Finished Tu 9/30/14
A saw this on the New Books Section at the library and finished it in two days. This author is supposed to have 'ghost-written' the novels of Margaret Truman. This book is like a second rate Donald Westlake, but not entirely bad.
Carlton Smythe is a Canadian engineer with POWER-CAN and is retired (forced layoff) and his wife is wealthy. They've been married for thirty years and it was a shotgun wedding, but they lost the child. He gets the bright idea to cause a power outage, and then sell the exact time to a mafia kingpin. Then he plans to leave his wife and take up with his Argentinian girlfriend in South America.
Dominick Marone- Crime boss of Toronto and a lover of opera. Gives Carlton a million dollars for the exact time of the power outage. When it doesn't occur, he's enraged at first, but then views it as a wake up call. Time to quit the life of crime.
Cynthia- Carlton's wife, a major supporter of COC (Canadian Opera Company)
Mrs. Gladys Wiggins- Carlton's mother-in-law. She is a domineering woman who lives with the couple
Gina Ellanado- Carlton's beautiful girlfriend. She's just looking for a sugar daddy, and really not an evil person.
Paul Saison- the slovenly drunk that works for POWER-CAN that Carlton pays $250,000 to shut off the power at 9:45pm on August 22nd. Paul is drunk and his watch is fifteen minutes late and the plans fall through.
Carlton gets on a cargo ship and sails to Brazil. And, when he arrives at Gina's love nest, she's been paid off by Cynthia and Gladys and his dismal marriage continues.
The book was an easy read, and I've read hundreds better plotted and written.
About a C-
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