The Canadian humourist and high-adventure novelist Will Ferguson has written a gripping tale about a Canadian elderly man who gets caught up in the Nigerian 419 e-mail scam and the efforts of his daughter to recover his money. The reader is introduced to the complex and seamy world of consumer fraud in a way that literally boggles the imagination. While we might be able to appreciate the extent of the victim's credulity in signing over his and his wife's life savings to fraudsters, unseen and thousands of miles away, the extent to which this elaborate con is hatched and sprung is hard to fathom as to who the perpetrators are. To uncover that mystery, Ferguson has the daughter engaged in some major personal sleuthing, involving the Internet, to bring the thieves to justice. As the story shows, this is no small feat. Much of what Laura accomplishes to right a terrible wrong is done with the grudging help of the police and friends. There are stretches in the story where the description of this personal detective work seems to be cut short. Suddenly there is Laura in the middle of the Niger delta, courting extreme danger but with a fool-proof plan to confront the scammers. Such gaps are excusable because Ferguson is anxiously trying to get his character from Alberta to Nigeria through an international maze of corruption and ineptitude. What really made this novel worth the read was Ferguson's efforts to present another side to the big hunt for the bad boys. Interlarded with Laura's high-powered adventure is a running account of how a young man (Nmandi) and his extended family eke out an impoverished life amidst the oil platforms of the Delta. It is in this crime-infested environment that the 419 scam thrives in an attempt to get money to move up the social ladder and get out of this hell-hole. Being able to bring these two important threads together is the main strength of this book. Laura learns to truly see her need for justice through the eyes of those who have succeeded in ripping her and her family off. What she discovers is that con artists are not limited to Africa and a 419 scam.