| Company of Thieves by Gil Roscoe |
| (Kensington, $6.99, NV) ISBN 0-7582-0036-6 |
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Warren Allison, reformed (or so he thinks) con-artist, saving his money from his tedious night job to go to college, receives three strange phone calls in a row, inquiring about his granddaughter, claiming she is in a lot of trouble. Warren knows the calls can't be for him since he is only thirty-one and has no children, never mind grandchildren, but becomes intrigued with the third caller and agrees to meet William Block to sort the confusion out. The picture of the alleged granddaughter William shows Warren turns out to be Maggie, a former girlfriend, someone with whom Warren pulled off many scams and who was quite a talented con-artist in her own right.
Fueled by curiosity, but mostly by lust, Warren decides to get in touch with Maggie and hear her side of the story. Maggie, knowing Warren's weakness for her and money, offers him $10,000 for one month if he drops everything, leaves LA and comes out to Omaha to help her straighten out the accusations of Block. Without much hesitation or thought for his job or his new love interest, Warren packs his bags and drives to the airport where he brushes up on his scamming skills by figuring out how to get out of paying his long-term parking when he returns. Once safely in Omaha, Maggie makes a big show of being careful in case they are being followed or watched. After she makes Warren comfortable and glad to be back with her, she says she has a job that he can help with and make a lot of quick money, but they'll have to go to New Zealand. Lured once again by the promise of money and Maggie, Warren agrees and finds himself involved in a scam to steal five almost priceless coins from the Prime Minister's son. Once in New Zealand, things don't go as planned, but using a little ingenuity, Maggie comes up with an alternate plan, one that Warren doesn't like as much and one that makes him wonder who is really being scammed. Company of Thieves is a wonderfully delicious tale of scam or be scammed. The pace is very fast and it's told in such a way that it engages the reader completely from the first page. The reader may catch on to things more quickly than Warren, but then the fun becomes watching Warren plot his next move. Maggie is a deplorable human being who uses her sex appeal and the promise of money (and sex) to get what she wants, but readers may find themselves liking her more than they want to. Warren is a pathetic creature and more naïve than one might expect a con artist to be, yet he too is thoroughly enjoyable, especially when he digs in his heels and decides to do a little scamming of his own on the side. Readers might expect Warren to be more suspicious of Maggie and her motives early on, especially knowing her as he does. Company of Thieves is a fast-paced, completely enjoyable novel that will leave reader's wishing Warren's and Maggie's paths will cross once again.
--Jennifer Monahan Winberry |
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