Last Train from Mendrisio [Hardcover]

Lois Foyt (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0863329721 | ISBN-13: 978-0863329722 | Publication Date: June 1995 | Edition: First UK Edition

Set in the American Southwest, the Caribbean, and Switzerland in the present day, Last Train from Mendrisio is a novel about financial life after death or, more specifically, the battle for inheritance that ensues when an old tycoon dies in mysterious circumstances.

The tycoon in question is Trevor Thomson, a "successful, money-grubbing, red-blooded American of Scottish descent and rich as hell," who, at the beginning of the story is fast approaching his ninetieth birthday. Trevor falls, or is he pushed, from a train traveling at high speed over Lake Lugano in Switzerland. With no children of his own, the bulk of his fortune, an offshore trust fund established in the 1960s on the Caribbean island of Grand Turk, seems destined to go to his step-children, Sam and Judith. But an attractive young "mulatto" woman, Felicia Fountain, appears on the scene claiming to be Trevor's rightful heir.

In a series of flashbacks to 1963 we see how Felicia's mother, Chiarra, was raped twice in the same day, first by Trevor Thomson and then by a local pilot. As the narrative unravels we witness the battle between Felicia and Sam for Trevor's inheritance. They both have to contend with the double-dealing of Dr. Giannini, the corrupt Swiss coroner, who seems intent on selling a favorable report on Trevor's DNA to the highest bidder. The interested parties gather on Grand Turk for the postmortem hearing. Sam meets Felicia for the first time and falls hopelessly in love.

In everyday life Felicia is an inner city social worker in Los Angeles. She wants to spend the Thomson millions on improving conditions in the ghetto. Sam's main interest in life is archaeology, and, as a professional historian, he wants to advance the "Thomson-Columbus" Museum on Grand Turk along with a recently discovered shipwreck that may or may not be Columbus' ship, the Pinta. The museum and the wreck were the pet projects of his late step-father.

Trevor Thomson's postmortem hearing falls apart under the weight of conflicting evidence, and a recess is called. Sam and Felicia, independently, rush off to Switzerland to find Hans Kubler, the financial advisor to the Thomson estate who is diligently carrying on with Trevor's wishes to take over a Mafia-controlled pharmaceutical conglomerate with a corner on the world market for condoms. Sam tracks down Kubler at the Mendrisio Easter Pageant and learns that he is about to gamble the entire Thomson portfolio on the purchase of the drug company. Can he be stopped?

The novel's distinctly playful and tongue-in-cheek feel and the taught, snappy dialogue that the authors give to the range of creditable and interesting characters is very much in keeping with the bold, sweeping style of the piece.

Editorial Reviews

Review

There are a number of reasons why this book succeeds. Like all good writing, the authors know their subject. They obviously have traveled extensively, and their descriptions are detailed and accurate. They also realistically portray various dialects, from Swiss to Caribbean. The art that they bring to this book, however, revolves around their ability to tell a good story, with interesting characters, while maintaining dramatic tension. Their foreshadowing, irony, and use of double entendre is also quite nice. -- Winning Strategies, vol 2, issue 2, 1996

From the Publisher

Are Caribbean offshore trusts hiding America's wealth? Can wealth be controlled from the grave? Find out in Last Train From Mendrisio, a financial web of intrigue, sex and power.

Against a background of high-tech global finance, the story begins in Santa Fe and moves from the poverty of the Caribbean to the opulence of Switzerland and the color and excitement of the Mendrisio Easter Pageant.

In Last Train From Mendrisio, Jon and Lois Foyt have concocted a swift-paced tale of complex relationships, corruption and high adventure.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 270 pages
• Publisher: Jon & Lois Foyt; First UK Edition edition (June 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0863329721
• ISBN-13: 978-0863329722
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,571,536 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A cinematic read, April 5, 2001

By 

Brian Wheeler (Tesuque, NM USA and London UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Last Train from Mendrisio (Hardcover)

Last Train From Mendrisio is an epic adventure novel set in the treacherous world of international finance and Offshore Trusts. With a colorful cast of characters and a fast-moving, inventive plot, it should appeal to a wide general readership. The labyrinthine logic of the international stock market has always been fertile territory for the thriller writer. In this case, the strength of the story lies in the time and trouble that the authors have evidently taken to establish an authentic backdrop. They also take great care not to swamp the narrative with superfluous information, incorporating enough financial material to provide the characters with credible motivation, without spoiling the flow of the plot. In this respect, as in most others, the authors prove themselves to be taut, economical writers--every line of prose is used to advance the narrative a little further and they exercise an impressive degree of control over character development and realization. Sam, the thoughtful, introspective history professor, is perhaps the most intriguing and fully-realized character. His obsessive dedication to discovering the truth about the shipwreck provides a nice counterpoint to the main action. By the same token, I felt that the sub-plot involving Charles Fountain and the Old Captain adds greatly to the sense of intrigue and danger that is always lurking below the surface. The story of an old-fashioned paternalistic entrepreneur who dies in mysterious circumstances, leaving a tangled financial legacy, is very much a parable for our times and over the course of the manuscript, the authors skillfully exploit this rich seam, making full use of dramatic possibilities that it undoubtedly contains. It is very tempting to talk about the authors' work in cinematic terms. They clearly have a highly visual imagination and a sense of timing that would stand them in good stead as screenwriters. The marvelously flamboyant set-piece finale is a case in point, with its clever religious symbolism and imaginative use of color and scenery. Equally, the taut, snappy dialogue that the authors give to the characters is very much in keeping with the bold, sweeping style of the piece. It would, clearly, translate into a first rate screenplay, combining a witty commentary on the foibles of the financial classes with a keenly observed portrait of social conditions in the Caribbean. On the whole, then, I found much to enjoy in Last Train From Mendrisio. It has a distinctly playful and tongue-in-cheek feel that makes it enormous fun to read but, at the same time, it is blessed with a solidly-constructed plot, and a range of credible and entertaining characters.

5.0 out of 5 stars One for the movies!, June 16, 2000

By 

drew bacigalupa (Santa Fe, New Mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Last Train from Mendrisio (Hardcover)

Though "Last Train from Mendrisio" succeeds in making strong moral arguments against greed, I value it most as a wonderful adventure/mystery story peopled by fascinating and memorable characters. The locales -- Santa Fe, the Caribbean, Switzerland -- are superbly drawn, the protagonists as colorful and interesting as any you're likely to meet in exotic backgrounds. The story is a page-turner, a book you may be tempted to re-read within days after finishing it. For me, it was most cinematic, evoking powerful images, and left me with the conviction that it'd make a great movie.