Book Review: Conned by Matthew Klein

In 2013, I was perusing a book store and came across No Way Back by Matthew Klein. I didn’t even read the blurb because I was hooked simply by reading the front cover. “They know everything. They control everyone. Even you.” I couldn’t resist. And even better, I read the book and loved it. Ever since, I’ve had the rest of his books on my Goodreads “Want to Read” list. So when I came across Conned (also known as Con Ed in some places) in a second-hand book store, I snapped it up.

Conned was Klein’s second book, published in 2007, so it’s nearly 15 years old now. The implausibly named Kip Largo (likely just so Klein can set up Key Largo jokes) has been out of prison for a year after serving a five-year sentence for what was essentially a pyramid scheme. He lives in a dump, works at a dry cleaner and hasn’t seen his now adult son Toby for a while. When Toby shows up and says he’s in trouble, Kip takes him at his word – the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree – but he doesn’t have any money and there’s nothing Kip can do about it. He’s trying to put his con days behind him and go straight.

Book Review: Hangman by Jack Heath

About 15 years ago, I saw Jack Heath at a writers’ festival when he was primarily known as a children’s and young adult writer. He was young himself, a bit of a prodigy. I can’t remember the context but he was talking about reading a book while on an airplane and it contained a description of a woman grinding her heel into a man’s crotch. The scene was so vivid – in his head at least – that he passed out at 30,000 feet. Boy, he must have come a long way since then because as the main character in Hangman, Timothy Blake is the new Dexter Morgan (only worse).

The most important thing to note about Hangman is that while Jack Heath has written umpteen books for children, THIS IS NOT ONE OF THEM. If books were given ratings, this one would be 18+.