Money for Nothing

This memoir describes how hapless overspending lottery winners are lured into contracts that pay them lump-sum amounts in return for portions of their multi-year payouts. It's a predatory sales operation with huge commissions that Edward Ugel says he mastered through his willingness to schmooze with and lie to clients. Blind ambition and a gambling addiction fueled his productivity. The author's story is intensified by the contradictions between his ruthlessness with clients, his guilt over his profession, and his big-picture knowledge of gambling culture. Narrator Arthur Morey gives an exceptional interpretation of the author's evocative writing. He connects equally well with the tension of the sales encounter, the ironies in the clients' sad stories, and the ribald self-disclosure that make this exposé so entertaining. T.W. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine