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A Cup of Pending
A delicious tale of vengeance gone so wrong it just feels right!
Down on his luck and homeless, Cliff Trask tries to score a cup of pending coffee in an upscale Miami coffee shop. He and a friend are assaulted by a self-entitled hedge-fund manager. They decide to exact an elaborate bit of revenge, and end up with a pile of money and a lot more trouble than they ever imagined possible. The scheme goes off the rails in weird and wondrous ways. Cliff is soon embroiled with crooked cops, drug cartel assassins, and a gaggle of ex-trophy-wives, all working their own agendas. As if that weren't enough, the whole thing plays out on a Miami based reality TV show where Cliff manages to become the star of this unfolding disaster.
Will Cliff wind up dead at the hands of the determined forces arrayed against him, or will he and his friends marshal their collective street savvy to escape an awful fate at the last possible instant?
A Cup of Pending is a laugh-stoked romp through the Tropics, from South Beach to the boondocks of Tobago and back, with characters and events that would be unlikely in any other locale, but seem perfectly at home in the sun-drenched, sex-obsessed confines of Florida's Gold Coast.
Down on his luck and homeless, Cliff Trask tries to score a cup of pending coffee in an upscale Miami coffee shop. He and a friend are assaulted by a self-entitled hedge-fund manager. They decide to exact an elaborate bit of revenge, and end up with a pile of money and a lot more trouble than they ever imagined possible. The scheme goes off the rails in weird and wondrous ways. Cliff is soon embroiled with crooked cops, drug cartel assassins, and a gaggle of ex-trophy-wives, all working their own agendas. As if that weren't enough, the whole thing plays out on a Miami based reality TV show where Cliff manages to become the star of this unfolding disaster.
Will Cliff wind up dead at the hands of the determined forces arrayed against him, or will he and his friends marshal their collective street savvy to escape an awful fate at the last possible instant?
A Cup of Pending is a laugh-stoked romp through the Tropics, from South Beach to the boondocks of Tobago and back, with characters and events that would be unlikely in any other locale, but seem perfectly at home in the sun-drenched, sex-obsessed confines of Florida's Gold Coast.
330 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 24, 2016
3 people are currently reading
8 people want to read
About the author
Jonah Gibson
5 books38 followersI live in Lakeland, Florida with my wife, Madeline, and a retired racing greyhound named Bean. Bean is now 70 in people years, and I am 10 in dog years, so we've reached a kind of parity in decrepitude that is oddly satisfying. I frequently wish I could be as good a person as he is a dog. He may have the same feelings about me. I don't know. He doesn't talk much, but he does seem always anxious to know where I am and what I've been up to.
I've been writing for a long time in spite of being discouraged from the pursuit at an early age. Sister Mary Samuela, my 4th grade teacher, was not content to merely grade one of my early contributions to American Letters, but felt compelled to inform my mother that I had an “over-active imagination.” Unfortunately, my mom, a true saint in her own right, was not one of those mothers for whom love of children outweighed even the slightest criticism by a nun. The natural result of this was I toiled long and hard for many years as an accountant where my creative instincts, while applauded if they happened to save someone a few dollars in taxes, were more usually regarded with too much suspicion to be comfortable.
I grew up in Fort Recovery, Ohio—a rural burg with one stoplight, six churches, and six taverns. I only attended one of the churches, Mary Help of Christians Catholic. I got a lot of my values and sensibilities there, but my appreciation for the odd duck, the weird and wondrous, and the downright quirky? I got that swilling beer with my friends in those taverns—all six of 'em.
I've given up beer since, well, mostly. Now, I like a nice big martini before dinner. A martini is a civilizing influence. Martinis have turned me into an uptown boy over the years. I still appreciate the quirky though, and I still have those small town, church-born sensibilities. I like to think it shows in my writing, even though I write a lot about fringe elements of society—thieves, charlatans, grifters, and the like. They're the ones who help you recognize the sweetness when you find it. It's the same reason I prefer my candy with nuts.
When I'm not writing, I'm tinkering at art and probably thinking about fishing. I hardly ever go fishing, though, because I just don't like to get my tackle wet. Ironically, it's the same reason I don't play golf.
You can find me online at http://www.jonahgibsonarts.com. I post regularly about my books, works in progress, goings on, and way more personal rumination than is probably healthy. It's a pretty good place to get to know me because, let's face it, you're not going to find me out fishing.
I've been writing for a long time in spite of being discouraged from the pursuit at an early age. Sister Mary Samuela, my 4th grade teacher, was not content to merely grade one of my early contributions to American Letters, but felt compelled to inform my mother that I had an “over-active imagination.” Unfortunately, my mom, a true saint in her own right, was not one of those mothers for whom love of children outweighed even the slightest criticism by a nun. The natural result of this was I toiled long and hard for many years as an accountant where my creative instincts, while applauded if they happened to save someone a few dollars in taxes, were more usually regarded with too much suspicion to be comfortable.
I grew up in Fort Recovery, Ohio—a rural burg with one stoplight, six churches, and six taverns. I only attended one of the churches, Mary Help of Christians Catholic. I got a lot of my values and sensibilities there, but my appreciation for the odd duck, the weird and wondrous, and the downright quirky? I got that swilling beer with my friends in those taverns—all six of 'em.
I've given up beer since, well, mostly. Now, I like a nice big martini before dinner. A martini is a civilizing influence. Martinis have turned me into an uptown boy over the years. I still appreciate the quirky though, and I still have those small town, church-born sensibilities. I like to think it shows in my writing, even though I write a lot about fringe elements of society—thieves, charlatans, grifters, and the like. They're the ones who help you recognize the sweetness when you find it. It's the same reason I prefer my candy with nuts.
When I'm not writing, I'm tinkering at art and probably thinking about fishing. I hardly ever go fishing, though, because I just don't like to get my tackle wet. Ironically, it's the same reason I don't play golf.
You can find me online at http://www.jonahgibsonarts.com. I post regularly about my books, works in progress, goings on, and way more personal rumination than is probably healthy. It's a pretty good place to get to know me because, let's face it, you're not going to find me out fishing.
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September 6, 2020Originally I gave this book 5 stars. Of course I did. I wrote it. Any fewer would betray a basic lack of confidence when I actually think it's pretty good. Then someone suggested giving my own book a 5 star rating was bad form, so I deleted the rating. I'll just leave this review up, though, because I still think it's pretty good.
I get that it's not Ulysses. I've never been able to finish Ulysses. I have finished Cuppa, though. Fact is, I've read it more times than anyone else ever will, and it's not gotten tired or boring for me yet. I still laugh out loud at the funniest bits. I still miss my characters when I've finished the last chapter. It's time for me to move on to my next novel, but I don't want to. Maybe you'll feel the same way.
Cuppa is a funny book on balance. I've tried to walk a fine line between humor and gravitas. I approach life the same way, so reading this book is a lot like spending a couple of days hanging out with me. Maybe that's not everyone's cup of tea, but it suits my greyhound, Bean, just fine, and he is an outstanding fellow. You can ask anyone who knows him.
I poke fun at a lot of things in Cuppa: reality TV, religion, Voldemort Republicanism, avarice. I also do my level best to explain the Book of Job in modern terms, if only because I have an abiding need to understand it myself. Don't get me wrong. The book is decidedly not a sermon, and if you approach it with the idea that you are going to get a dose of old-time religion your are much more likely to be offended by the sundry sins of the players.
There are elements of thriller, action adventure, cyber crime, and even romance in here. I'm not a slave to convention, though, and, as often as not, I am bending the rules to get a laugh or make a point. In other words, you shouldn't be looking to Cuppa to salve your genre Jones. It's not like that. I think it's better, but then, like I said at the beginning, I wrote it.
I get that it's not Ulysses. I've never been able to finish Ulysses. I have finished Cuppa, though. Fact is, I've read it more times than anyone else ever will, and it's not gotten tired or boring for me yet. I still laugh out loud at the funniest bits. I still miss my characters when I've finished the last chapter. It's time for me to move on to my next novel, but I don't want to. Maybe you'll feel the same way.
Cuppa is a funny book on balance. I've tried to walk a fine line between humor and gravitas. I approach life the same way, so reading this book is a lot like spending a couple of days hanging out with me. Maybe that's not everyone's cup of tea, but it suits my greyhound, Bean, just fine, and he is an outstanding fellow. You can ask anyone who knows him.
I poke fun at a lot of things in Cuppa: reality TV, religion, Voldemort Republicanism, avarice. I also do my level best to explain the Book of Job in modern terms, if only because I have an abiding need to understand it myself. Don't get me wrong. The book is decidedly not a sermon, and if you approach it with the idea that you are going to get a dose of old-time religion your are much more likely to be offended by the sundry sins of the players.
There are elements of thriller, action adventure, cyber crime, and even romance in here. I'm not a slave to convention, though, and, as often as not, I am bending the rules to get a laugh or make a point. In other words, you shouldn't be looking to Cuppa to salve your genre Jones. It's not like that. I think it's better, but then, like I said at the beginning, I wrote it.
October 20, 2016
I have to admit, I had the wrong idea about this book before I began reading it. The title, “A Cup of Pending” (a phrase I hadn’t heard before), sounded to me like a straight-up comedy. What’s more, the synopsis calls the story “hilarious”, and Jonah Gibson, gauging from his profile, is a really, really funny guy. So, little did I expect to be immersed in a revenge caper filled with off-beat characters dropped into bizarre situations. It was witty — cleverly humorous rather than ha-ha funny — but I wouldn’t call it ‘hilarious’. I may also have been misled by the cover artwork that is made up of a hodgepodge of ideas that do little to reflect the heart of the tale.
The epigraph threw me off: the story of Job, quoted from the Bible. I was intrigued. Then the first chapter begins from the point of view of a secondary character, and I was thrown again. But once I’d wrapped my mind around the plot, I was in it to the end. Imagine Eddie Murphy’s “Trading Places” in reverse. Instead of a couple of rich guys manipulating a homeless man just for fun, “A Cup of Pending” is about two homeless guys who play puppeteers to a conniving and soulless moneybags to the benefit of the underclass. Brilliant.
Before I knew it, I had entered the world of reality TV shows—specifically, the world of the rich and ludicrously unaware. Mind you, I’d never in a million years watch a show like the one described in the book — called “South Beach Divorcées” — but I was having a lot of fun reading about it. The show’s leading lady, Heather, is well drawn, and I was glad to see she had depth despite the shallow world she is eager to make her dominion.
Gibson is a natural-born writer; the writing skips along, easy (though evident of a marvellous skill with words), intelligent and engaging. Though the storyline is quite audacious—what these homeless guys are able to accomplish is quite outrageous—I bought it. I even imagined this domicile-deficient duo becoming the stars of a series of books in which their skills were put to use in many other cases that required Robin Hood-type intervention. Gibson should also be congratulated for pulling off a juggling act that includes not only the homeless and the South Beach elite, but also the DEA and a Colombian drug cartel. One of the most memorable characters I’ve read in a while is El Colmillo, aka The Fang, the cheap-romance-novel-obsessed assassin.
However, there was one significant setback in my experience of “A Cup of Pending” and that is that I never fully connected with the protagonists. Who are these guys? I’ve been told their background and circumstances, but still, who are they? Tommy and Cliff are homeless by choice. They have the intelligence and skills to make their way out of homelessness, but are just fine with where they are. It’s alluded to that they occasionally put people in their place, but never expanded upon. My issue was that I could never reconcile this laissez faire attitude with their actions. I wanted to, but there was always something missing. This feeling was exacerbated by the fact that they sounded the same to me. They had the same tone, and the same way with words, as did a couple of other characters in the book. In one instance, Grace, the cheerleader/mistress vying for a spot on the reality TV show, uses vocabulary that is not at all in keeping with her character but rather something Cliff or Tommy would say.
This is a small sticking point, and one that could easily be remedied by the hand of an objective editor. Besides an unfortunate number of typos, another issue that would benefit from a further round of editing is the overly wordy final quarter of the book, which I felt leaned too heavily on the inner thought processes of the characters, and on distancing descriptions of what happened, in retrospect, rather than fleshed-out scenes with actions and dialogue. (“Show, don’t tell” comes to mind.) For me this diluted the impact of the climax.
“A Cup of Pending” boasts a brilliant concept shared equally by the outrageous world of reality TV starlets on the one hand and a look into the complex lives of the homeless on the other, made thrilling by a criminal enterprise that affects the lives of a multitude of far-flung characters. With some polish on his cleverly crafted story, Gibson could very well be sitting on gold.
The epigraph threw me off: the story of Job, quoted from the Bible. I was intrigued. Then the first chapter begins from the point of view of a secondary character, and I was thrown again. But once I’d wrapped my mind around the plot, I was in it to the end. Imagine Eddie Murphy’s “Trading Places” in reverse. Instead of a couple of rich guys manipulating a homeless man just for fun, “A Cup of Pending” is about two homeless guys who play puppeteers to a conniving and soulless moneybags to the benefit of the underclass. Brilliant.
Before I knew it, I had entered the world of reality TV shows—specifically, the world of the rich and ludicrously unaware. Mind you, I’d never in a million years watch a show like the one described in the book — called “South Beach Divorcées” — but I was having a lot of fun reading about it. The show’s leading lady, Heather, is well drawn, and I was glad to see she had depth despite the shallow world she is eager to make her dominion.
Gibson is a natural-born writer; the writing skips along, easy (though evident of a marvellous skill with words), intelligent and engaging. Though the storyline is quite audacious—what these homeless guys are able to accomplish is quite outrageous—I bought it. I even imagined this domicile-deficient duo becoming the stars of a series of books in which their skills were put to use in many other cases that required Robin Hood-type intervention. Gibson should also be congratulated for pulling off a juggling act that includes not only the homeless and the South Beach elite, but also the DEA and a Colombian drug cartel. One of the most memorable characters I’ve read in a while is El Colmillo, aka The Fang, the cheap-romance-novel-obsessed assassin.
However, there was one significant setback in my experience of “A Cup of Pending” and that is that I never fully connected with the protagonists. Who are these guys? I’ve been told their background and circumstances, but still, who are they? Tommy and Cliff are homeless by choice. They have the intelligence and skills to make their way out of homelessness, but are just fine with where they are. It’s alluded to that they occasionally put people in their place, but never expanded upon. My issue was that I could never reconcile this laissez faire attitude with their actions. I wanted to, but there was always something missing. This feeling was exacerbated by the fact that they sounded the same to me. They had the same tone, and the same way with words, as did a couple of other characters in the book. In one instance, Grace, the cheerleader/mistress vying for a spot on the reality TV show, uses vocabulary that is not at all in keeping with her character but rather something Cliff or Tommy would say.
This is a small sticking point, and one that could easily be remedied by the hand of an objective editor. Besides an unfortunate number of typos, another issue that would benefit from a further round of editing is the overly wordy final quarter of the book, which I felt leaned too heavily on the inner thought processes of the characters, and on distancing descriptions of what happened, in retrospect, rather than fleshed-out scenes with actions and dialogue. (“Show, don’t tell” comes to mind.) For me this diluted the impact of the climax.
“A Cup of Pending” boasts a brilliant concept shared equally by the outrageous world of reality TV starlets on the one hand and a look into the complex lives of the homeless on the other, made thrilling by a criminal enterprise that affects the lives of a multitude of far-flung characters. With some polish on his cleverly crafted story, Gibson could very well be sitting on gold.
October 28, 2016
Sometimes a life can turn on the least expected actions. When successful investor (and criminal) Oliver Crews tripped the homeless man in front of him in the coffee queue, he wasn't expecting anything more than some petty revenge for the delay. Unfortunately for Oliver, his briefcase was the last stop for Tommy and his friend Cliff, and they hatched their own revenge—to the tune of $45 million in laundered drug money, leaving Oliver on the run from the drug cartels, a crooked cop, and, last but by no means least, a reality TV show producer...
A Cup of Pending offers sun, sand, and supermodels in an entertaining combination of unlikely events. With the series of coincidences going off like a string of firecrackers, this well-written thriller is amusing and entertaining by turns, guaranteed to keep you turning pages. The characters are complex and unique, definitely one of the strengths of the story, and the reality show theme carries over well into the storyline. Author Jonah Gibson picked a good plotline to showcase his light-hearted, fast-paced style, making the book eminently readable. I'd recommend this to anyone needing a good beach read—or a glimpse of the Tropics to pick them out of the mid-winter doldrums.
A Cup of Pending offers sun, sand, and supermodels in an entertaining combination of unlikely events. With the series of coincidences going off like a string of firecrackers, this well-written thriller is amusing and entertaining by turns, guaranteed to keep you turning pages. The characters are complex and unique, definitely one of the strengths of the story, and the reality show theme carries over well into the storyline. Author Jonah Gibson picked a good plotline to showcase his light-hearted, fast-paced style, making the book eminently readable. I'd recommend this to anyone needing a good beach read—or a glimpse of the Tropics to pick them out of the mid-winter doldrums.
December 4, 2016
I was assigned this title in a bookgroup and was asked to give an honest review.
When I am going to review a novel, I first try to get to know something more about the author. Well, Jonah Gibson seems to me the perfect guy to drink a martini or two with! And this was a good start whilst reading his novel 'A Cup of Pending'.
This is a good written novel about the society we are living in. A society that in fact is sometimes weird and hilarious. Jonah Gison shows us readers, how hilarious our society actually is, that it looks like a bad reality-show. Or maybe...just a reality-show because that's weird enough. By enlarge it, it becomes absurdist.
The author writes with a sharp pen and a critical view on society. At the same time though he writes with a big smile because he loves his (un)conventionel protagonists, bad guys, scumbags, empty-headed persons. He draws them with a kind of tenderness.
I recommend this novel, it is fun to read.
When I am going to review a novel, I first try to get to know something more about the author. Well, Jonah Gibson seems to me the perfect guy to drink a martini or two with! And this was a good start whilst reading his novel 'A Cup of Pending'.
This is a good written novel about the society we are living in. A society that in fact is sometimes weird and hilarious. Jonah Gison shows us readers, how hilarious our society actually is, that it looks like a bad reality-show. Or maybe...just a reality-show because that's weird enough. By enlarge it, it becomes absurdist.
The author writes with a sharp pen and a critical view on society. At the same time though he writes with a big smile because he loves his (un)conventionel protagonists, bad guys, scumbags, empty-headed persons. He draws them with a kind of tenderness.
I recommend this novel, it is fun to read.
May 6, 2017
This is a delightful story! It's quite different. From the beginning when it starts talking about the homeless guys getting revenge on a rich jerk, it catches my attention. I had to keep reading to find out what happens. Cliff was cruelly tripped in a coffee shop just as he was getting his free cup of coffee. Oliver was annoyed he was having to wait on Cliff to get his coffee. When Cliff left, his friend Tommy helped him get information on Oliver and thus started a major life changing set of events. I wasn't too sure about the story when Cliff was invited onto a reality show, especially when the rich, beautiful women were interested in starting a fling with him. I mean, really, who would go for a homeless, smelly guy who didn't have anything to offer? It was a bit of a stretch for me....but then, as the story goes, you get to know the people and Cliff better, and he's a likable, kind fellow. The best part of the story is when the homeless guys transfer money from Oliver's account to a foundation to help the homeless, and chaos ensues. The adventures really begin, because Oliver was laundering money for the drug cartels. It's a crazy, fun story. I recommend it.
January 30, 2017
A Cup of Pending is both funny and serious in some ways. Cliff is a homeless man who goes to a coffee shop to pick up a pending coffee. Snotty rich guy Oliver trips Cliff, setting off a chain of events neither of them could have predicted. Cliff ends up on a reality show with Oliver's soon-to-be-ex-wife Heather, and Oliver's live-in girlfriend, Grace. Meanwhile, Oliver is in the middle of a totally illegal money laundering scheme with a Mexican drug cartel and a crooked cop. Suddenly, forty-five million dollars of his already-stolen money disappears, and Oliver's life spirals out of control, while Cliff and his friend Tommy open a charity, and Cliff becomes an integral part of the reality show's storyline.
The book is funny, but in a thought-provoking way. It makes some good points about the vapid wasteland of reality TV while making you laugh. The plot moved quickly and didn't slow down too much, and all the loose ends were tied up at the end.
The book is funny, but in a thought-provoking way. It makes some good points about the vapid wasteland of reality TV while making you laugh. The plot moved quickly and didn't slow down too much, and all the loose ends were tied up at the end.
December 4, 2016
A butterfly flaps its wings in Tokyo-or, in this case, a rich jerk called Oliver deliberately trips up a homeless guy in South Beach Florida- and off we go on a chaotic ride through the world of high-finance, high-tech and hi-jinks gangster-style.
The book opens with a quotation from the book of Job, setting the tone for this morality tale where we are cheering on the little guys and rubbing our hands in glee as the big villains get their comeuppance. But ‘A Cup of Pending’ is not just a morality tale, it’s a mad caper, a social commentary and a romance.
The plot is complex, involving numerous characters who are thrown together through a combination of serendipity and the Fickle Finger of Karma. On the side of the Good are two homeless men, Tommy and Cliff, who get their revenge on Number 1 Baddie, loan shark Oliver Crews, by stealing all the money out of his bank accounts and transferring the ill-gotten gains into a charity for the Homeless. (Please don’t ask how–this was way above my head, but it all sounded very persuasive.) Spinning off from this is a subplot involving Oliver’s wife, Heather, and his mistress, Grace, stars of a hit reality TV show produced by Maggie, daughter of Blanche and John who have somehow ended up administering Tommy and Cliff’s newly-established charity. Following so far? Good. Now throw in nasty Oliver’s even nastier clients, a gang of South American drug lords, and dirty cop Captain Rutledge, running a double scam by pretending to catch the drug lords while siphoning off lots of their money for himself.
In spite of the large and varied cast, Jonah Gibson does an excellent job of making each character memorable often through pithy and apposite descriptions that nail their different personalities. The writing in general is admirably smooth and polished, but what is particularly appealing is Gibson’s comic flair for capturing the flavour of a particular scene. Here’s mistress Grace nibbling on Oliver’s ear-‘the one without the Bluetooth earpiece’, or malodorous, homeless Cliff finding himself the subject of opprobrium in a church, and getting rescued by the saintly Grace who raises her eyes heavenwards and ‘so fervent was her gaze Cliff almost believed God must be on the other side of the tiles, hiding in the conduit and duct work, just waiting for the chance to bless a petitioner.’ There are several of these brilliantly evoked set-pieces. The world of reality TV (‘in Maggie’s experience, shallow women tended to judge one another based on their beverage choices as much as on their moral failings’), the scenes with the drug lords (‘running a drug cartel is not all champagne and naked girls like they make it look in the movies. It can be very stressful at times…he might have to sell a submarine…’) and their terrifying hitman the Fang, a closet romance-novel junkie.
Apart from being an absorbing and funny read (there were echoes of Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard), another thing I liked was the character development. This was particularly noticeable in the case of the two main protagonists, Cliff and Heather, who both learn from their experiences and grow into different people.
Highly recommended for those who like their crime thrillers thoroughly shaken and stirred, with a twist of crazy and a generous dash of fun.
The book opens with a quotation from the book of Job, setting the tone for this morality tale where we are cheering on the little guys and rubbing our hands in glee as the big villains get their comeuppance. But ‘A Cup of Pending’ is not just a morality tale, it’s a mad caper, a social commentary and a romance.
The plot is complex, involving numerous characters who are thrown together through a combination of serendipity and the Fickle Finger of Karma. On the side of the Good are two homeless men, Tommy and Cliff, who get their revenge on Number 1 Baddie, loan shark Oliver Crews, by stealing all the money out of his bank accounts and transferring the ill-gotten gains into a charity for the Homeless. (Please don’t ask how–this was way above my head, but it all sounded very persuasive.) Spinning off from this is a subplot involving Oliver’s wife, Heather, and his mistress, Grace, stars of a hit reality TV show produced by Maggie, daughter of Blanche and John who have somehow ended up administering Tommy and Cliff’s newly-established charity. Following so far? Good. Now throw in nasty Oliver’s even nastier clients, a gang of South American drug lords, and dirty cop Captain Rutledge, running a double scam by pretending to catch the drug lords while siphoning off lots of their money for himself.
In spite of the large and varied cast, Jonah Gibson does an excellent job of making each character memorable often through pithy and apposite descriptions that nail their different personalities. The writing in general is admirably smooth and polished, but what is particularly appealing is Gibson’s comic flair for capturing the flavour of a particular scene. Here’s mistress Grace nibbling on Oliver’s ear-‘the one without the Bluetooth earpiece’, or malodorous, homeless Cliff finding himself the subject of opprobrium in a church, and getting rescued by the saintly Grace who raises her eyes heavenwards and ‘so fervent was her gaze Cliff almost believed God must be on the other side of the tiles, hiding in the conduit and duct work, just waiting for the chance to bless a petitioner.’ There are several of these brilliantly evoked set-pieces. The world of reality TV (‘in Maggie’s experience, shallow women tended to judge one another based on their beverage choices as much as on their moral failings’), the scenes with the drug lords (‘running a drug cartel is not all champagne and naked girls like they make it look in the movies. It can be very stressful at times…he might have to sell a submarine…’) and their terrifying hitman the Fang, a closet romance-novel junkie.
Apart from being an absorbing and funny read (there were echoes of Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard), another thing I liked was the character development. This was particularly noticeable in the case of the two main protagonists, Cliff and Heather, who both learn from their experiences and grow into different people.
Highly recommended for those who like their crime thrillers thoroughly shaken and stirred, with a twist of crazy and a generous dash of fun.
February 6, 2017
A Cup of Pending- I'm intrigued but also a bit put off by how the book starts. The characters remind me of those in Dave Barry's book, Big Trouble. Lots of bad and some good, but bizarre folks who traipse about in the Florida Glare careening to and fro like multiple pinballs. Corrupt businessmen, dirty cops, unscrupulous TV producers and in this case, two homeless guys, who are in this case are the good guys. The minor turn off is the author has characterized one of the antagonists as a Conservative, and since I am one as well, I'm interested to see how much he vilifies the character. I like the two homeless characters: Cliff and Tommy, their backstories help to make them believable, which is one of the keys to a successfully developing a plot. The writer is very talented, and the book is a joy to read—I've read four chapters before I look up. The only niggling annoyance is that I'm pretty sure I can tell the author's political leanings from the way he describes real life political figures, and that can be a real turn off if he vilifies one side of the political spectrum while treating the other with kid gloves. We'll just stick a pin in that and see what develops. Eventually, after about six chapters, I come to the conclusion that I wish I had written this book. The author has the Florida Glare genre nailed. There is some laugh out loud lines scattered about the narrative, and they are indiscriminate in who they skewer to get the guffaws, so I guess I’m okay with a few barbs aimed at my demographic. The scene at the homeless shelter is inspired genius, but I don’t really find the romantic desires between Cliff and any of the femme fatales to be realistic—I think such characters would find him icky. I’ll offer a bit of high praise, however—
this is a book I’d buy and enjoy reading it rather than review it out of a commitment.
this is a book I’d buy and enjoy reading it rather than review it out of a commitment.
July 12, 2017
This is a lovely tale of revenge that has unforeseen consequences. Two homeless men, Cliff and Tommy, decide on a bit of payback when Tommy is deliberately tripped up by a smug, rich bastard. Unfortunately for their intended victim, they aren't your typical homeless street people. Both have become homeless by different routes, but are far from incapable wrecks suffering from mental illness or addictions. Cliff was once highly placed in the financial industry and Tommy is a computer wiz. It's all highly improbable and implausible, but it's great stuff. They decide to take Oliver Crew's money away from him to teach him a lesson, but they find out that the man isn't as lily-white as he seems. In an effort to get information on Crew, Cliff gets involved with his wife, who is the star of a reality show. Add a crooked cop and and Colombian drug dealers to the mix and you have mayhem. Apart from being amusing this novel also has some valid social comments about how we see the homeless and the shallowness of a society that hungers after reality TV, both the participants and the viewers. In the end, the righteous triumph and the corrupt are defeated.
May 15, 2017
Lesson here...don't trip a homeless man who just wanted a cup of coffee.
When Oliver Crews gets aggravated by a couple of homeless men in a coffee shop, he decides to trip one of them. Johnny writes down his plate number and swears one day he will get revenge.
Sooner than he could ever believe, the chance presents itself.
I couldn't wait to finish this book. The plot had me so engrossed, I needed to know how it ended. The characters are crazy. Especially Oliver's women. Soon to be ex-wife Heather and girlfriend Grace just want to be famous. Even if it means airing all their dirty laundry and looking like idiots on a reality show called South Beach Divorcees.
When Oliver Crews gets aggravated by a couple of homeless men in a coffee shop, he decides to trip one of them. Johnny writes down his plate number and swears one day he will get revenge.
Sooner than he could ever believe, the chance presents itself.
I couldn't wait to finish this book. The plot had me so engrossed, I needed to know how it ended. The characters are crazy. Especially Oliver's women. Soon to be ex-wife Heather and girlfriend Grace just want to be famous. Even if it means airing all their dirty laundry and looking like idiots on a reality show called South Beach Divorcees.
March 20, 2017
This book was quick, fun read.
I thoroughly enjoyed both the characters and the plot. I think you will too!
HKB
I thoroughly enjoyed both the characters and the plot. I think you will too!
HKB
January 14, 2017
I found myself shaking my head at nonstop exposition, especially tedious explication of money laundering, shady business loans, credit card terminal leases, and page after page of lead-footed narration. Dialogue is not this author's forte.
The first act has a fairly small cast of named characters -- about a dozen -- and it revolves around revenge for a social slight, a reality TV show, a corrupt cop, and a theological conundrum. Some of this is explained away by the TV producer: “Sorry about Daddy,” Maggie offered. “He's had a stick up his ass ever since Obama got elected.” Ayn Rand gets a punch in the nose, explaining greed and cruelty.
Good guy Cliff is homeless, smells bad, a cancer victim and former stock analyst who went broke and lost a wife who didn't like the idea of hardship. He cleans up in borrowed clothes, navigates the Great and Good like a 007 chick magnet and -- to avenge a social slight against an equally broke vagrant pal -- electronically pilfers $45 million in dope interdiction graft. Go ahead, pull the other one.
“The address on this license is no longer current," the guy said. "You understand you are required to notify DMV of any change in address?”
“I understand that, officer,” Cliff said, “but I'm homeless so I don't actually have an address.”
“You're homeless, but you're driving around South Beach in a hundred thousand dollar car? You care to explain that so it makes enough sense I don't have to run you in?”
Not to worry. Here come the Columbian drug lords to make everything worse. But Cliff is ready for them, in a metaphor that spans an amazing paragraph: "At rare intervals in his existence, life would serve up a fat pitch to Cliff, high and away, right where he liked it, right where he knew he could get a lot of wood on it. Time would slow down in these moments. He would see everything with clarity and certainty. He wouldn't be presented with a lot of options that only confused his purpose. There would only be the ball, coming at him so slowly that he could count the stitches and read the label as it came. The bat in his hands would resonate, an extension of his soul, only with a lot more substance." We previously heard Cliff confess to throwing walnuts at a neighbor's window, to explain why he bedded a hot cheerleader.
Hmph. It seems to me that the proper rating for this novel is at least 3 stars for its potential as a movie, chock full of sympathetic characters and ludicrous story beats that would fill two hours on the big screen with sexy women, preposterous villains, goofy complications, homeless vs privilege, and an aww-gee humble ending.
The first act has a fairly small cast of named characters -- about a dozen -- and it revolves around revenge for a social slight, a reality TV show, a corrupt cop, and a theological conundrum. Some of this is explained away by the TV producer: “Sorry about Daddy,” Maggie offered. “He's had a stick up his ass ever since Obama got elected.” Ayn Rand gets a punch in the nose, explaining greed and cruelty.
Good guy Cliff is homeless, smells bad, a cancer victim and former stock analyst who went broke and lost a wife who didn't like the idea of hardship. He cleans up in borrowed clothes, navigates the Great and Good like a 007 chick magnet and -- to avenge a social slight against an equally broke vagrant pal -- electronically pilfers $45 million in dope interdiction graft. Go ahead, pull the other one.
“The address on this license is no longer current," the guy said. "You understand you are required to notify DMV of any change in address?”
“I understand that, officer,” Cliff said, “but I'm homeless so I don't actually have an address.”
“You're homeless, but you're driving around South Beach in a hundred thousand dollar car? You care to explain that so it makes enough sense I don't have to run you in?”
Not to worry. Here come the Columbian drug lords to make everything worse. But Cliff is ready for them, in a metaphor that spans an amazing paragraph: "At rare intervals in his existence, life would serve up a fat pitch to Cliff, high and away, right where he liked it, right where he knew he could get a lot of wood on it. Time would slow down in these moments. He would see everything with clarity and certainty. He wouldn't be presented with a lot of options that only confused his purpose. There would only be the ball, coming at him so slowly that he could count the stitches and read the label as it came. The bat in his hands would resonate, an extension of his soul, only with a lot more substance." We previously heard Cliff confess to throwing walnuts at a neighbor's window, to explain why he bedded a hot cheerleader.
Hmph. It seems to me that the proper rating for this novel is at least 3 stars for its potential as a movie, chock full of sympathetic characters and ludicrous story beats that would fill two hours on the big screen with sexy women, preposterous villains, goofy complications, homeless vs privilege, and an aww-gee humble ending.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 2, 2016
Two homeless men decide to teach an arrogant rich dude a lesson. They find money, babes and learn a few things along the way such as how to befriend assassins and get rid of pesky officers.
Fun caper, stretches a bit thin in the middle.
I received a free pdf of the book in a goodreads group for a fair, non-reciprocal review.
Fun caper, stretches a bit thin in the middle.
I received a free pdf of the book in a goodreads group for a fair, non-reciprocal review.
May 10, 2017
I hate when books tell me they're going to be funny. I always feel like the book is setting itself up for failure. I feel the same way about people. This book, unlike most people who think they're funny, lived up to its word. I really liked it.
There was a lot more to this book than just humor. There was a solid mystery and some great storytelling. It could have used some editing, but that's not unusual. The reality show plot line was great and I could see this book being snatched up by USA.
I liked the characters but wished the author had given them more depth. Snark is awesome, but it doesn't cover up shallow.
I'm recommending this one!
There was a lot more to this book than just humor. There was a solid mystery and some great storytelling. It could have used some editing, but that's not unusual. The reality show plot line was great and I could see this book being snatched up by USA.
I liked the characters but wished the author had given them more depth. Snark is awesome, but it doesn't cover up shallow.
I'm recommending this one!
May 11, 2017
What a great read. Author did a marvelous job with character development, story line, and pace. I couldn't put this one down. Really got caught up in the story and wondering if Cliff and his friends were going to survive. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a wonderfully funny book!
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