobesh is hired to go to an island of a very wealthy man. Drug him and steal a painting. Get picked up on the other side of the island. What could possibly go wrong?

[Victor · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great little book. I am glad I found this author. I will read more by him.

[Lydia Kass · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like a book shot: great short story of Letty Dobesh doing a job for Javier that goes tit's up.

[Michele Letourneau · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5- solid quick little thriller