Out On The Rim

Arthur Case Wu #2

by Ross Thomas

Hired by moneymen to funnel funds to anti-Aqurno rebels but interested chiefly in lining his own pocket, Booth Stallings seeks the help of the wily Artie Wu, pretender to the Chinese throne, in pulling off his dangerous scam

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Crime, Espionage, Noir, Mystery Thriller

314 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1987

About the author

Ross Thomas was an American writer of crime fiction. He is best known for his witty thrillers that expose the mechanisms of professional politics. He also wrote several novels under the pseudonym Oliver Bleeck about professional go-between Philip St. Ives.

Thomas served in the Philippines during World War II. He worked as a public relations specialist, reporter, union spokesman, and political strategist in the USA, Bonn (Germany), and Nigeria before becoming a writer.

His debut novel, The Cold War Swap, was written in only six weeks and won a 1967 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. Briarpatch earned the 1985 Edgar for Best Novel. In 2002 he was honored with the inaugural Gumshoe Lifetime Achievement Award, one of only two authors to earn the award after their death (the other was 87th Precinct author Evan Hunter in 2006).

He died of lung cancer two months before his 70th birthday.

Reviews

[James Thane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in the mid-1980s, this is another very complex and entertaining novel from Ross Thomas. It has a large cast of characters and more than a few great plot twists and so it's best to play close attention.

At the heart of the novel are Arthur Case Wu, the pretender to the throne of China, his partner, Quincy Durant, and their decidedly unreliable sometime ally, Otherguy Overby, all of whom first appeared in Chinaman's Chance. As the book opens, a terrorism expert named Booth Stalling is suddenly and unceremoniously fired from his job at a Washington D.C. foundation. Immediately thereafter he is offered a new assignment by a shadowy group of characters who are never clearly identified. Perhaps they are somehow connected the the American government; perhaps they are not.

Whichever the case, Stallings is offered $500,000 to deliver $5,000,000 to a rebel leader in the Philippines named Al Espiritu who opposes the Aquino government. Stallings is chosen for the mission because years ago when they were both much younger, Stallings and Espiritu fought closely together in the Philippines during WW II. For $5,000,000, Espiritu is supposed to give up his revolt and retire in luxury to Hong Kong.

Stallings accepts the assignment, but delivering that much money to a furtive rebel leader in the mountains of the Philippines is not an easy task. Stallings will require assistance and thus winds up recruiting Wu, Durant, and Overby. Also along for the ride is Georgia Blue, a tough and beautiful bodyguard who left the employ of the Secret Service under questionable circumstances.

It's clear from the beginning that no one in this crew, Stallings included, has any intention of actually delivering the $5,000,000 to Espiritu. They intend to take the money for themselves, and inevitably some members of the group would rather take all of the money rather than share it with their compatriots. Inevitably double-crosses will be piled one on top of another, and things will get pretty convoluted. But the plot is riveting and moves along at a great pace.

All the characters, Wu and Durant in particular, are very devious and entertaining, and as always with Ross Thomas, the book has a lot of dark humor and is very well written. I'm in the middle of rereading all of Thomas's novels, or at least the ones I've been able to find, and I can't wait to get to the next one.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Man was this complicated! So many names and characters to keep track of, so many crosses, double and triple crosses, that the reader needs a scorecard. Short of that, one must simply pay close attention, because Mr. Thomas has written a curvy plot full of cons, greed, and of course, political sarcasm.

The story line seems straightforward enough to begin with: some anonymous group, probably composed of several private and governmental interest groups, want to have a terrorism expert called, Booth Stallings, deliver five million dollars to an old acquaintance living deep in the Philippine jungle island of Cebu. In return, they prefer the former guerrilla fighter turned rebel leader / figurehead retire in exile to Hong Kong or someplace other than the Phillipines instead of arming his resistance soldiers to prevent the return of the Marcos to power. Got it? Simple right?

Of course, this is all done hush hush, no official admission from Washington of interference, etc. So Booth needs to enlist some help and ultimately winds up with a team of five, including a professional con-man named Overby whom everyone calls "Otherguy" because whenever he seems to be close to getting caught, it is always the "other guy" who takes the fall, a large fellow called Aurther (Artie) Wu and his apparently lethal partner Quincy Durant, and a beautiful, sexy former secret service agent, Gloria Blue. Well, it's supposed to be a five-way split-- you didn't really think this group would ever deliver the five million, did you-- but the notion of honor among thieves is fiction and Thomas keeps us guessing as to who's zooming who.

It's all good fun, albeit somewhat complex and perhaps just a tad too much so. Nevertheless, it's a decent way to escape reality for a few days; not the best from this author, perhaps 3.5 rounded down for unnecessary confusion inducing twists, but still, fans of the author will enjoy it.

[Mal Warwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ross Thomas‘ inimitable thrillers were originally published between 1966 and 1994. (Ross died the following year.) More recently, most of his work has been brought out in new editions, each with an introduction by a prominent contemporary of his who wrote mysteries and thrillers, too. Introducing Out on the Rim, one of Thomas’ last novels, Donald E. Westlake comments “The dialogue zings, the story twists like a go-go dancer, and you often can’t tell the players even with the program.” Amen to that.

Published in 1987 and set a year earlier, Out on the Rim is a roller-coaster of a tale that moves from Washington, DC, to Los Angeles, to Manila and Cebu City in the Philippines, to Hong Kong, and back to Washington, DC, for a typically ironic and very satisfying conclusion. The focus of attention is Booth Stallings, a “terrorism expert”—he holds a Ph.D. and wrote a book on the subject—but Thomas shifts the point of view from Stallings to each of a number of other intriguing characters whose principal occupation seems to be double-crossing each other.

There’s Artie Wu, the brilliant and corpulent “Pretender to the Chinese Imperial Throne.” (He claims to be the illegitimate son of the illegitimate son of Pu Yi, the Last Emperor.) Wu’s partner in crime is Quincy Durant, a sociopath who works cons with him. Others frequently refer to him as “that f***ing Durant.” Maurice Overby, “House-sitter to the Stars,” known to most as Otherguy Overby (the other guy always did it), is also a con man. He always works at an angle about 45 degrees off course from everyone else. Georgia Blue, a cashiered former Secret Service agent, may not be licensed to kill, but it’s clear she is fully capable of doing it. Alejandro (Al) Espiritu, who fought the Japanese with Stallings, is now the leader of a rebel movement in the south of the Philippines. Also appearing are Al’s wife and sister, assorted CIA agents, a Philippine homicide detective, and an Australian expatriate in Manila who is selling secrets to so many governments that he can’t keep them all straight. As Donald Westlake says, “you often can’t tell the players even with the program.”

Shortly after his 60th birthday, Booth Stallings is recruited to return to the Philippines after more than 40 years to reconnect with Al Espiritu. His assignment is to persuade the rebel leader to accept a $5 million bribe to leave the islands for exile in Hong Kong. Stallings will be paid a fee of $500,000 for the job (about a million dollars in 2017). To help carry out this dangerous assignment, he turns to Otherguy Overby, who connects him with Wu and Durant. Stallings plans to fly to Manila with the other three men, but then the man who recruited him insists that his bodyguard, Georgia Blue, join the team. Immediately after their arrival in the Philippines, the trouble starts—and it doesn’t let up until the very end of this delightfully convoluted story.

[Constantinos Capetanakis · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is something beyond comprehension and quite beyond me when people don't read Ross Thomas.

[Craig Pittman · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a delightfully cynical bit of pulp this is! There were times when Ross Thomas' dim view of human behavior and motivations actually made me laugh out loud, starting with a World War II prologue that perfectly sets the stage for the actions of everyone in the rest of the book.

Although "Out on the Rim" is the second novel to feature the adventurers/con men Artie Wu and Quincy Durant, the book's main focus is on terrorism expert Booth Stallings, a 60ish think tank employee. When we first meet him, Stallings is being very smoothly fired from his job, then offered a gig handing over $5 million to a Phillippines terrorist leader he knows from way back when. The catch: For the terrorist to get the money, he has to leave the Phillippines and go into exile in Hong Kong.

Stallings accepts the job, fully intending to steal as much of the money as he can, then enlists the aid of Wu, Durant and their sometime collaborator, the delightfully named "Otherguy Overby" -- so named because when something goes wrong, he's always able to pin the blame on some other guy. They also hook up with an ex-Secret Service agent named Georgia Blue who turns out to be one of Durant's ex-lovers. The one thing they all agree on is that they should get that $5 million, and not the man Stallings is supposed to give it to.

The plot grows complicated from there, with interludes involving a high-society Phillippines heiress, a pair of CIA agents, a Manila homicide cop, a retired Army man, a woman who may or may not be the terrorist's daughter, various mercenaries and a scuzzy Aussie info-broker named Boy Howdy. Some of these people will wind up dead before the last page, and you will never ever guess which ones before it happens. Besides the dark humor, the other delight with Thomas is that you can never predict which way his plots will turn.

My only real disappointment is that there's only one more Wu-Durant novel left to read. I'll tackle that one soon.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a whole lot of fun! Its froth, but intelligently done and consistently funny. It is more or less a satire of espionage novels, and effective in doing that.

This is not a work of any significance, but it is a terrific book to spend a weekend with. It reads like going to a movie. Quincy Durant and Artie Wu and Otherguy Overby, all from the previous escapade are once again good company, along with a raft of new characters, most notably Georgia Blue.

The plot borders on the absurd, and is occasionally excessively complicated, but things do come together at the end, more or less. There is also a detailed sense of the Philippines several decades ago, which I found interesting. Not a memorable book or any kind of serious literature, but simply diverting and, as I said, a lot of fun.

[Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rivoluzioni in contanti

5 milioni di dollari sono una bella cifra, soldi dalla provenienza sconosciuta e destinati a un terrorista filippino. Per cosa?
Che importa, quando si deve ballare si balla, soprattutto se a gestire la cosa è un gruppo di personaggi dalle intenzioni non troppo oneste, neanche tra di loro.

In casi come questo i sospetti sono sempre dietro l'angolo, al pari dei cadaveri che piano piano cominciano a seminare il terreno. Uccisioni poco eclatanti, in sordina, che servono a delineare lo scenario ideale per Artie Wu e Quincy Durant, ci sguazzano come squali, attirati non tanto dal sangue quanto dall'odore dei soldi mischiato al doppio gioco e informatori vari.
Una coppia dotata di una morale ineccepibile, che certamente non rifugge la disonestà ma almeno evita la violenza gratuita, capace sempre di sdrammatizzare grazie ad una lucida quanto forte intesa.

L'autore ha il merito di una scrittura descrittiva semplice ma efficace e l'intelligenza di creare dialoghi sagaci e funzionali: anche nei momenti di transizione, quei momenti che prendono direzioni proprie rispetto alla storia generale, il piacere di leggere non diminuisce. Non il mio, almeno.

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Headline really says it all but I suppose I need to explain why.

I watched Vice today and it had to be one of the most bleak, cynical movies I’ve ever seen. It was excellent. And it reminded me of why I need Ross Thomas novels in my life, anytime really but especially now…to ward off the creeping nihilism that comes from American politics.

Thomas is a cynic too but he doesn’t let that get in the way of entertainment. His books are fun and none perhaps more so than this. A swashbuckling tale of fomenting and/or preventing revolution in the Philippines, led by an eclectic cast of characters and suffused with great dialogue, Out on the Rim is International Thomas (as opposed to Domestic Thomas) in its purest, giddiest form.

The plot is denser than most Thomas novels and we’re not always the better for it. There is perhaps a character too many and some of the maneuverings were lost on me. But like Elmore Leonard, whom Thomas is often compared to, you just don’t care because the story is so much fun. It jumps from scene to scene, leaving the reader in anticipation of what wackiness is going to happen next. And when it started to run out of gas near the end, the resolution was amusing.

No one writes books like these anymore (or like Leonard’s for that matter). Everyone either tries too hard to be cool or tries to hard to be serious. Ross Thomas proves you can have your cynical cake and eat it too, provided you keep it fun and non-partisan.

[Larry Carr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in 1986, Out On the Rim is spot on of the times. As Ross Thomas is want to do, he describes the 80’s through the shenanigans of political conmen & shysters, which include government officials, lawyers, business men, and the office, aka, CIA. In This tale, an outstanding novel, which would also translate into great cinema at the hands of say Quentin Tarantino. I’m surprised he never optioned it?

Before the book, the introduction by Donald Westlake deserves mention. Donald Westlake on Ross Thomas…
“I’m trying to figure out how to tell the story I want to tell here. It necessarily contains a short blunt Anglo-Saxon word which, in many contexts, I have no trouble employing, but which, in the present context, seems to me to present the wrong tone, to be off-key. So I tell you what; when we reach any point, in dialogue or wherever, that the word I have in mind would be deployed, I’ll use the word “magruder” instead. Okay?”
“The reporter would only be in the one scene, but the audience should be able to remember him whenever that vital fact emerged, so would Gary mind if Ross called the character “Gary Salt,” that being an easy and a memorable name? Gary said he wouldn’t mind at all, in fact he’d be honored. And then he added these fateful words: “Just remember, some day my mother’s going to see that movie. So I don’t care who the character is, just so he doesn’t magruder children and animals.”
“Gary didn’t know, or didn’t fully appreciate. Ross was a contrarian. He couldn’t help himself; if told he couldn’t do something, he would not rest until he’d done it. A Monsignor Knox, back in the twenties, had compiled a list of subjects that could not be used in detective novels: dwarfs, Chinamen, etc. Ross saw that list somewhere, and immediately set out to write a detective novel about every one of those taboos: The Eighth Dwarf, Chinaman’s Chance, etc.”
“Draft after draft goes by, and the reporter in the bar becomes a photographer, the photographer becomes a pornographer, then the pornographer becomes the head of a pornography ring and the principle villain in the story, and by the time the film was made “Gary Salt” was the most evil guy in the movie and, yes, he did magruder children and animals. Gary took it philosophically, understanding by then that Ross couldn’t help it. I don’t know if Gary’s mother ever saw the movie; hope not.”
This is so Thomas, and moreover, so Westlake!

Now the story 1986, post Ferdinand Marcos, our protagonist, Booth Stallings, a 60 something “terrorist expert” is hired by a “business consortium” to lure a Filipino warlord out of hiding with a offer of $5 million, and safe haven in Hong Kong. The pitch: “If Espiritu comes down from the hills and exiles himself to Hong Kong, my people figure it’s eight to five that Madame Aquino can cut a deal with the NPA and keep on being President.” Stallings studied Harry Crites’ expression, looking for guile and deception, but finding only a crack salesman’s normal greed and unassailable confidence.” Booth: “If the NPA makes a deal with Aquino, they won‘t’ve won anything and they’ll’ve lost what power they had. It doesn’t work like that. Not in the Philippines. Not in Afghanistan. Not in El Salvador or Lebanon. Not in Peru. Not in the Basque country or Northern Ireland. Not anywhere.” “The blue eyes had come down with a chill and the wide joke-prone mouth had slipped from glad into grim. A faintly surprised Stallings realized that the son of a bitch didn’t like me—surprised not so much as the revelation as the surprise itself.” Cripes cares less about his knowledge and expertise, Stallings has been selected at the request of Al Espiritu for their history killing Japanese together 40 years prior. Claims he trusts Booth. Stallings is just a bag man in the deal. Blake’s fee a tidy $500,000, but he has other ideas… and four partners are acquired in the plan for a big score. Otherguy Overby, Artie Woo & Quincy Durant, quite the pair, and belatedly Georgia Blue, Cripes’ female body guard, and ex secret service, to watchdog the crew.
First Booth meets up with deal maker, con artist, now LA house sitter for a rock star drying out at the Betty Ford. Otherguy Overby by name…
Otherguy: “I figured it was you from what that son-in-law of yours told me over the phone. An old crock, he said, who’ll be wearing funny cheap clothes, a barber college haircut and walks with kind of a waltz. Hard to miss, he said.” Booth: “I just don’t much like dealing with anyone who needs to wear fifty-five thousand dollars worth of car.”
Overby started the engine, shifted into reverse, changed his mind, shifted back into park and stared at Booth Stallings. “What are you, Jack—some kind of act?”
Stallings smiled his smallest smile. “Didn’t that son-in-law of mine mention it? I do the old coot.”
“After I talked to him, what’s his name, Mott, I went down to the Malibu Library and checked out that book of yours, Anatomy of Terrorism.” “Anatomy of Terror,” Stallings said, unable to resist the correction.
“Yeah. Right. Well, I read it. Most of it, in fact, but then I quit about three-quarters through. Want to know why?” “Not really.” “Because I couldn’t figure out whose side you were on.”
“Good,” Booth Stallings said.”

Whose side everybody’s on is the central story. Booth and his foursome. The rebels, Al Espiritu, his “grand daughter”, correction wife Carmen, and sister Minnie. Not to mention, the local police, cons and officials, and our beloved CIA wise guys (Jack Cray & Weaver Jordan). Summed nicely by,
“If we know nothing about you,” he said slowly, “then you can’t know anything about us, can you? And you’d have no use for that promissory note or the photos.” “What a good boy,” said the beaming look that Artie Wu gave Jack Cray. Aloud, he said, “And thus we all arrive safely at the perfect stalemate.” “Otherwise known as mutual blackmail,” Durant said. “I like detente better,” Weaver Jordan said. Wu beamed again. “Then we’ll call it detente.”

Hovering over the Manila milieu: “It was the Rotary Club of Metro Cebu’s four-question billboard whose fourth question still wondered:
“Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?”

It’s no wonder Mrs. Acquino didn’t stand a chance. Now you’ve had your taste, go read the book.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been looking to read a Thomas book for quite a while after hearing about him from the Watch podcast. Felt he'd be right up my alley, and that was definitely the case.

I couldn't help drawing a lot of parallels of this political caper to an Oceans 11 type story - a group of very canny people trying to play all kinds of angles to get both the goal and the money. Of course, many of those angles were with and against each other while also against everyone else involved. I'll be honest, at a few junctures, I was lost myself in who was the good guy and the bad guy and Thomas' whole point is that it's just not that simple - almost everyone has good and bad - much like real life.

The thing that really sets this book apart is the dialogue - you just don't read such sharp, quick and funny dialogue in many places. The comparisons to Elmore Leonard are dead on - just really captures how the sort of person that would be involved in this caper would talk (I think .... while reading you think "yea, I could be part of the group" then realize .... umm, no, no I couldn't).

Due to getting lost a few times, which may just have been me but doesn't happen much, had to mark it 4 instead of 5 but definitely planning on reading a lot more of Thomas' work.

[Ben Peyton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apparently, I'm reading this series backward. I started with Voodoo, Ltd. and then moved on to Out on the Rim. This was good but not as good as Voodoo, Ltd. I found the story to be a little convoluted as compared to the third book in the series. But, I guess it does fill in some of the gaps concerning the personal relationships between the characters. Again, Ross Thomas's ability to write amazing dialogue is what keeps these books moving forward. These books, especially this one, all have a touch of a spy thriller, international espionage, and traditional whodunit. But, it's not like the pages are packed full of action with buildings blowing up on every page or shoots happening every chapter. The action is much more subtle. It's a tough thing to balance because sometimes it works really well and sometimes it feels like the story is dragging in places. In, Out on the Rim, I just found the story moved a little slower than Voodoo, Ltd but overall it was still enjoyable.

[R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Out on the Rim has by far the most convoluted plot of the 5 or so Ross Thomas books I've read. The beginning was a little slow, and by mid-book I could have used a character list, BUT...
It was worth any extra effort!

He puts his service time in the Philippines to good use in this romping tale of intrigue and treachery in the dangerous days after the Aquinos took over from the ousted Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos.

[Glenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

As Joe Turkel, in the role of Tiny, says in Kubrick's "The Killing," " Having a ball as usual."

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can count on Ross Thomas to provide a compelling opening scene. In this one, it's during World War II. Booth Stallings and Alexjandro Espiritu, and an overly zealous soldier/medic and "failed quaker," Hovey Profette, are hiding in the hills. Profetts wants to shoot two Japanese Imperial Guards which would give away their position, so Espiritu kills him silently with a bolo and his comrades pretend he died in battle, even nominating him for the distinguished service cross.

Now 40 years later, Aquino has just taken power in the Phillippines but rebels want to take the new government down. Langley (or someone else?) wants to bring rebel Alexjandro Espiritu out of the hills by bribing him to leave the country, and they offer big money. Booth Stallings, author of a book on terrorism, is the only person Al trusts - slightly. Stallings assembles a cast of cons - Otherguy Overby; Artie Wu and his partner in Wudu, Inc, Quincy Durant; and Georgia Blue, a fierce former Secret Service agent - all of whom, of course, immediately smell "sweet profit," and begin to plot a scheme to split the money five ways. In this one it's a variation on the confidence trick, the Omaha Banker. It's every man - and one woman - for him or herself. Espiritu says to Overby "You really do deal in greed, don't you?" And Overby responds "What else is there?"

Ross Thomas populates his novels with "varied and murky" characters who hire "frighteners," and are especially conversant with violence, but all in a good cause. There's the Australian, Boy Howdy. And Emily Cariaga who is "richly wed and expensively educated in Switzerland," and is shocked when Durant tells her that the money to bribe Espiritu is not a consortium of American and Japanese, but Marcos money. Politics always lurk, and sometimes are lightly done, as in "the clubhouse had seemed like such a good idea to the Marcos regime and such a bad idea to the farmers it dispossessed."

[Marty Fried · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so good I regretted finishing it. It's really a fun and funny read, with lots of twists and turns along the way. It seems that nobody ever tells the whole truth, which is to be expected since they're all basically con men and women.

I really like the dry humor of Ross Thomas. It's pretty constant, both in the dialog and the descriptions. The characters all seem to understand each other even without saying anything specific, probably because they all think alike; they all want the money, however they can get it.

In this story, a government terrorism expert gets fired, and offered a job that only he can do, which is to pay an old friend, now a Filipino terrorist, 5 million dollars to leave the Philippines. For this, he will get paid $500,000, a high price because he's a single source for the job. He needs help, and gets directed to a guy named Overby, who is called Otherguy because it's always the other guy that did it. But Overby is supposedly just the go-between, because he know how to find our heroes, Wu and Durant, who have been friends since they were kids in an orphanage. They are probably the only two people who are honest with each other.

The story is about how these and a few others go about trying to get the 5 million that they are supposed to give to the Filipino terrorist. We're never sure of the plan, and I'm not sure if anyone else is sure, either, except that everything seems to go according to plans - or at least, they don't seem surprised by most of the outcomes.

The only negative I can think of is that there is only one more book in this series. Fortunately, there are lots of other books by Ross Thomas, and I hope to read them all.

[Ross McClintock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Man, Ross Thomas (great first name) writes some barn burning pot boilers. As is typical for Thomas, his characters are whip smart, scheming thing 5-6 steps ahead of the readers, and getting into all sorts of chaos. This tale is about a group of conmen (and conwoman!) who intend on defrauding a shady government agency and Filipino guerilla group out of $5 million.

The pacing is lightning quick, so much so that I didn't notice that the plot gets a bit convoluted, as I was simply racing to keep up with these schemers quips, motivations and allegiances. I enjoyed some touches as a bit enjoyably outlandish, such as street level hucksters having contacts in the CIA, or characters named Boy Howdy or Georgia Blue. It added a nice bit of humor to the proceedings.

[Torben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ein gutes Buch mit viel verstecktem Wissen und vielen Schichten. Aber auch wenn man diese nicht entdeckt unterhaltsam, kurzweilig und spannend. Die kurzen 43 Kapitel treiben das Tempo hoch. Der Leser weiß nie, woran er ist und es ist empfehlenswert, den Roman schnell zu lesen, da sonst Details verloren gehen. Nur mal eben ein Kapitel lesen, ist hier ungünstig. Es ist auch so hirnverknotend und ständig war ich auf der Suche nach Verbindungen. Trotzdem wäre ich jetzt gespannt auf Band 1und 3 mit den beiden Protagonisten.

[Araych · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wu and Durant #2. I don't think Ross Thomas could write a bad book if he tried. I've read several of his and really liked all of them. However I think this is one of his weakest only because it was written in the 1980's and takes place mostly in the Philippines and is focused on the Marcos/Aquino governments and the attendant fictionalized shenanigans. Double crosses, triple crosses and even more complicated trickery abound, all of which is Thomas' metier. Unfortunately it all doesn't carry much import today. I did like it but 3 stars.

[Tracella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Could Artie Wu and Quincy Durant get any better? I don’t think so. This one has so many double, triple crosses it sometimes required re-reading, but it was so worth it. I now have a crush on Booth Stallings and officially want to kick Georgia Blue into next week. The real genius of Thomas’ writing is the political intrigue becoming transparent without the cynical realism crushing all hope out of me. Plus, I love DuPont Circle.

[Doclocke · Rating 2 out of 5]

convoluted, flat

Normally, I enjoy Ross Thomas’ work. Plots are demanding, characters engaging. But this one’s a string of labored set pieces, convoluted plot twists, cast of a dozen circling, angling characters without much direction or compass. There’s a curious lack of tension at the heart of it—as though the mainspring were broken or someone forgot to wind it. Two stars for occasional insights or bits of dialog, but not much else.

[Michael Norwitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Suffers only by comparison with Chinaman's Chance (the first Wu & Durant novel), but with an improved role for female characters, this novel brings back the inimitable Otherguy Overby and a pair of new characters: Booth Stallings and Georgia Blue, in a trip to the Philippines to deliver ... or not ... five million dollars to a rebel leader there. Impeccably done as always from Ross Thomas.

[Brian Longtin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This crackling, winding con job builds and builds as its colorful characters cross and double-cross. With a story so tightly wound and crisply written you'd think Soderbergh had already adapted it to film.

[Roger King · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent dialog, characters, and plot

The plot moved quickly and unexpectedly through the front- and backwaters of the Philippines as various nefarious characters, Marcos cronies, and the CIA try to double-, triple-, and even quadruple cross each other.

[Dan Baumann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Steeped in cheap beer and late 80s cynicism. Funny, backstabby, and still mixing in some really deft writing. Does the job of placing you in this seedy world and making it make sense. A good caper story in a cool setting!

[Adrian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little dated and chaotic read a bit like Oceans movies but in the 80s

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful page turner full of deception and characters. Great fun read.

[Mr.Wade · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who can you trust?

[StiffSticks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I THINK I understood most of the plot & was able to keep most of the characters straight.

[Dan Wever · Rating 4 out of 5]

About 50 pages too long

[Andrew C · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A polo outfit in the Polo Lounge," Stallings murmured. "We just lost the edge, Otherguy."