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.

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.

Sometimes it's not about justice or even doing the right thing. Sometimes it's just about getting even. Keith Szarabajka brings this complicated story to life, playing the parts of very different men and women who are all out to get rich. His icy portrayal of the sexy-but-dead-inside Vee is so good it's almost scary. She works with Glenn, a disbarred attorney. Glenn is fresh out of prison after serving time for a multimillion dollar investment fraud. By a twist of fate, he runs into another ex-con who has a plan to rip off an unscrupulous millionaire, and it's almost legal. In between all the grifts and grab, listeners find there is a lot of love at the run-down hotel in the mountains that the gang tries to pass off as a site for a casino. M.S. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine