From Publishers Weekly
Griffin (
The House of Sight and Shadow) hits his stride in his fourth novel, a stylish and ambitious story of cons conning cons. Griffin begins in the WWI trenches in France, where Londoner Ben Cramb, in his early 20s and handsome, fights the Huns alongside his friends until an explosion wounds Ben and kills his three pals. After a stint in a British hospital, Ben flees to New York City, where he dreads being discovered as a deserter. Soon, he falls in league with Julius McAteer, a crafty Irish conman who involves Ben in his scheme to rip off Henry Jergens, a Kansas City businessman. But Henry is running his own con on Julius as payback for robbing Henry's mentor 18 years earlier. As the cat-and-mouse game heats up and Ben sets his sights on Henry's beautiful actress wife, the U.S. inches ever closer to involvement overseas. An antiwar theme arises from beneath the ruses, and the swift plotting is marred only by the proliferation of characters' aliases, which become difficult to keep track of. Griffin's in fine form, and the novel's historical detail and multifaceted plot should keep readers riveted.
(Aug.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Benedict Cramb survives the bomb that kills his three friends in France during World War I. Mistaken for an officer, he is returned to England, where, to avoid being sent back to the front when discovered, he jumps on the first ship that he comes to and ends up in New York City. There he comes under the wing of Julius McAteer, a gifted con artist. They pick a mark, Henry Jergens, lay out the con, and set things in motion. In the process, Ben falls in love with Katherine Howells, an actress who introduces him to a shady gentleman selling airplane engines, bringing the war a little too close for comfort. But the question soon becomes, Who is conning whom? Told through the various perspectives of Ben, Henry, and Katherine, the story takes on layers of complexity, as do the characters. Griffin also mixes historical events into the plot to keep the reader riveted and guessing until the very end. Dickie, Elizabeth
