Matchstick Men: A Novel About Grifters with Issues (Paperback)

The story centers around Frankie and Roy, two con men who day in day out rob people of their money using complex or simple tricks. I found some of the con games very interesting, as some are so simple I thought of trying them out myself (only for a few seconds). My favorite was the "twenties" game, which you'll be reading about while shaking your head at the simplicity of it. The con team is two very different men. Roy is a steady, veteran con artist who lives a relatively simple life and saves all his money. His only weakness is his obsessive compulsive disorder, which goes away if properly medicated Frankie is a horrible person with his money, blowing it all on luxury items and increasingly going into debt. He is much more a risk taker than his partner, wants to explore new avenues of crime with strange people. Roy is risk averse, worried that his stable criminal life will be disturbed if he goes outside his comfort zone. Everything changes when Roy's psychologist introduces his long lost daughter, a spunky 15 year old who Roy just falls in love with, as a father. She is energetic, and wants to learn the cons just like her father. As Roy learns to care for her more and more, he considers leaving his business behind. Contrary to some other reviews, I thought the character of Roy was very interesting. Although his whole history is not detailed for us, I formed a pretty good image of him and what makes him tick. Frankie could have used a little more fleshing out, but Roy is the focal point of the story anyway.

All of this culminates in a really great ending. It is the kind of ending that makes you really say "Ohhhh..I should have saw that coming!" One of the best parts of the book is to go back and look at all the seemingly obvious clues that you, an intelligent reader, should have picked up on. I guess you could say that it is the greatest triumph of a novel about con men is too pull a big mind con on the reader. Garcia certainly pulled that off with this reader. Great story all around, cannot wait for the movie.

MATCHSTICK MEN is one of the best books I have read this spring. It is fast, full of twists and cons, cleanly and cleverly plotted, and peopled with characters who, while not brilliant, are sturdy enough to hold up their ends of the book. Angela especially will keep you reading. For me, the ending was a complete surprise and it left me thinking the whole book through again from a different angle. I found it a resounding and fitting wrapup for a book of cons, hinted at but unexpected.

If you like fast, absorbing, perfectly plotted little books of petty crime with a twist, MATCHSTICK MEN is a treasure I couldn't recommend more highly.

What will happen next? The plot takes a number of surprising twists and turns and carries you along, unable to put the book down, until the surprise ending that blew me away. While some of the reviewers found the ending obvious, I must be a good "mark" because I fell for it completely.

This book is not for everyone. It is not uplifting or redeeming. It is about some very bad people doing very bad things, but it is extremely well-written, fast-moving, entertaining and engaging. It has a lot of interesting information about scams and flimflams. Sometimes it is funny. But nothing like dinosaurs. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.