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Flat Broke in Paradise
Upbeat and charismatic, Nick Thomas is living the high life in San Francisco, and it’s about to get even better. He has secured a loan to expand his company by putting up all of his extensive personal holdings. The day the loan funded, Nick awoke to an empty bank account and his friend and CFO, Lance, in the wind with thirty-two million dollars. Shocked, a suspect, and adrift, Nick must come to terms with the actions of his partner – and what it means going forward. His unusual reaction to the betrayal lands him in the South Pacific, embarking on a journey of adventure, romance, and discovery.
316 pages, Paperback
Published April 7, 2018
About the author
Patrick Livanos Lester
3 books2 followersPatrick Livanos Lester is a writer, artist, and gemologist. He worked with a team at NASA designing a collision avoidance system for aircraft, and then as a senior flight and ground operations engineer on the space station and space shuttle programs. He then became an international business consultant. He lives with his wife Kim in California, Hawaii, and other places with sailboats and palm trees.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
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June 21, 2018💝FREE on Amazon today (6/21/2018)!💝
January 1, 2019
There is so much to like in this complex, intelligently scripted story that one can forgive some of the hyperbole and the convenient plot devices that advance the action. Nick Thomas is an unusually charismatic hero. Despite his family’s great wealth and privileged social status, he has worked hard and has acquired an astonishing range of accomplishments. Nick is clever, honest, level-headed, but his most prominent characteristic is his uncanny ability to make friends quickly with just about anyone he meets. Often these chance encounters lead to very advantageous outcomes but, as I said, I was happy to be swept along in this mad gallop of escapism. It is a tale of greed, envy, and betrayal, and the morale seems to be that happiness should not depend on material possessions, but rather it can be found in friendship, kindness and trust in fellow humans. The ending does reach a certain closure, but leaves the story wide open for the many sequels that, happily, seem to be in the works.
On the plus side are the inventiveness of the deception and the detailed plotting of the criminal act which swiftly renders Nick “flat broke” as in the title. Also the authenticity. I always enjoy learning about specialist subjects, and this book includes a fascinating glimpse into sailboats, planes, diamonds, pearls, and playing jazz music. It is evident that the author is well versed in all these matters, and also that he has actually travelled to the places he speaks of with great authority. The main characters are sufficiently fleshed out, and I found myself feeling a measure of empathy even for the villain, Lance, which is strange. It just demonstrates that people are not all black-and-white good or bad, although there are plenty of clichéd supporting actors – all the women are amazingly beautiful, all the men (who are not crooks) are capable and reliable.
On the critical side, the pacing is uneven, and the author lets some of the many threads get too cold, so that coming back to a situation and the associated characters had me scrambling back a few chapters to remind myself of who was who and what was happening. Also the frequent flashbacks, some telescopic in nature, break the flow of the narrative. The writing style is plain, journalistic and unadorned to the point of laziness. Adjectives and adverbs are rare luxuries, dialogue is reduced to single sentences and abrupt statements, and descriptions are of the bare-bone variety. For some readers, that might be okay. Personally, I prefer it when a writer makes a bit more effort to draw me into the scene.
On the plus side are the inventiveness of the deception and the detailed plotting of the criminal act which swiftly renders Nick “flat broke” as in the title. Also the authenticity. I always enjoy learning about specialist subjects, and this book includes a fascinating glimpse into sailboats, planes, diamonds, pearls, and playing jazz music. It is evident that the author is well versed in all these matters, and also that he has actually travelled to the places he speaks of with great authority. The main characters are sufficiently fleshed out, and I found myself feeling a measure of empathy even for the villain, Lance, which is strange. It just demonstrates that people are not all black-and-white good or bad, although there are plenty of clichéd supporting actors – all the women are amazingly beautiful, all the men (who are not crooks) are capable and reliable.
On the critical side, the pacing is uneven, and the author lets some of the many threads get too cold, so that coming back to a situation and the associated characters had me scrambling back a few chapters to remind myself of who was who and what was happening. Also the frequent flashbacks, some telescopic in nature, break the flow of the narrative. The writing style is plain, journalistic and unadorned to the point of laziness. Adjectives and adverbs are rare luxuries, dialogue is reduced to single sentences and abrupt statements, and descriptions are of the bare-bone variety. For some readers, that might be okay. Personally, I prefer it when a writer makes a bit more effort to draw me into the scene.
August 15, 2022
If success means being okay with losing everything you have and starting over, then “Flat Broke in Paradise,” by Patrick Livanos Lester, explores how well Nick Thomas, the protagonist, measures up to the standard. This engaging novel follows Nick as he encounters a series of betrayals and setbacks, and struggles to find his way anew in the world. The characters are compelling and the action and subplots are great fun to follow.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews