Review of "The Grifter" by Ali Gunn

I've heard the saying that revenge is a dish best served cold, meaning it has more impact if it's well past the harm done. Well, sometimes Karma doesn't work fast enough to suit us, and that's the setup to The Grifter, a novel by Ali Gunn and Sean Campbell. Gunn most recently released The Career Killer, Campbell has a dozen books available. All are based in the UK and revolve around police detectives and, well, psychopaths.

Hank Marvin, our story's protagonist, is bent on revenge. So much so that he watches the younger and seriously more successful (soon to be a billionaire fund manager) Kent Bancroft every day from across the street, bundled in a sleeping bag, or standing on his one leg, leaning up against a tiny stoop.

When the two interact early in the novel I'm reminded slightly of the discussion of a major player on Wall Street and a homeless wretch on the street in Bonfire of the Vanities. There's a flavor there, the language, and definitely the bristling anger and resentment that one can have so much while another can have so little. Ah, but so sweet the thought of revenge.

Marvin is completely absorbed, smothered in his own anger (and his own odor from living on the streets) that we are at first unsure whether to pity him, or cast him aside and concentrate on the near billionaire, but again, that must be what's happened already to our protagonist. We wouldn't be the first to give up on him and slink away in disgust.

And then our writers throw us a bone - the rich and happy Kent is as frazzled as our poor itinerant. It seems while one has everything, they are in serious danger of losing it all via a beautiful wife with a will to impress, and a daughter who is "spending her inheritance decades before it was due." And the man with nothing has at least some friends and a plan to exact the aforementioned revenge. It's great to have a goal in life!

And the Writing

It turns out this isn't a police procedural, it's not about detectives, it's about emotion, and turning all your efforts into something you shouldn't. Then again, have or have not, sometimes you just can't help yourself.

The writing comes out real and often enough vivid and thought-involving if not thought-provoking. The authors move at a steady pace, introducing characters, filling some backstory, and giving the protagonist/antagonist enough rope to hang themselves with. Whether they use their talents for good or evil is the will of the players and the view of the readers.

I, myself, enjoyed it all. You can too, for just a 99-cent preorder at Amazon - The Grifter -