THE BIG GET EVEN – Paul Di Filippo
Blackstone Publishing
ISBN-10: 1-504-78391-3
ISBN-13: 978-1-504-78391-0
March 2018
Suspense

Glen McClinton is out of a two-year prison sentence where he served time for defrauding his clients. It gave him time to withdraw from the drugs he used, but he is no longer a lawyer or an investor. He is free though, which means a lot, and he's now living in his uncle's house while towing the line for his parole officer. One night the car in front of him remains in place. He gets out and finds the driver passed-out. He calls emergency responders. Of course the police show up, too, and have many questions for him, but he is in no way involved in a drug overdose. Still he feels it a close call.

Sometime later Stan Hasso shows up at the house to thank Glen for saving his life and offers Glen an opportunity to make money off the scumbag land speculator and developer for whom Stan worked and went to prison for arson. He knows Glen is not as penniless as he lets on, and they can use that money to scam the scammer for money; lots of money. It takes some convincing, but Glen finally decides to participate.

Of course two ex-cons need a bit of help to pull this off and have two women to help them. Yet chancy deals, even well planned ones, often make unexpected turns, which is exactly what happens. While there is some romance in the story, it is mostly about getting even and comes with an unforeseeable ending.

Robin Lee.