Buy Back

April 5, 2010
Set in the New York City art world, this well-paced caper novel from Wiprud (Feelers
) will likely appeal to Elmore Leonard fans. Brooklynite Tom Davin works in the morally ambiguous field of what he terms “corporate recovery,” returning stolen paintings, documents, and collectibles to their owners via their insurance companies for a finder's fee without getting the law involved. Tom locates those who took the valuables, then negotiates a price with the insurers. When Tom crosses the line into criminality by arranging for the theft of three paintings from Brooklyn's Whitbread Museum in order to sell them back to the insurance company, the scheme goes awry—his thieves lose the paintings to some other crooks. As Tom tries to figure out who ripped off his crew, he narrowly avoids getting killed several times. The baffling abduction of four cats that Tom's ex-girlfriend abandoned raises the stakes. Readers will want to see more of the captivating Tom Davin.

Starred review from May 1, 2010
Art theft, catnapping and other seriously negative energy on the mean streets of Brooklyn.

Tommy Davin is in corporate recovery. Insurance companies hire him to recover stolen property, usually by giving the people who stole it a fraction of its value so that the insurers can return it to its rightful owners instead of paying out a claim. You may think Tommy's just one step removed from a fence, but the system normally leaves everybody happy. Sometimes, though, it needs tweaking. When Tommy's live-in showgirl Yvette takes off for Vegas, leaving him with four cats and a mountain of debt to Vince Scanlon, he hires three buddies to steal some paintings he can turn around and recover for the Whitbread Museum. All of which would still be fine if the paintings weren't hijacked before the thieves made it across the street. Now Tommy's got the cops on his case, Vinny breathing down his neck and Gustav, a Russian in love with Yvette, breaking down his door, snatching the cats and leaving notes professing his eternal devotion to Yvette and his hostility toward Tommy. Worse, everybody Tommy talks to about the hijacking seems to get shot in the middle of the conversation because, as Tommy says about one hapless victim,"his chi was compromised."

Wiprud (Feelers, 2009, etc.) whips up an unbeatable mix of violence, double-crossing, tantric-breathing exercises and deadpan aphorisms:"The truth is like a cat. If you want it to sit on your lap, you just have to stay long enough in the same room."

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

Starred review from June 1, 2010
In a comic caper that could have stepped out of an Elmore Leonard or Lawrence Block novel, the theft of three paintings from a Brooklyn museum goes awry when the thieves are in turn robbed by another crew of criminals. Insurance investigator Tommy Davin, who had arranged the theft to pay off some debt, is hired by the insurance company to find the paintings. Then a sniper starts targeting people who are connected through business with Davin. Worse, someone has kidnapped the four cats that Tommy's ex-girlfriend had left with him. VERDICT Not only is Tommy Davin a mensch, but he remains cool and rational as his world explodes. Wiprud, the author of the acclaimed "Feelers" and a series about taxidermist Garth Carson ("Pipsqueak, Stuffed"), has created another memorable protagonist in one of the most exciting crime fiction novels this year. Let's hope we see more of Tommy Davin.

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2010
Tommy Davin recovers stolen art for insurance companies, but his ill-advised love for a Las Vegas chorus girl has left him owing a dangerous Brooklyn loan shark more money than he can repay. So he commissions an art theft that goes wrong, and the insurer hires him to recover the missing paintings. Soon, the people he approaches in his investigation are being killed by a sniper, and Tommy may be nextif the loan shark doesnt get him first. Like Wipruds excellent Feelers (2009), the setting is Brooklyn. Countless writers have used the borough as a locale, but few invest it with the kind of flaky denizens Wiprud creates. Tommy is a giant who worries about his karma, uses tantric yoga exercises to manage stress, and fancies Latin bands led by Xavier Cugat and Perez Prado. His barber is an ancient Italian who reminisces about slitting customers throats for the Black Hand. His masseuse, Delilah, dispenses common-sense psychotherapy and preaches the power of possibility. His assailant is a lovelorn Russian assassin. Buy Back is a strange, entertaining, comic brew.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)