A fake mystic scams her way into a "home cleansing" job and gets way more than she bargained for.
This short story (60 pages) was originally published in the 2014 anthology Rogues, edited by George R.R. Martin and now has been published as a stand-alone title.
Perhaps my favorite part of this book was that you don't know what you're in for: Is this going to be serious or funny? About the supernatural, or a crime? The back says, "You like ghost stories?" Yes, please! But we're not really given any other clues.
It begins with a hand job - or more accurately, approximately 23,546 hand jobs. Our narrator grabs you from page one, and you're captivated by her tale. Amazing!
Showing posts with label fraud. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fraud. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Lost At Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries by Jon Ronson
New age zealots, the Alaskan townspeople who write Santa's return letters, and a horrifyingly large number of people who go missing from cruise ships - these are just a few of the interesting people you'll learn about in this book of stand-alone essays by British reporter Jon Ronson.
Ronson is a freelance journalist who gets to pursue crazy stories and fantastical personalities. He made a bit of money when a previous book, The Men Who Stare At Goats, was made into a movie starring George Clooney, so in these tales he travels the world and hunts down bizarre and unbelievable characters. Most of this volume's articles were previously published in The Guardian.
Many of the stories are funny and heartbreaking at the same time. Several of the people he meets would incite anger - if they weren't ultimately such sad, pathetic souls at the core of it: he takes a cruise with celebrity psychic Sylvia Browne, he hangs out backstage with the Insane Clown Posse, he gets profiled by the consumer target marketing company Experian, and he meets a guy who split atoms in his kitchen.
It's a fun book, but Ronson avoids drawing any real conclusions - you're left to ponder your own thoughts on the matter, in the end.
Ronson is a freelance journalist who gets to pursue crazy stories and fantastical personalities. He made a bit of money when a previous book, The Men Who Stare At Goats, was made into a movie starring George Clooney, so in these tales he travels the world and hunts down bizarre and unbelievable characters. Most of this volume's articles were previously published in The Guardian.
Many of the stories are funny and heartbreaking at the same time. Several of the people he meets would incite anger - if they weren't ultimately such sad, pathetic souls at the core of it: he takes a cruise with celebrity psychic Sylvia Browne, he hangs out backstage with the Insane Clown Posse, he gets profiled by the consumer target marketing company Experian, and he meets a guy who split atoms in his kitchen.
It's a fun book, but Ronson avoids drawing any real conclusions - you're left to ponder your own thoughts on the matter, in the end.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen
Have I mentioned how much I love Carl Hiaasen?
This time, two guys each fight "progress" that is destroying their little corners of paradise - one a former cop in Florida with an illegal, unfinished McMansion next door, the other a Bahamian whose beach is sold out from under him and developed.
Stir that together with a sexy coroner, lots of hungry sharks, a scary voodoo queen, an angry monkey (who was in Pirates of the Caribbean with Johnny Depp), bad seafood, and a little Medicare fraud and you've got another fantastic, truth-is-stranger-than-fiction Hiaasen novel.
The action is fast-paced, the dialog snappy, and the hurricane imminent. Hiaasen's books are always full of pop culture references, and this one's par for the course; you might argue that Hiaasen's not really breaking any new ground here, but I've yet to bog down in a dull moment or yawn at the antics. He keeps the story moving, twisting in the wind, and I still find myself barking out unexpected laughter.
Highly recommended!
This time, two guys each fight "progress" that is destroying their little corners of paradise - one a former cop in Florida with an illegal, unfinished McMansion next door, the other a Bahamian whose beach is sold out from under him and developed.
Stir that together with a sexy coroner, lots of hungry sharks, a scary voodoo queen, an angry monkey (who was in Pirates of the Caribbean with Johnny Depp), bad seafood, and a little Medicare fraud and you've got another fantastic, truth-is-stranger-than-fiction Hiaasen novel.
The action is fast-paced, the dialog snappy, and the hurricane imminent. Hiaasen's books are always full of pop culture references, and this one's par for the course; you might argue that Hiaasen's not really breaking any new ground here, but I've yet to bog down in a dull moment or yawn at the antics. He keeps the story moving, twisting in the wind, and I still find myself barking out unexpected laughter.
Highly recommended!
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