An epic con goes sideways in the most hilarious of ways in Con Crazy, a heist novel for the ages by Addison J. Chapple (Santa Ana), Danny Kravitz, and Eliza Marsh. Prewitt Patry is a con artist with a conscience: "If you deserve it, you get taken. If not, you don't. Life and karma are identical twins separated at the big bang. Bonded." In addition to a bad case of sciatica and a strong sense of morals, he's also burdened with a voicemail inbox full of disappointed messages from his ex-wife; a stack of debts owed to some shady characters; and a determination to help his teenage son pay tuition at Harvard, despite he himself feeling like he's "worth about ten bucks." Prewitt thinks maybe his luck has finally turned when he's clued into a job in France, one peppered in the scent of old money.
Prewitt sets off to assemble the best team of grifters he can find, winding up with a group of "nutty outcasts... colorful, con crazy weirdos." What follows is a delightful, roundabout plot that rivals the intricacies of Ocean's Eleven and the absurdities of Clue. Prewitt and his team impersonate security officers from the Vatican, feign a centuries-old plot by the Knights Templar, bring in someone's nephew's pet corgis to play highly trained guard dogs, and find themselves caught in unexpected script snippets from old Hollywood movies. Inevitably, things get messy--including questioning how deserving of a take their mark really is--as Con Crazy reveals its true heart. Readers will delight in following this odd crew as they find romance, friendship, questionable takes, and perhaps even a bit of vengeance in a wild romp of a con gone wrong. --Kerry McHugh, freelance reviewer