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In this wickedly appetizing novel, tasty character traits are served with aplomb. Those particularly delicious qualities of deceit and betrayal virtually ooze from its pages like overstuffed cucumber and caviar canapés. Virtuous protagonists are set delightfully aside in favor of conniving con artists who ply their trade with copious attention to detail and a seemingly total lack of guiltwell—two out of three of them anyway.
To dive too deeply into the plot would be to deprive readers of revelations that unspool tantalizingly as the narrative plays out mostly around Marin County, Sausalito, and San Francisco. These upscale enclaves provide the perfect backdrop for wily goings-on among the well-heeled property owners and people they do business with in Northern California. A coterie of colorful characters keeps this chronicle of confidence games moving at just the right pace. Readers are soon compellingly caught up with siblings involved in skullduggery, woeful wives who've been cheated on, their philandering spouses, a psychic with a conscious, and role players on both sides of the law who may or may not be what they seem.
Author Roberts is an accomplished writer who fills her pages with articulately nuanced prose. Her dialogue is convincingly conversational and never strays into mere plot exposition. She traverses the ins and outs of real estate plus home buying and selling with the confidence of one who knows what she's talking about. Her coverage of FBI operations also feels both credible and authentic. With an engaging plot, sly twists and turns along the way, behavior that is based on appropriate motivation, and just enough human foibles to make even dastardly characters charming, this is a thoroughly enjoyable read.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review