Lights Out!

by Donald Bain

"A bold money-making scheme spins wildly out of control in this absorbing thriller"
Five major blackouts have paralyzed the USA since the late 1950s. The sixth will occur in a few months' time.
At the age of fifty-three, married Canadian engineer Carlton Smythe meets a mysterious woman in a Buenos Aires bar - and falls head over heels in love for the first time in his life. Desperate to find the funds to escape his loveless marriage to Cynthia and embark on a new life in Argentina with the beautiful Gina Ellanado, Smythe devises an audacious money-making scheme, brilliant in its simplicity and boldness. But to pull it off, he will need to do business with some wholly undesirable criminal elements, including reputed local Mafia boss Dominick Martone and some USA counterparts. And that's when things start to spin wildly out of control.

192 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2014

About the author

From Wikipedia: Donald Bain (1935-2017) was a United States author and ghostwriter.

Author Jack Pearl is his cousin and sometime co-author.

Known Pseudonyms:
Jessica Fletcher
Joan Wood
J.D. Hardin
Nick Vasile
Mike Lundy
Pamela South
Lee Jackson
Stephanie Blake
Marjorie Margolies
Kathy Cole
Donna Bain

Reviews

[Frank Errington · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review copy

Donald Bain has been a successful writer for more than 25 years, penning Murder She Wrote mysteries for at least that long. In 2003, when the lights went out, up and down the eastern seaboard, he came up for the idea of Lights Out! and this last year he made a point of finishing the novel.

The end result is the story of Carlton Smythe, a former electrical engineer with Power-Can, a huge Ontario power company. Smythe devises a scheme to knock out the power grid over a large portion of the east coast. But it's not just a plot of revenge, what if you could predict when the power would go out? Would crime bosses be willing to pay for that information and if so, how much?

Smythe is married into money, but wants to leave his wife for an Argentinian beauty, however if he leaves her, he won't get a dime. He needs his own cash to spend on his new love interest, so together with a current, disgruntled employee at Power-Can, he plans the big event, sells the info on when it will happen to a Toronto mob boss, who then sells the information to other crime bosses, in other cities. Knowing when the lights will go out can mean big bucks for those with criminal intent. It seems fool proof.

For the most part, I enjoyed Lights Out! but, it was a little bland. Everything was so straightforward, very few twists and turns, almost predictable. The only real surprise csme at the end and even that left mea little disappointed.

Although the official realease date for Lights Out! is June 1st, 2014, I see where it's already availble from Severn House, in a variety of formats, through Amazon.com

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

First time reading this author. The premise was interesting but it became clear at some point that everything was going to go awry. The only question then was how would it all end up, and the answers weren't necessarily what I was expecting.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

A light, fun read with a couple of unexpected turns.

[Claudia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a fan of this book. Found it too lengthy and rather boring. Ended up just going to the ending, which happened to be the best part.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carlton Smythe, once an electrical engineer with Power-Can, feels trapped and bored with his marriage. While on a business trip, he meets a young woman named Gina and, besotted with her, concocts a wild scheme involving a blackout and crime lords that will allow him to leave his marriage behind and spend his days with the sultry girl of his dreams.

Readers will find the story of Carlton’s caper straightforward and, despite having a good idea of just where this wild plan will end up, will enjoy the humor and the antics surrounding its execution. It’s a thoroughly good read.

Recommended.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carlton Smythe is a Canadian businessman. He hatches a plan to get out of his loveless marriage after meeting an Argentine beauty. With the aid of a friend who used to work for him in a power plant, he plans to cause a huge blackout along the eastern coast. Well, the best laid plans.....
Sometimes you just want to chuckle. The ending is classic.

I had never read Donald Banes' novels before. He wrote the "Murder She Wrote" series.

[Mhd]

Oh, no, no, no. This book's little blurb on my library's recommended reading list sounded good. Unfortunately, the book wasn't as good as the blurb. I read the first 1/3 and the last 2 chapters: little had happened in the beginning and little happened at the end. The main character had no redeeming traits for me. The subtitle doesn't seem valid at all: there wasn't any heist in the parts I read nor was there anything thrilling.

[Claire Osgood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty entertaining, decently written book. Makes a reader think about the company he keeps. Proves that crime doesn't pay, especialy when it depends on the help of an ignorant addict. Plot has several surprising twists and turns.

[Mike Harper · Rating 2 out of 5]

Undistinguished, but not a bad day's read.v

[Conni Harness · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read. A little weak on resolutions at conclusion.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea. I like books where I'm rooting for the protagonist, but in this case everyone was a bad guy. Not even a heroic bad guy -- they were small petty criminals.