Roller Coaster Ride

Follow The Money
Ross Cavins
RCG Publishing (2010),
Paperback, 264 pages
Rated 4 stars of 5 possible

Ten inter-connected short stories have been collected between these covers.  In addition to my over-all impression of this book, which you will find at the end of this review, I'll attempt to say something about each of the ten stories and rate them individually, as well as giving my rating for the entire book, but first, the stories.

1. "The Drop" - Inept kidnappers, funnier than a barrel of monkeys. Slow start, but builds suspense; is a fine, page-turning story. I absolutely loved the twisted ending. Rated 4 stars.

2. "The Investment" - Pickpocket meets big-time con artist, but can he trust his new partner? This story felt a bit disconnected near the middle, so rated 3 stars.

3. "Sammy's Night Out" - Armed robbery at a convenience store, of the inept gunman type. Predictable ending... Rated 3 stars.

4. "A Loaded Gun" - Grand theft auto plus an evening of crime gone wrong. Story number three with some added detail and from a different point of view. Packed with more laughs than "Sammy's Night Out" Rated 5 stars.

5. "Everybody's Got A Magic Number" Bookie takes the cash from cop involved in story #4. This story is longer, not as funny or as consistently interesting as the others. One doesn't even see the connection to the other stories until late.  Rated 3 stars.

6. "Have Fun Tonight" Drunken driver collides with emergency vehicle. Just plain strange, warped humor. Rated 3 stars.

7. "Sweating Brother Bill" Two lusty old ladies - another strange story.  Rated 3 stars.

8. "Toe Thumb" Abused wife runs away from deadbeat husband. Morbidly appealing somehow. Rated 4 stars.

9. "For The Road" Breaking and Entering, or How the Grinch stole Christmas. Rated 4 stars.

10. "Channel Ten" Car-jacking and Captain Crunch. Rated 5 stars.

The fun part of reading this story collection was seeing how the stories fit together into one larger story that has its ups and downs like a roller coaster. Trying to predict which characters from the earlier stories would appear again in which of the later stories was also a barrel of laughs, but figuring out who was going to have the money next - ah what suspense, and sometimes very surprising. The hot sex featured in some of these stories does little or nothing to move the plot along.  Still, it was a fun read, and I would recommend Follow The Money to adults who do not find offense in the type of material contained here.

Follow The Money was provided to me free by the author in exchange for this review. This review has been simultaneously published on Dragon Views, LibraryThing and Amazon.com.