Con Ed

April 30, 2007
That voice! It sounds so... familiar, somehow. Dietz is best known as a voiceover artist, so hearing him read Klein’s comic novel of con and countercon will jog vague memories of movie trailers and commercials half-buried in the deepest recesses of memory. Dietz has fun with the world-weary cadences of longtime hustler Kip Largo, an ex-convict who’s seen every trick in the book and still gets himself snarled in what may be the biggest con of all. The only downside is that Dietz has decided to read every female character as a breathy, simpering buffoon—a questionable aesthetic choice that interrupts the flow of the reading each time a woman appears. The remainder of the novel trots along at a brisk clip, and Dietz ambles along right next to it, hardly breaking a sweat. Simultaneous release with the Warner hardcover (Reviews, Jan. 8).

January 8, 2007
At the start of Klein's amusing debut, one-time con man Kip Largo, who's been working at a dry cleaner since completing an eight-year stretch in prison for fraud, is intrigued when the gorgeous wife of Silicon Valley billionaire Edward Napier asks him to help her steal her husband's money, but not intrigued enough to follow through—at least not until he discovers that his not-bright son, Toby, owes several hundred thousand dollars to the Russian mob. Deciding that this is his chance to finally do right by his family, Kip sets about organizing a large-scale swindle to lure in Napier, all too aware that if he fails to pull it off, he and Toby (and the con's other participants) will all be killed. While the plot and characters tend to be by the numbers, the author's background information on how cons work is enormously entertaining.

January 1, 2007
Kip Largo is a con man. Recently released from prison and stripped of resources, family, and self-esteem, he's working a menial job and trying to keep his nose clean. Then he meets Lauren Napier, the wife of a billionaire hotelier, who offers him a proposition. She wants to leave her husband but is trapped by a complicated prenuptial agreement. In exchange for a handsome fee, she wants Kip to fleece her husband of his fortune and give it to her. At first he refuses, but when he finds that his twentysomething son is into the Russian mob for a hefty gambling debt, he relents and accepts her offer. After Kip launches the scam, he suddenly finds that he is being tailed by the FBI, the Russian mob, and some other unsavory types who want him dead. The intricate descriptions of the various con schemes are a bit tedious, but there are enough twists and turns in this story to keep the reader firmly engaged and totally surprised at the end. One of two "first novels" by Klein to be published nearly simultaneously on two continents ("Switchback" will appear in the U.K.), "Con Ed "is slick, clever, and thoroughly entertaining. Recommend it to readers of Donald Westlake; for all fiction collections.Susan Clifford Braun, Aerospace Corp. Lib., El Segundo, CA

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from December 1, 2006
Who's scamming whom? That's a persistent question in " Con Ed." Once-rich con-man Kip Largo is going straight, living small, and making $10 per hour in a dry-cleaning store after doing eight years for wire fraud. Life is dull, but Kip wants it that way, until his son Toby shows up, on the run from the Russian Mob. Kip needs a big score to save Toby, and a timely proposal from the stunning young wife of a dangerous Las Vegas casino owner provides him with a target for a grand scam. " Con Ed" is a brisk, clever, and charming page-turner. Most chapters begin with a short lesson on the art of the con, and the whole book is full of knowledgeable observations on the culture of Silicon Valley, e.g., the very best programmers, "code Marines," are freelancers who have agents to negotiate their contracts. Kip, who is conflicted about his relationship with his con-man father, his failed marriage, and his concern for his wastrel son, is a wonderful character who ruminates on his fated return to crime in vaguely Buddhist terms. " Con Ed "is a winner, and crime fans should remember the name Matthew Klein.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)