Fool's Paradise [Hardcover]

Steve Brewer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2003

The paradise in this entertaining novel is the area around San Diego, California--Coronado, California, to be exact. The fools are John Ray Mooney, a jinxed felon just out of Folsom prison; a struggling businesswoman; a hapless firefighter; a cop-turned-bank guard; and Billy Ho, a con man who has the locals believing he is the Prince of the Sultanate of Yip, a small nation in the South Pacific.

Mooney targets one of the local banks for a robbery--it always seems to have plenty of cash to pay Navy salaries. While planning the robbery, he meets the Prince and decides he would make a better, and easier, mark. When Mooney discovers the Prince is an imposter, they join forces to plan the bank heist. The daring twosome welcome the businesswoman, firefighter, and bank guard to help them--until they realize loot split two ways is better than dividing it five ways.

Fool's Paradise is a humorous look at crooks and the illusions that lead them to seek something for nothing. Steve Brewer is the author of nine previous crime novels and has a talent for combining felons and comedy. If you like Carl Hiassen, Donald Westlake, or Elmore Leonard, you will enjoy Fool's Paradise.

"Brewer writes with an easy, low-key humor."-Albuquerque Journal

"Steve Brewer just keeps getting better."-Tony Hillerman

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Using his formula of mixing crime and humor, Steve Brewer has another winner with Fool's Paradise." (Albuquerque Journal )

From the Publisher

The paradise in this entertaining novel is the area around San Diego, California. The fools are a jinxed felon just out of Folsom prison; a struggling businesswoman; a hapless firefighter; a cop-turned-bank guard; and a con man who has the locals believing he is the Prince of the Sultanate of Yip, a small nation in the South Pacific. Fool's Paradise is a humorous look at crooks and the illusions that lead them to seek something for nothing

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 190 pages
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press; 1 edition (October 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826331246
• ISBN-13: 978-0826331243
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,016,364 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

STEVE BREWER is the author of more than 20 books about crooks, including the recent crime novels LOST VEGAS, THE BIG WINK and CALABAMA.

His first novel, LONELY STREET, was made into a Hollywood comedy starring Robert Patrick, Jay Mohr and Joe Mantegna. BOOST currently is under film/TV option.

Brewer's short fiction appeared in the anthologies DAMN NEAR DEAD, THE LAST NOEL, CRIMES BY MOONLIGHT and WEST COAST CRIME WAVE, and he's published articles in Mystery Scene, Crimespree and Mystery Readers' Journal.

A former journalist and syndicated humor columnist, Brewer now works as a writing coach, book doctor and University of New Mexico lecturer. A frequent speaker at mystery conventions, he was toastmaster at Left Coast Crime in 2011.

Married and the father of two adult sons, Brewer lives in Albuquerque, NM.

More at www.stevebrewer.blogspot.com. Write him at [e-mail].

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You'd be a fool to miss it, July 27, 2011

By 

D. Moore (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fool's Paradise (Kindle Edition)

John Ray Mooney is fresh out of Folsom Prison after a stretch of 3 years and 5 months for car theft. He discovers that the $5,000 he borrowed from Big Odie and The Sons of Satan has miraculously grown to $20,000 during his enforced absence. Yeah, in hindsight, borrowing any amount of money from a biker gang wasn't particularly intelligent, but what's a guy to do when his brains have migrated about 3 feet south due to the ample charms of exotic dancer Angel Flesch? Anyway, Big Odie is nothing if not generous. He gives John Ray a whole week to pay off the debt.

Now, when you're stuck with an urgent need for $20K, a bank robbery is your only resort. And your only resort in which to carry out a bank robbery is Coronado - a sleepy, old-fashioned tourist town where both bank heists and Big Odie are unknown. So there you are. You're John Ray Mooney and you're struggling to write your demand for cash on the deposit slip, in a bank in which you have no account, when who should stroll in looking like an extra from Miami Vice but the son of the Sultan of Yip. To be precise, His Highness Prince Seri Hassan Bandapanang bin Mohammed - Bennie to his friends. John Ray can spot an attractive proposition when it crosses his path.

Steve Brewer excels at creating quirky but very endearing characters, and FOOL'S PARADISE is no exception. As well as John Ray and the rather charming prince who, needless to say, is not all he seems, FOOL'S PARADISE has a wonderful cast of characters including a gorgeous divorcee with cash flow problems, a musclebound fireman who feels no pain, and a bank security guard who dislikes his job. Not to mention the elite and highly trained Royal Guard of the Sultanate of Yip who have been sent to the US to bring home the jet-setting Prince. I'm rather concerned that I appear to have fallen in love with such a pack of misfits, murderers and assorted miscreants, but that's always the way with Steve Brewer's books.

The plot romps along with some nifty little twists and turns that I should have seen coming but never did, and the dialogue is breezy and funny. I was left with a huge grin on my face at the end of the book. If you like capers, scams and books which just plain make you laugh then take a trip with Steve Brewer to FOOL'S PARADISE. You'd be a fool to miss it.