Hot Plastic [Paperback]

Peter Craig (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 3, 2004

evin's dad, Jerry, is a crook. And he taught his son every trick in the book. Masters of identity theft, Kevin and Jerry move from one seedy motel to another, always trying for the big score. Colette is a runaway who dreams of conning her way into the upper echelons of high society. Just a teenager, she's already a tough and talented grifter, and soon becomes Jerry's girlfriend and accomplice. When Jerry is arrested, Colette makes Kevin her willing shill, dragging him along in her endless pursuit of sophistication. Meanwhile, Kevin's compulsive pursuit of new cons, bolder hoaxes, and better forgeries leads them to violent and unimagined retributions. When Jerry is released on parole, the three are reunited for one final scam, a patchwork of old and new techniques that should set them all up for life. The question is, would they rather work together or show each other up? Hot Plastic is a hugely satisfying suspense novel about family and criminal intent from a fresh new voice.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Craig's first novel, The Martini Shot, was a satirical look at a son's attempt to connect with his aging, alcoholic, Hollywood movie star father. This time Craig aims higher, or perhaps lower, with another son's tale. Kevin Swift, 14, is on the lam with his con-man father as they scam their way across a credulous American countryside. It's 1983, a year of seedy motel rooms, fake credit cards and stolen cars as Kevin dodges cops and learns the tricks of the trade with his peripatetic parent, the charismatic Jerry ("He could smile through any lie, and hold court on cars, women, boxing, cockfights, cops and dirty jokes with any combination of armed and angry men"). When his son falls ill, Jerry hires wayward, amoral teen Colette, barely older than Kevin, to baby-sit while he's out working his con. When Jerry and Kevin are forced to leave town suddenly, Colette elects to join their criminal carnival. The trio evolves into an excellent team, each member with his or her own larcenous specialty. Jerry becomes Colette's lover and instructor in the intricacies of crime. Kevin, though, has fallen in love with Colette, and when she abandons them the young man is bereft. Then Jerry is arrested, and several years pass before circumstances draw them all back together for the inevitable last big score. Novels featuring quirky characters on the grift have always had a certain knavish noir appeal, and this is a fascinating, funny, beautifully written addition to the genre. Readers will find themselves drawn into the intriguing lives of this delinquent outlaw family as they form and reform alliances and journey along their crooked path toward a surprising finish.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Short-con master Jerry Swift specializes in credit-card scams. He spirits his teenage son, Kevin, onto the road in the early 1980s and teaches him the secrets of identity theft as if they were his birthright. Even though Jerry isn't the warmest father and Kevin is developing obsessive-compulsive tendencies, they're an easy-rolling team--until a pretty grifter cozies in between them. Colette is too old for Kevin and too young for Jerry, but that doesn't stop Dad from pulling her into his room every night as his son stews one thin wall away. Inevitable double crosses ensue, but Craig manages to make us care what happens to these crooks, whether they're shacking up with moralizing cokeheads or running sweetheart cons in Italy. Sections kick off with flash-forward snippets of a big job gone wrong, and the only complaint is that these scenes promise more fireworks and betrayal than the climax delivers. But this is still a stylish romp, with characters witty enough to pick Scheherazade over Anna Karenina as a role model and smart enough to avoid most oncoming trains. Frank Sennett
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion (March 3, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401300448
• ISBN-13: 978-1401300449
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #932,473 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Three reasons to like this book!, April 5, 2004

By 

Stephen Wagner - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hot Plastic (Paperback)

1. Three characters that are believable but out of the ordinary, very interesting, and unique. Father, son, and girlfriend to both in a triangle, but not a triangle that is contrived or exploitative of either the characters or the reader.
2. Very interesting details about identity theft and how easy it is for the thieves to practice their trade. This will make you a little more careful about what you throw in the trash.
3. A very suspenseful book, especially toward the end. Really put me on edge and kept me turning the pages. The very end was surprising and not what I expected, but was consistent with this author's ability to expose you to something out of the ordinary, but keep a believable but fascinating reality about it at the same time.

Highly recommended!!!!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tremendous, April 21, 2004

By 

Fred Franklin (Indiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hot Plastic (Paperback)

Line by line, this book has some of the best writing I've seen in a while. This is an amazing thing, since it's still very fast-moving and not at all overwritten. The author just has an amazing eye for detail and a very crafty sense of humor. The book surprised me constantly with its insights, and these characters were so real to me by the end that I missed them for a week. I read Craig's first book, and it doesn't stand up to this at all. It's exciting to see how much the writer has improved, and I can't wait for the next one.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A tribute to the genre, and a new approach, April 28, 2004

By 

2nearsighted (Dublin, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hot Plastic (Paperback)

I'm a huge fan of classic noir novels, and a good friend of mine urged me to give this book a chance. I must admit to a great deal of skepticism, mostly because I'd heard that the author was the offspring of one America's best known actresses. But I must say, after finishing the book, that I'm extremely impressed with Craig's talent and his grasp of the genre. There is a slight self-consciousness to the book--an intentional one, a kind of acknowlegement that he's working in solid Jim Thompson territory; but the writing is far more extravagant. The end result feels partly like an homage to old hustler novels, and partly like a renewing of the genre, a mixture of pulp and literary sensibilities. For one thing, Craig's dialogue is a perfect contemporary version of the kind of quick, clipped banter in old James Cain and Jim Thompson books. The twists are surprising, but heavily rooted in this tradition as well. In the end, I was surprised by the weight of the book, considering how fast and shiny it all seemed on the surface: it was a book about lost kids, contemporary America, the ills of our system, commerce, love and loss, and it advanced all of these themes with an amazingly effortless quality, all the while serving mostly as a fun read about grifters. I'm very pleased that I read this book, and I'll continue to follow Craig's career.