Saturday, April 29, 2017

Fool Me Twice - a Carol Golden Novel #6

Author Alan Cook
reviewed from e-reader

The latest book in the Carol Golden series and once again Alan Cook has put a new spin into the story. Carol, the girl of many names and few memories, is now the wife of Rigo who saved her life in the first book, and the mother of Stevie, an adventurous and bold one-year-old. One might say that he is determined enough to maybe someday follow in his mother's footsteps.

This time around, Carol finds herself completely befuddled in how to deal with the elderly victim of a huge scam who refuses to go to the police. Both are rather adept in figures and puzzles, but Peter Griffenham, a retired professor who taught business courses, seems reluctant to pursue any action on his behalf to reclaim a very large sum of money that he wired to an unknown. Though he worries his son is going to try to get control of his money, he has just parted with $100,000 to an off-shore account. Is this the action of the author of a book, "Holding on to Your Money" he wrote years ago?

It's hard not to like Peter, but equally hard not to give up on him, enough to want to pull your hair out. He's not dense or senile, one supposes he is one of those people who either don't want to admit they made a mistake or one who doesn't want to get anyone in trouble. Whichever, it seems that one embezzler has been beaten to the punch by another. Amy is a delightful surprise in this book; she is smart, beautiful, an actress and a puzzle. The relationship between Peter and Amy is unusual but I feel both benefit from meeting each other, not in the usual beneficial way of friends but friendly with a few surprises. What is keeping Peter from going to the police or a lawyer? Who does he really suspect? For that matter, he seems to have a few surprising secrets himself. With Carol still trying to retrieve her memory each book has me involved in a very different story. Another fascinating book by Alan Cook, as always, I find the gymnastics of logic in the story very entertaining.

No comments: