God's Money: A novel based on actual events [Paperback]

Tad Hutton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 12, 2009

Four fishermen find twenty million dollars on an island. Now they have to keep the cash from the drug cartel and pirates who claim it. The setting for this thrill and laugh-a-minute tale is the notorious Palawan Passage in the South China Sea. Deacon and his friends face off the criminals, and then deal with a greedy churchman and competing nations who claim ownership of the island. A renegade American, a beautiful schoolteacher, and a Japanese hermit drive this tale to its exciting conclusion. Novel based on actual events.

Editorial Reviews

Review

With God's Money, once again Hutton deftly weaves a complex story within an entertaining read. -- Kate Christmas

...the reader steps onto a very alluring, dangerous roller coaster with known and unexpected markers whizzing by in every sentence. A quick, magnificent must-read. --Jeremiah Revving, Dartmouth, Massachusetts

Hutton does it again! ...a tale that will make you laugh, catch your breath, and heartily applaud. --Valeri Keogh, John Muir Elementary, Fresno, CA

God's Money is a feel-good jigsaw that awakens the adventurer within us all. Arigato! --Marta Yamamoto, Berkeley, CA

From the Publisher

God's Money, is currently under contract with three-time Emmy nominee Rick Pagano for a movie script. Producer Stratton Leopold, a Savannah native and entrepreneur, put Hutton in contact with the California writer and director, who has since become "passionately excited" about working on the project.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 134 pages
• Publisher: Foremost Press (August 12, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0981841899
• ISBN-13: 978-0981841892
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,360,928 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Miniature Jewel, October 17, 2009

By 

Al Past (Beeville, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: God's Money: A novel based on actual events (Paperback)

Not long ago, I observed that since books are food for the soul, then one might think of a particular book in terms of specific dishes. That tactic is useful with the present book. Take several nicely fried Filipino lumpia, a Vietnamese spring roll, a small saucer of Japanese sushi, some Chinese moo goo gai pan, and a bowl of steaming jasmine rice. Add a bottle of fish oil, Chinese mustard, plum sauce, a good soy sauce, chopsticks, and an American fortune cookie. The result: a small, exotic pan-Asian feast, highly satisfying and perhaps leaving you in good humor but wanting more. That's not a bad extended metaphor for God's Money, by Tad Hutton.

If the book is based on actual events, as is claimed, I have no knowledge of them, but they're not needed to enjoy the story. Basically, pirates sink a freighter, and a fortune in American money floats off, to be found years later by humble fishermen who must decide what to do with it. If you are thinking that the former owners of this money might get wind of the find and try to get the money back, you would be correct: thereby hangs our tale.

That bare outline could suggest yet another conventional boilerplate thriller, but that is not the case at all. Set among the thousands of islands in the South China Sea, the story is staffed with a marble cake of cultures, most of the representatives thereof qualifying as "characters" whatever their culture. The author seems well versed in the details of those cultures: of daily life, religion, bureaucracy, politics, and languages, all of which add to the sense of authenticity and local color. As for the characters themselves, start with a former Peace Corps volunteer/former financial manipulator, who got a little too clever in his dealings and decided to retire in obscurity to a small village on the South China Sea. Add a small group of poor but generous Christian fishermen and villagers, one timorous, bibulous Catholic Father, a boy who seldom speaks but who has a compass in his head and can commune with dolphins, a Filipino police lieutenant who has eyes for the village babe, comically grasping church officials, an abandoned WWII Japanese soldier who has become a hermit and turned to meditation and the martial arts. Crown all with a truly scary pirate, and you have the makings of a juicy yarn.

The blurb says the story is unforgettable. This is a common claim for novels, but in this case it is justified. The writing and editing are pristine. My only complaint is that this "meal" (at only 134 pages) amounts to a working lunch. It could easily have been a banquet.

Dr. Al Past is the author of the four Distant Cousin novels, a popular adventure/romance/sci-fi series, a reviewer for PODBRAM, and a member of the Independent Authors Guild. He lives on a ranch in south Texas.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fun story worth your time, March 8, 2011

By 

Dick Stanley (Austin, TX, United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: God's Money: A novel based on actual events (Kindle Edition)

This is a fun story, from beginning to end, despite the violence towards the end which, happily, is not indulged for its own sake. I got the impression that the claim that the tale is based on truth, coupled with the author's effusive thanks to the several governments claiming ownership of the Spratly islands, is not to be taken seriously, but is part of the fun.

I found a few outright laughs, especially in the beginning, but most of the humor was gentle, as were the memorable characters with themselves and each other. The editing is excellent for an indie work. I did not encounter a single typo, misspelling or grammar mistake.

God's Money is an enjoyable, intelligent trip and it moved me to investigate, via the Kindle free samples, some of the author's several other works.