The Foursome [Hardcover]

Troon McAllister (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 18, 2000

Golf fiction's finest hustler--The Green's Eddie Caminetti--returns in a laugh-out-loud novel featuring a foursome of upwardly mobile golf fanatics who get their just rewards.

Tired of hustling for something as ordinary as money, Eddie, in The Foursome, sets his sights slightly higher than other men's pockets: he goes after their souls. He now presides over Swithen Bairn, an exquisite secret golf course that's a kind of twisted Fantasy Island where the arrogant and pompous find their cherished dreams suddenly transformed into their worst nightmares.

Enter the foursome of the title, four enviably successful businessmen/golf junkies lured to Swithen Bairn by an irresistible offer: "The most memorable golf vacation you ever had or you don't pay." It's been said that you can learn more about people during one round of golf than you can living next door to them for six months, and in one round with Eddie Caminetti these four hapless sinners learn more about themselves than they could have in six years of analysis. By the end of their second match, the dizzying amount of money at stake will be the least of their worries, and "memorable" won't even begin to describe this bizarre vacation.

Mixing equal parts of suspense, hilarity, and raw human drama, Troon McAllister deftly shows readers what can happen when money, friendship, ambition, and greed converge explosively in a single round of golf. As Eddie Caminetti himself puts it in The Foursome, "Why do you think they call the devil Scratch?"

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When Joe Aronica, founder/CEO of a successful aircraft company and member of a golf foursome at a snooty golf club in Danuba, Conn., receives an invitation from Eddie Caminetti (returning from McAllister's debut novel, The Green) to come play at a place called Swithen Bairn (promising "The most memorable golf vacation you've ever had...or you don't pay"), he overcomes the skepticism of his longstanding foursome and convinces them to spend their annual golf outing there. Chauffeured by limo to a windowless private Gulfstream jet, the group is whisked away to a tropical, perfectly manicured golf course that uses orchid-filled planter boxes for tee markers. Caught up in the surreal ambience, the foursome gets hustled into a money game with Caminetti and his team of "owners." When they lose, they badger Caminetti to give them a chance to get their money back. Soon, the gambling escalates to staggering proportions and the pressure strips bare the phoniness of their Rotarian personas, threatening to destroy their friendships. The writing in this book is serviceable, but McAllister never quite delivers the satire the plot promises. The once-a-week madras Bermudas gang may find the book mildly amusing, as it does flash some knowledge of the sport, but the book is no match for The Green, and even golfers may be put off by the author's reliance on the hip jive--"not even God can hit a 1-iron"--of the golfing cool. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Praise for Troon McAllister's first Eddie Caminetti novel, The Green:

"[A] hilarious and loving look at golf generally and the Ryder Cup in particular...Happily for his fans, Caminetti will return in The Foursome, in which golf meets Deliverance."
--USA Today

"A minor miracle of fiction...Completely convincing, wise, funny, The Green stands on its own not just as outstanding golf fiction but as fiction period."
--Steven Pressfield, author of The Legend of Bagger Vance

"A rollicking tale full of raucously rococo characters...You think pool sharks are the consummate hustlers? Wait until you meet Eddie Caminetti."
--San Bernardino Sun

"If you think it's just about golf, you're missing half the fun. The richly drawn characters populating The Green are stand-ins for all of us, and the lessons to be learned beneath all of the humor and intrigue will stay with you long after the final page."
--Stewart Cink, PGA Professional

"Laced with colorful locker-room dialogue and golf aphorisms...this romp is par for the course, an insider's down-and-dirty view of golf competition stroke by stroke."
--San Antonio Express-News

"The best novel about golf since Rub of the Green."
--Library Journal

"Laugh-out-loud...McAllister makes the intricacies of the game exciting, even thrilling--rollicking fun."
--Kirkus Reviews

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1st edition (April 18, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385499108
• ISBN-13: 978-0385499101
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,424,065 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as Satisfying as The Green, June 4, 2000

By 

P. O'Rourke "Patrick T. O'Rourke" (Highlands Ranch, CO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Foursome (Hardcover)

Last year, I read McCallister's other Eddie Caminetti book, The Green, which detailed his participation in the Ryder Cup. Because The Green was so good, I really looked forward to reading The Foursome. Now, I'm a bit disappointed.

Don't get me wrong . . . The Foursome is still a pretty good book with an interesting premise - that people can confront their shortcomings and make positive changes in their lives. The problem with the book, however, is that it focuses upon the least interesting characters, the flawed golfers who travel to Swithen Bairn, and less upon Eddie Caminetti.

Ultimately, I liked The Green better than The Foursome because The Green allowed the reader to benefit from Eddie's wisdom after having experienced it firsthand. In The Foursome, the action focuses upon Eddie's opponents and left me with the feeling that I would have enjoyed the book more if it was told from the perspective of Eddie's teammates who were playing against them.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Bogey This Time, August 6, 2001

By 

John R. Linnell (New Gloucester, ME United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Foursome: A Novel (Paperback)

I loved "The Green", as you will note if you look at my review and I was really looking forward to reconnecting to some of the characters from that book and enjoying the writing of another humorous golf adventure. Unfortunately, just like no one "owns" a golf game, Troon McAllister demonstrates that no one "owns" the formula to writing a successful sequel. The story starts out promisingly enough as you learn some of the foibles and fables of those that make up this particular foresome who are about to take their annual golfing vacation. This year they are off to Swithen Bairn, the most exclusive golf resort in the world where if you don't think you have had the vacation of a lifetime, you don't pay. The cost for the week is on the order of $18,000, so the promotional come on is not given lightly. As the intrepid four begin their vacation they are drawn into a match with "the owners", one of whom is Eddie Camminetti of recent Ryder Cup fame from "The Green". As the week plays out the struggle between The Foursome against The Owners and with each other takes some twists and turns that are less than pleasant until you feel you are trapped in some horrendous Twi-Light Zone and that all is missing is the soothing voice of Rod Serling. What was fun and funny turns ugly and mean and the story, to my thinking rather loses its way until it is tied up at the end with an Epilogue that is not worthy of the author. The story had possibilities, but they got lost somewhere on the back nine of the second match and never recovered.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An absorbing and funny tale of redemption, May 3, 2000

By 

FGR (U.W. @ Madison, WI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Foursome (Hardcover)

I love the way McAllister takes us right down to the characters' level instead of looking at them from on high; great ability to dive inside people's heads. Profound, yet still an exciting and very funny page turner. I don't know the first thing about golf but that sport is just a metaphor here - could have been lawn darts or cricket.