Steven Jencks is a high school dropout and Korean War vet who came up with a system to beat the house at casinos and did so, amassing a fair amount of money. His interest in odds led him to an interest in statistics and then he puts together a really tight plan to rob a luxury hotel of all the guests' money and jewelry. To account for as many possible scenarios, random events and deviations from the plan as he can he does a lot of crunching with a computer.

Crichton takes his time bringing his cast of characters to the hotel, which is in Spain. Jencks's small team is a good one, each member having his act together and bringing specialized skills to the situation.

The plan is ambitious but solid.

Also at the hotel are a young college couple who are engaged but unhappy, a sex-crazed former exotic dancer and an older woman with a chauffeur and a secret.

Odds On is like a Men's Adventure Magazine story expanded to the length of a novel. In between the explaining of the plan and preparation for the robbery, we bounce between the characters and their various backstories and current developments, as well as numerous sex scenes, some involving marijuana, treated here as an insanely powerful drug.

The sex scenes are about as explicit as a mainstream book could be at the time, 1966, and presumably would have appealed to the prurient interests of many readers.

Naturally you expect the unexpected to derail the plans—Jencks himself used the computer to come up with as many responses to such things as possible—but what ends up happening is a genuine surprise and revealed only after a lot of suspense is generated.

The characters are all distinct and fleshed out beyond the requirements of the genre and it was pleasant to read. You already know if you like this sort of thing and if you do you'll like this one okay.

The first line is "The dynamite, neatly bundled in 'Happy Birthday' wrapping paper, lay casually on the back seat".