One of the pleasing things about this book is that it’s in the Star Wars universe, but contains almost ZERO mention of the Force. In fact, the only use of a lightsaber is used as a tool and not in the traditional sense. This of course makes complete sense because it takes place just after the Battle of Yavin IV and the destruction of the first Death Star.
Timothy Zahn proves again why he is the master of Star Wars storytelling. The locations may be unfamiliar, but you get a true understanding of the way things are because of his descriptions. His characters are three dimensional, and his action is suspenseful and fun to read.
This particular story revolves around Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Lando Calrissian. Han loses his money gained from helping Luke in the Death Star trench, and is looking for a score to get Jabba off his back. He gets his wish in the form of a guy who has been wronged by The Black Sun crime organization. He wants Han to break into one of the generals houses and steal back his credits lost to this organization. They are locked in a safe in the interior of the house.
So Han puts together a team to extract the money from the vault. As a matter of fact, he puts a team together that, including he and Chewie, equal 11 (eleven). Was this a coincednece? I think not! They are robbing a vault ala Oceans Eleven, and that’s exactly what this tale is. It’s Oceans Eleven in the Star Wars universe, and it works so much better than you might think.
The villains are well thought out, and aren’t your usual “sith” from typical Star Wars novels, the heroes are more anti-heroes and you can’t help but enjoy reading them. I hope Bink and Tavi show up in more novels during this time period.
There is even a twist that I didn’t see coming from a mile away!! And if you guess the twist, you cheated and read the end before the book 
Check it out, even if you aren’t a Star Wars EU kind of person, it’s a fun ride!
Pick up the book here:
