The Big Get-Even

Starred review from January 22, 2018
Set somewhere in the American west, this clever thriller from Di Filippo (A Palazzo in the Stars) boasts a sophisticated scam story line. Glen McClinton, who used to be a “young, high-flying legal eagle,” landed behind bars after bilking clients of millions. After his release, Glen is directionless until Stan Hasso, a fellow ex-con who might have died of a drug overdose shortly after leaving prison if Glen hadn’t been there to intervene, approaches him with a tempting proposition. Stan did time for arson after being betrayed by the man who paid him to torch buildings, real estate mogul Barnaby Nancarrow. Stan proposes a partnership with Glen to fleece Nancarrow out of $20 million by convincing Nancarrow that he should pay big bucks for a piece of land Glen owns, Bigelow Junction, because a Vegas developer is going to build a casino on it and raise its value. Complications arise when Glen’s parole officer insists that his stated intention to reopen the motor lodge on the Bigelow Junction land be backed up by actual progress. Di Filippo, best known for his science fiction, proves equally adept at crime fiction. Fans of Ocean’s Eleven will find plenty to like. Agent: Richard Curtis, Richard Curtis Associates.

January 1, 2018
Wise men warn against seeking revenge. It will turn around and devour you. Di Filippo's large cast would agree that a life given over to getting even is dangerous, but it can be a great deal of fun. And there might be money in it. This engrossing mix of revenge tale and caper novel has for a narrator a man straight out of the hard-boiled tradition. Glen McClinton is a disbarred lawyer, a caught swindlera minor-league Madoff. He's out on parole when he saves the life of the real revenge monger, an arsonist who was shafted by a blowhard real-estate mogul. The arsonist pulls Glen into a scheme to tempt the mogul into overpaying for a beat-up resort. A computer whiz brought into the scheme would divert the money$20 millionto an offshore account. What sets this novel apartbesides the flowing writing and deadpan humoris the writer's sympathetic curiosity about his characters and the twist ending, which works a change on the old notion that con men are really best at conning each other.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

April 23, 2018
Actor Szarabajka’s husky, educated voice is a perfect match for con man and disbarred-lawyer Glen McClinton, the charming narrator of Di Filippo’s witty caper. The scam, devised by Stan Hasso, an ex-con Glen saved from a drug overdose, is an act of revenge against realtor Barnaby Nancarrow, who hired Stan, his boyhood pal, to burn down some of his properties and then turned Stan in. Glen and Stan’s plan is for Glen to buy the rundown town of Bigelow Junction and convince Nancarrow that it’s worth $20 million because of its proximity to the site for a proposed casino. Szarabajka’s Glen is a likable mixture of wise-guy sarcasm and occasional self-doubt. The actor toughens his deep rumbly voice for self-confident, quick-to-anger Stan, gives it a faux sophistication for Nancarrow, and ages it for Glen’s uncle Ralph. He sweetens it for Nelly, an innocent local beauty who, like everyone else in the town, believes Glen and Stan will bring new life to Bigelow Junction. Szarabajka adds a pleasing layer of affability to the antiheroes, making the audio version of Di Filippo’s brisk, well-structured comedy-thriller irresistible. A Blackstone hardcover.