Bait and Switch [Paperback]

Larry Brooks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 6, 2004

Meet Wolfgang Schmitt: former model, newly single, habitual wise-ass. It's a profile only his ailing mother could love-but it makes him perfect for one thing...

Billionaire Nelson Scott wants Schmitt to seduce his wife-setting off a prenuptial clause that will keep her hands off his money. The job pays a million bucks just for trying. Another four if he pulls it off. All he has to do is say yes. But in the big leagues of money and power, when deals get made, Schmitt happens.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In a sexy tale laced with plenty of surprise twists, Brooks (Pressure Points, etc.) examines the underbelly of high society and paints an ugly portrait of greed in America. Wolfgang Schmitt, a newly single former model looking for an excuse to leave the advertising industry, finds his opening when billionaire Nelson Scott offers him a million dollars to seduce his wife. Schmitt's involvement with Kelly Scott would trigger a prenuptial clause, ensuring Kelly can't get her hands on her husband's fortune—or so Schmitt is led to believe. After wrestling with his conscience, Schmitt accepts the assignment and immediately gets swept up in a complicated plot involving betrayal and murder. This intoxicating and intelligent tale of corporate corruption feels as authentic as a true crime chronicle, but Schmitt's first-person narration ensures that it is much more entertaining. Brooks balances Schmitt's wry, wisecracking nature with a rare moral fortitude, resulting in a likeable protagonist whose cynicism never fails to entertain (Entry #201 in Schmitt's work in progress, Bullshit in America: "The price of movie popcorn—the time for rebellion is now. Take a big purse and stop at your local convenience store on the way. Then leave the candy wrappers on the floor so they'll know. It's what Rosa Parks would have done"). In a savvy move, Brooks concludes this book with a question mark, leaving it wide open for a sequel. Readers will welcome the prospect.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Signet (July 6, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451212479
• ISBN-13: 978-0451212474
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,385,709 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Larry Brooks is the author of five critically-acclaimed thrillers, and the guy behind www.storyfix.com, one of the fastest-growing and most respecting writing sites on the internet.

Brooks' resume reads like a Cheesecake Factory menu, an analogy that honors his favorite restaurant. Born and raised in Portland, Oregon in 1952, he graduated with a degree in marketing communications from Portland State University in 1975, where he attended in the off-season during an unremarkable five-year career as a professional baseball player (he pitched in the Texas Rangers organization).

This led to his first published writing: a magazine article on the life of a minor league pitcher. Still not keen on a writing career - he had his eye on the money back then, like most of the newly graduated- his first lives in a business suit had more than a few more swings and misses. He likes to say he was history's worst stockbroker for the world's largest brokerage firm, then the world's worst personnel manager in a major department store (remember what Dirty Harry said about Personnel managers?), in addition to a couple of other humbling career fliers he chooses to forget. Each abandoned career resulted in another published magazine piece lampooning the experience, and his interest in writing began to emerge as his best - and perhaps last - viable career option.

In 1983 he answered an ad for a "script writer" at a small audio-visual production company - eight arteests and a slide projector. Cut to 1996, when the company was one of the largest marketing and training firms in the western U.S., and Brooks was the executive creative director and a partner, with some 120 employees and a portfolio with more corporate videos, brochures, websites and other useless stuff than Harlequin has romances. He and his partners sold the business in 1999, at which point Brooks took the money and ran toward the career he'd been quietly cultivating on the side for the prior two decades - writing novels and screenplays.

His first published novel, DARKNESS BOUND, was based on one of his original screenplays, featuring - here's a surprise - a stockbroker who hates stockbrokering. It debuted in October 2000, spending three weeks on the USA Today best-seller list. His second novel, PRESSURE POINTS - an ad exec who hates the ad business - appeared to solid reviews in December 2001, with comparable sales. His third novel, SERPENT'S DANCE, was a February 2003 release from Signet paperbacks, and was also well reviewed despite selling like parkas in Pakistan. And his fourth, July 2004's BAIT AND SWITCH , earned a starred review from Publisher's Weekly, who also named it their lead Editor's Choice for that month, and at year end to two of their lists: Best Overlooked Books of 2004 (the only paperback so named; perhaps, says Larry, a dubious honor) and Best Books of 2004 (lead entry, mass market).

His book on writing - Story Engineering: Understanding the Six Core Competencies of Successful Writing - will be published by Writers Digest Books in February 2011. That book leverages the growing audience for his writing-skills website (www.storyfix.com), which explores a fresh and rhetoric-free perspective on writing fiction from a carefully articulated model and plan, rather than the seat-of-the-pants creative chaos so many writers employ.
Screenplays for all his books are in various stages of development.

In late 2002, Brooks' script for the adaptation of DARKNESS BOUND was named a finalist in the prestigious Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the folks who bring you the Oscars. It was one of ten scripts selected out of 6044 submissions, which he hopes you find impressive, especially since he didn't end up winning one of the five Fellowships. He got the t-shirt anyway.
Brooks has been developing and teaching writing workshops since the mid-1980s.

He has been named a Mentor by the Oregon Writer's Colony (www.oregonwriterscolony.org), and teaches at writing workshops around the country.

Brooks is very happily married to his wife of nearly fifteen years, Laura, an artist and interior designer, who wants you to know she "is not the Dark Lady" (the villainess from his first novel), though central casting might disagree. He also has a wonderful son, Nelson, who is 19 and a sophomore at USC; three supportive step-children, Tracy, Scott and Kelly; and seven step-grandchildren who have no clue what "Poppy" does for a living. Nor,, says Larry, do they give a rip, as long as he keeps tossing them around at family gatherings.
Larry and Laura divide their time between homes in Portland and Scottsdale. He is at work on a new novel, as well as his writing book and the continued growth of his website.

Feel free to contact Larry at his website (www.storyfix.com), or email him at [e-mail], or contact Sons of Liberty Publishing.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An addictive novel with surprising and complex plot twists, September 24, 2004

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bait and Switch (Paperback)

Mass market paperbacks --- the ones that you find on the revolving display at the drugstore, or on displays by the hundreds at your local big box department store --- lend themselves for impulse buying. Got something long and boring on the horizon, like a plane ride, afternoon at the beach, or court-ordered marriage counseling? Grab a paperback on your way to the chip aisle. Who can resist a paperback? The price of admission is relatively low, so if the book turns out to be a dud, you haven't invested much; they don't take up a lot of room; and they can be held with one hand and, if you're practiced and/or dexterous enough, you can turn the page with your thumb. And, once in a while, you take a chance and find a treasure, like BAIT AND SWITCH by Larry Brooks.

The opening gambit of BAIT AND SWITCH would be only mildly interesting in the hands of a writer with lesser ability than Brooks. Wolfgang Schmitt is a former model currently stuck in an advertising job that he has come by degrees to abhor, and he is still reeling from the abrupt end of the relationship with the love of his life. It is ironic that he is also a part-time relationship expert, being the author of a monthly column on the subject for a women's magazine.

Nelson Scott is a self-made millionaire who can buy anything except his personal freedom. His wife, Kelly, holds the keys to that kingdom and is set to make him pay heavily. Scott's only hope is a condition of his prenuptial agreement that will enable him to escape the matrimonial bonds with his considerable fortune more or less intact. For that to happen, however, Kelly has to cohabit with another man for 30 days. It doesn't look like that's going to happen. Scott's plan, therefore, is to have Schmitt seduce Kelly. Given that Schmitt is an expert on relationships, this should be a piece of cake, especially with Scott's ability to manufacture a new identity for Schmitt right down to the last nuance. Schmitt, in return for his time and trouble, gets to play with lots of new luxury toys and receives a significant amount of money. Of course, wooing and seducing a beautiful woman is nothing to sneeze at either. Schmitt sets to work --- that term is applied loosely here --- and appears to be well on his way to accomplishing his mission.

BAIT AND SWITCH would be a great book if it was only a subtle reworking of INDECENT PROPOSAL. But it's much more than that. Brooks, a little over a third of the way through, begins dropping hints that there may be much more involved than divorce settlement machinations. And, indeed, what seems to be a fairly straightforward storyline takes some curves and turns that leave you smiling, shaking your head in wonder, and, most importantly, reading. For a while Schmitt thinks that he is the violinist to Kelly's Stradivarius; he is, in fact, only the bow. Schmitt is getting played, big time. But he's not the only one.

BAIT AND SWITCH has a complex plot, but Brooks is such a masterful writer that it doesn't seem so involved. Brooks is in no hurry here; he takes his time guiding the reader through a few labyrinths, but does so with a sure-footed assurance that never permits the plot to drag or droop. Surprises abound, practically to the last page, which contains a surprisingly satisfying ending and a tantalizing promise of more to come. I, for one, will be waiting.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an awesome thriller, July 20, 2004

By 

Pete Mitchell "suspense_thriller_lover" (Salt Lake City, Utah United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bait and Switch (Paperback)

Larry Brooks has done it again. In the tradition of Darkeness Bound, Pressure Points, and Serpent's Dance, Mr. Brooks has created yet another intriguing and unique thriller, one with a guiltily likeable protagonist you can't help but root for.

Brooks has long been a must-read author for me. His plots are always unique (i.e., mayhem at a self-help seminar) and contain lots of fun twists and turns. But Bait and Switch isn't just summer fluff. Mr. Brooks knows how to write. He develops his characters, whose actions are not simply driven by the plot. He delves into the minds of male and female characters equally well. The dialogue crackles. This is Mr. Brooks's first attempt at first person narration (to my knowledge), and he handles it like a pro.

Bottom line: if you enjoy thrillers with well-written dialogue and page-turning suspense throughout, Brooks' novels are for you. This one is easily the equal of Brooks' prior three novels, which I also recommend you purchase and read immediately.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "I want you to seduce my wife", January 6, 2005

By 

Sebastian Fernandez (Tampa, Florida United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bait and Switch (Paperback)

Wolfgang Schmitt is very disappointed with his job in a marketing company; he is a former model who attracts ladies by the thousands, but who has just been dumped by the love of his life. After a meeting with a client goes south, he is just about ready to quit. But that is exactly when he is faced with an astounding revelation; his assistant is working in the company just to determine if he is a good candidate for a very important mission.

Wolfgang does not have a lot to lose, so he jumps on a private plane that Nelson Scott, the real employer of Wolfgang's assistant, sends for him and starts an exciting journey. Nelson is separated from a wife that likes to sleep around and who will get a monthly alimony in the amount of $3 million for the rest of her life. Unless, of course, Nelson can provide proof of her adultery, in which case she gets nada. That is why Wolfgang receives an offer of one million dollars just for trying to seduce Kelly Scott; amount that will increase fourfold if he succeeds.

Brooks returns to the quality level he delivered in "Darkness Bound", providing the readers with an exciting plot full of twists and turns and that has a fair share of spicy moments too. Those of you who were somewhat disappointed with his second book, "Pressure Points", as I was, should give this author another opportunity. I am surely glad I did. Now I must go back and check "Serpent's Dance", which I hope is another page-turner that will keep me up all night as "Bait and Switch" did.