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International bestselling and multi-award-winning thriller author Avanti Centrae is an adrenaline junkie who drives too fast around curvy mountain roads and loves to tell stories that make readers' hearts pound faster. She's honored to have won fourteen literary awards. Her smart, adrenaline-laced action thrillers have hit the Top 100 bestseller lists in the United States, Canadian, and Australian Amazon Kindle stores as well as the Barnes and Noble Nook store. She's appeared on multiple radio shows, including NPR, and has been featured in dozens of podcasts and interviews to discuss her trademark blend of thrills. Mystery and Suspense Magazine, Authority Magazine, Killer Nashville, and Thrive Global have published her articles and she was mentioned in Newsweek. She finds inspiration from her father, who served as a U.S. marine corporal in Okinawa, gathering military intelligence. Avanti graduated from Purdue University with honors and has worked across a range of professions, from lifeguard and raft guide to Silicon Valley IT executive. When not traveling the world or hiking in the Sierra mountains, she's writing her next thriller in Northern California, helped by her family and distracted by her German shepherds. If you'd like to hear about fan specials, such as giveaways and deleted scenes, visit her website. Drop her a line, grab some gear, or sign up for her quarterly-ish newsletter.
Reviewed by Divine Zape for Readers' Favorite
In The Picasso Job by Avanti Centrae, Dakota Black, a convicted felon who'd had hopes of marrying his high school sweetheart and joining the FBI, is faced with a sharp turn in life. He finds himself in Folsom State Prison, mixed up with the cunning art thief Bijan “Renoir” Reza and Cody Winters, the vengeful sibling of a man Dakota accidentally killed. An adrenaline-fueled escape culminates in a daring heist to recover a stolen Picasso painting worth five million dollars. The stakes are heightened with betrayals and moral dilemmas as allegiances shift and loyalty is tested in the escalating tensions of their crime spree. Special Agent Elizabeth Everett is on their heels, determined to catch and bring them in.
In The Picasso Job, each character has dark motives and past traumas. Dakota is at the heart of this thriller, both a flawed hero and an unwilling participant in a web of crime driven by desperation—a man haunted by guilt over his past yet yearning for redemption. Reza represents the duality of charisma and ruthlessness, revealing complexities that challenge Dakota’s notions of right and wrong. Motivated by a thirst for revenge, Cody Winters injects additional conflict into the trio’s dynamics, as his vendetta pits him against Dakota, culminating in a grudge threatening their subterranean escape. The setting oscillates between the gritty confines of a maximum-security prison and the liberating yet perilous world outside. The tension builds through every page. The writing is excellent, and Avanti Centrae deftly explores resonant themes of justice, the search for redemption, and the moral ambiguity of theft. With twists that keep readers guessing, this book delivers great entertainment with quirky characters, a tight plot, gorgeous writing, and action-packed scenes.
