Poor Richard

by Charles Vella

An alternate cover edition can be found here.

How was Les supposed to know what these guys were up to?

There he was, just a guy earning an honest, well, relatively honest living. Squeaking by, barely, until he met Delilah. But Les's more promising love life raised the burn rate on his modest means to the red line. So when Ira mentioned that a national airline had missed some payments on an airliner, Les wasn't in the mood to ask questions, or even to listen to Ira's vague concerns about the assignment. Les needed the money and the Department of Commerce, or maybe Ira's other, more shadowy, employer, needed Les. That was how capitalism worked, and Les was a capitalist.

So Les jumped at the job, and landed in an African jail. OK. That's bad. But at least things can't get any worse. Then why isn't Les relieved when Ira's real boss, the CIA Station Chief, bails him out? And what's the deal with Lennox, the guy he's teamed up with, who sits in the copilot's seat, flipping through skin rags and not saying a word? And what kind of a job is this anyway? Just fly the plane in and out Les. No big deal and a get out of jail free card. Good deal, right? Just one thing Les, and this one thing is very important. No questions. At all. About anything. Got it. No questions. I mean it's none of Les's business anyway, right?

But someone should have asked his mother, Ira, or anyone else who'd ever known Les. Keeping his big mouth shut is one life skill that he'd never mastered. And, unfortunately, Les is not quite as dumb as he looks. As he puts the pieces together on what Lennox is really doing it slowly dawns on him that things can get worse. Much worse. Until suddenly things are as bad as they can get for sure.

111 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 2, 2013

About the author

After a career in dysfunctional organizations of various types I've come to the conclusion that there aren't any other kinds. My first two books, Trojan Hearse and Poor Richard, are satires about what can happen when the vast power of government is handed to knuckleheads.

Now Boarding is a little different. It's about a young guy trying to get a foothold in the adult world and almost getting his head taken off in the process.

Only a few friends and family have read them so far but I'm going to be trying to get them a little more attention and we'll see what happens.

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this novel in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway. It was entertaining, but rather disjointed, and it is clearly intended for a male audience, with spies, murder, CIA, a military coup, that sort of thing. The protagonist kept changing, which to me indicated a lack of focus, and I never felt connected to any of the characters. Sorry.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book through the First Reads Giveaway on GoodReads.

While I thought the book was well-written, I found it very confusing as I read it. At first, it was very difficult to follow who the characters were and where exactly I was in the story, since the timeline seemed to jump around quite a bit.

However, in the end, it all came together (fairly) nicely.

[Esther · Rating 3 out of 5]

At 105 pages, this book is a good way to spend a rainy afternoon. Well written, unique cast of characters and interesting story. Definitely could be expanded into a full novel with character development, background and details.

[Diana Petty-stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast paced page turner! The bumbling inept son of the American Vice President gets himself mixed up with a misfit military coup in Africa. A couple of shady characters and a plan to get the son out of the country is crazy enough to be believable.

[Staci Suhy · Rating 3 out of 5]

** I received this book for free as part of a First-Reads promotion