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3.0 out of 5 stars
Nothing Great, Nothing Terrible but it's Nothing Like a Hiaasen or Dorsey Novel as the Cover Claims, September 25, 2010
This is an easy to read, light story where even though you find out a couple of people have been killed early on, you know nothing too graphic is ever going to occur in the pages ahead. What is isn't though is plausible, nor is it funny. The back cover of the book mentions Carl Hiaasen and Tim Dorsey each a couple of times. This book is nothing like the eccentric character filled humorous genre which those authors and others such as Bill Fitzhugh have mastered. The two main characters and best friends Skip Moore and James Lessor in this book just aren't believable at any time in the novel. Skip has a hot rich girlfriend and James soon gets the interest of a hot security guard. It doesn't really seem plausible that these women would be in relationships with these bumbling through life dim-witted guys and its never explained why they are. I haven't read the previous novels in this series as I didn't know this book was part of one. Maybe it's explained why the hot rich educated Emily with completely different morals would date Skip, it just didn't seem plausible to me. Nor was the fact Skip would be put in charge of a $75 000 dollar project, or that he would be able to appoint his unqualified roommate and the neighbour who at first seems like he belongs as an extra in a My Name is Earl trailer park scene, as the two supervisors. You would have thought he would have been quickly dismissed especially after the work had begun and he still hadn't gotten the deposit which would be the first thing anyone would do.
All these things have to be ignored for the plot to work. Basic plot of a couple of doped out type characters (although they don't do any drugs in this novel) land the contract to install a $75 000 security system in a highly security sensitive company with its own client that is insisting on the upgrade. The receptionist at the company is a hot classmate Skip went to school with so of course he doesn't mention his girlfriend. She offers him another $10 000 to pretend to be her girlfriend so the wife of her boss can't allege she is having an affair with him. Shortly after, that wife offers Skip another $10 000 to get some evidence in the office to prove someone is trying to kill her. Skip of course accepts both jobs but isn't bright enough to ask for any money up front.
Even though the two main characters are dim-witted and likeable, they just don't have the comedic presence that these sort of characters need to make the story funny or even memorable such as say Bill and Ted, or Harold and Kumar, Shrek and Donkey, Wayne and Garth, Forrest Gump, or any Adam Sandler character. And if comparing this book to an Hiaasen or Dorsey novel, there just aren't any other eccentric characters in this book and those other characters are what make those books work and a genre of their own! Plus the lack of humour is also a big factor.
Stuff to Spy for is a book that will pass the time but it's nothing great.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Fun Read, June 19, 2010
A fun read from talented author Don Bruns about the adventures of Skip Moore and his pal James Lessor when they get involed with former schoolmate Sarah Crumbly who proves to be something other than she says.
Skip is merely supposed to sell a security system to the company Sarah works for but finds he has opened a can of worms when complications get out of hand. Not only is he selling security but he has some romantic problems of an unusual sort, and death takes a hand in the story.
Nothing is as it seems to be and that makes for an interesting adventure for the reader as well as the characters. You'll have no trouble following all that is going on however, and will enjoy the tale. This author writes with a good deal of understanding of how people are influenced by friends and the promise of money.
I'm pleased to recommend this story to any reader as a very satisfying read who is looking for some laughs along the way. A fun blending of comedy, satire, wit and mystery to be enjoyed with those complications that add up to a good time had by all.
Enjoy. I sure did.
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2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Pedestrian plot, extremely poorly edited, January 4, 2010
I'm a sucker for a good comedic mystery. Alas, "Stuff to Spy For" pales by comparison to anything by Lawrence Block, Gregory McDonald, or Donald Westlake. This book was agony to read.
First, the plot. (Mild spoiler alert, but as you'll see, there's little to "spoil".) The plot centers around espionage at Synco Systems, a defense contractor. Evidently a few people at Synco have figured out how to steal "the codes" that will reveal all secrets of the DoD. This is ludicrous at its core, and to his credit the author never tries to put together technical mumbo-jumbo to justify it. But it's ridiculous. Even more ridiculous is the idea that the two hapless protagonists could ferret all this out using cheap spy gadgets. (Yes, I recognize that the story is supposed to be absurd, and I would have cut this conceit some serious slack if the execution were remotely funny. But it wasn't.)
Second, the structure. The writing is incredibly redundant. Yes, we get it. Skip's girlfriend is "out of his league." Do we really have to read that exact quote in every chapter? Do we really have to hear two different characters use the same characterization for beer within pages of each other? Do we need to have the identical internal monologue about whether Skip should confide in his girlfriend? The author was clearly stretching to fill pages; this quickly became tedious to read.
Actually, that makes for a good segue to the third issue, the editing. This book was in dire need of an editor. Consider Chapter Forty-Four. James "popped the top on his [beer] and took a long swallow. 'Warm, cold, it's still better than water.' " On the facing page, J.J. enters. James offers him a beer. J.J. says "[b]etter than water." Skip thinks, "I couldn't believe it. Better than water?" This was extremely odd. Skip loves beer so much he drinks it in every chapter. James has just used this formulation without incident. But when J.J. says it Skip wonders why anyone would like beer so much? This isn't even the worst example. The book is packed with misspellings that any halfway decent editor could have fixed. "It's" where the proper construction is "its". A character who invites someone to "take a peak" at something. Or referring to the musical group "Flight of the Concords". I noticed at least a half-dozen of these, all of them jarring.
I cannot recommend this book.
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