Customer Reviews

The California Roll: A Novel

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Radar Hoverlander is between jobs, and by that I mean he's between cons. Radar makes his living as a con artist. He's thinking he needs to get something in motion for the lucrative Christmas season, but he just can't get his heart into it.

Into his life walks Allie Quinn. She is stunningly beautiful, and Radar is quickly under her spell. She also seems to know everything about Radar, a situation that makes him uncomfortable. Allie wants Radar to teach her grandfather one successful con. Radar smells a bit of a trap, but he's completely under Allie's spell. What is she really up to? Can Radar keep the upper hand, or will this master con artist get conned?

In the interest of full disclosure, I got this book because the author is a friend of mine. But I am reviewing it because I enjoyed it. I don't normally go for the books where you are rooting for law breakers, but Radar is so much fun to be around, you can't help but root for him. The book is filled with interesting characters. I can't say I would want to meet any of them in real life, but on the page they were fun.

I also enjoyed the story. The further you go, the more complicated it gets. Yet I never had a problem following who was doing what to whom.

The biggest drawback was the writing. Radar spends a lot of time philosophizing about life as a con artist and the events around him. Some of that was interesting, but at times it felt like it was slowing down the story. And yes, the book does have more language than I am normally comfortable with, but that was only a minor issue.

I'm glad I met Radar. He's an entertaining character caught up in a complex web. I know a sequel is in the works, and I'm looking forward to it.

This is delightful from start to finish. Those who disliked the twists and turns at the end might be missing how the author is winking at the reader about the genre. The narrator details how all modern cons are variations on ancient ones, then pulls a series of fast ones that fans of other works on trickery and deception should recognize as part of the humor here. The language is witty throughout, but the big story is a joke in a tradition of grand jokes. I wouldn't mind losing beer money to this guy just to watch him work.

The world of grifters and con games is remote to many of us who've rarely visited a casino or prowled seedy bars late at night. For a simple country boy like me, CALIFORNIA ROLL, a new novel by Jon Vorhaus, was a trip to another planet. The terminology is strange, the angles are deceiving, but the result is riotously funny.

John's prose is the naked mind of the class clown. Pick any sentence, any paragraph in the entire book and you will find laugh lines in such abundance it isn't funny. But it is, the best kind of humor that bubbles naturally from engaging characters and a lively, silly plot. The old Sid Caesar kind of humor, full of the ridiculousness of daily human life, needing no topicality. A sharp, wordy wit.

As a writer (WITCHGRASS: a pipe dream, THE ASPIRANT), I have always appreciated an entertaining sentence. John's thoughts bubble with a wry humor that keeps the pages turning. An astute observer of human foibles, he never misses a chance to go for the smile.

Radar Hoverlander, a struggling grifter and his sidekick, Vic Mirplo are a classic comedy team to take on the demimonde of hustlerdom. Vorhaus takes us on a loony quest for the ultimate, titular con. It's an old dream, but this novel gives the reader a new spin and a guided tour only one who's been there can take you on. While visiting what seems like every imaginable stop on the grifter trail and learning about every type of con, Vorhaus also provides love interest and some creepy villains. It's a wild, worthwhile read.

This is the story of Radar Hoverland, a conman who goes in for the long con. It's told from his perspective, which makes him a more sympathetic character despite his unpleasant profession. He is not without moral standards, although he applies them somewhat haphazardly. Problem is, from the moment Allie Quinn enters his life very early in the story, Radar has very little notion of what's actually going on, hence neither do we. His buddy Vic Mirplo (a sad sack whom Radar treats with mild contempt) warns him that the beautiful Allie is dangerous. She introduces him to Hines (who may be real trouble) who in turn brings in the Australian woman (Scovil) who is plain scary. Out of all the confusion, Radar sees a chance to land one really big fish - the so-called "California Roll". It's very entertaining watching these con artists all try to "snuke" each other as Radar is always looking for the wheels within wheels within wheels. No wonder he's in so much trouble. The story bogs down a little in the second half, with Billy Yuan being introduced and mainstreamed into the plot all-too quickly. One gets the feeling that Vorhaus was hurrying at this point: either pressed for time or anxious to be done. But even if the second half is rushed and maybe a little too confusing, this novel was still a fun ride.

I got this book as an advanced reader copy. Initially the book is hard to get into. The story doesn't even start to get under way until chapter 2. Trying to get used to the style of writing, the made up words, the constant play on words and double meanings of everything was annoying and difficult to want to keep reading. Luckily there was enough of a plot to keep me turning pages. Half way through the book I was beginning to enjoy it and trying to guess how the story would turn out. The outcome was not quite what I expected and it was wrapped up with more of a cliched ending. If there were a follow up story about Radar I would be inclined to want to read it. After making my way through this book I think I would be better prepared to handle the author's writing style.

This novel got me hooked exactly the same way Janet Evanovich's do ... lovable, goofy, witty characters occasionally experiencing humiliation any human can identify with -- all wrapped in a story I couldn't put down. Hilarious. Waiting for the next Radar adventure...

I have no idea how this author knows so much about grifting, identification theft, and assorted other underhanded schemes (and I'm not so sure I want to know), but I really enjoyed reading all about them. The book is well-written and observed (very L.A.), and the characters are a winning bunch of morally reprehensible people -- starting with the motor-mouth protagonist, Radar Hoverlander. To be honest, i'm not so sure I followed all the twists and turns of the plot (there were so many!), but it was probably because I was turning the pages so quickly and laughing out loud. Who cared? It's a very funny, fast-paced, intricate and clever novel.

Radar Hoverlander is a grifter- a con artist -and like every grifter, he's seeking his California Roll. Which means to say that he is seeking his one big take that will set him up with sushi for life, and allow him to ride off into the sunset to live a charmed life of hot sands and cold beers. Then he meets up with fellow grifter Allie, and he has to begin to wonder whether he just bit off more than he can chew.

This was a fun and "smart" story. Full of clever dialogue, a twisting plotline, and more new-to-me vocabulary words than I can even mention in this review, I found it to be fresh and engaging.

There's something likable about Radar Hoverlander. You almost get the feeling that he's "honorable", despite him being a con artist. Is there such a thing as an honorable con artist?

Radar finds himself surrounded by his ragtag team of fellow grifters. And grifters always seem to be trying to wind up as the man on top, always trying to outdo one another. And, really, how does a player trust a player not to play them?

Allie had me as stumped as she did Radar, wondering what her game was. You want to believe that she is real, but can you really trust her to be on the up and up?

There are some mild sex scenes, crudity and occasional vulgarity, but all of it is appropriate to the story and the characters involved. There was no real gratuity (other than gratuitous usage of pedantic vocabulary- which I loved!)

There are interesting footnotes in the book, but they are used more parenthetically than in the traditional sense that footnotes are used.

This book had so many twist and turns, I thought I may have to file a lawsuit against the author for whiplash! A fun read that I would definitely recommend!

I want to start this review by stating I got a review copy of this book for free from the publisher.

The story in this book is not a new one. However, it was an interesting read that kept me guessing. That being said, I did have a few major issues with the book.

First, the main character, Radar, does not seem well developed. He is a top con artist, however, on one page his dialogue includes word you may hear from an educated man and on the next page, he is spouting street slang. Perhaps this was supposed to be part of the eccentric nature of his character, but it was not cohesive for me.

Also, there were passages that really felt chauvanistic in the book. If the writer wants to appeal to men and women, I think he has some revising to do. There were places in the book where the author used examples that I felt a bit offended by... they just were not necessary, he could have made his point using different examples. Also, there were just some words like "cheese d*ck" that did not do anything to enhance the rhetoric.

"The California Roll" by John Vorhaus is a scam of a novel that sucks you in all the way to the end. It is laugh-out-loud funny and has more plot twists than a 3 card Monte game.
The only problem with the novel is the characters --they are all cons, liars, cheats and double-crossers. Hardly people the reader can indentify or empathize with. They are, however, likeable characters. At least in the first half of the book.
At that point, through, I began to question whether every action, statement and motivation is truthful or pure "fabricat."
The convoluted plot in the second half did not add to character credibility or development. It simply felt contrived, as if the author was merely trying to fill pages.
Overall, a humorous, fast-paced, quick read... Would have been even better had the author spent a little more time on plot development.