The Wake-Up Book

Frank Thorpe is set to board a plane at LAX for a much-needed vacation when he sees an obviously poor young boy knocked out of the way and senseless by an arrogant businessman rushing to a waiting Porsche. Frank really needs some R & R. Heâ??s just been firedâ??over a fatal screw upâ??from the covert operations â??shopâ? heâ??s worked at for years. But Douglas Meachumâ??a hard-charging art dealerâ??needs to be made to feel something more than entitlement: nothing extreme, just a little wake-up call.Given Frankâ??s background and his expertise in good guy/bad guy tactics, itâ??s easy for him to set up a scam involving some embarrassing revelations about a faked Mayan sculpture that Meachum sells to one of his clients. But the client isnâ??t someone who takes kindly to mistakes. Sheâ??s a ruthless social-climbing psychopath who, with her surfer-dude husband (the Thomas Alva Edison of designer pharmaceuticals), runs a huge drug operation. And sheâ??s got an invincible thug duoâ??Vlad and Arturoâ??to carry out her notions of payback, which make Frankâ??s wake-up scheme seem positively genteel. What started out as a good (if slightly underhanded) deed quickly veers out of control. How Frank handles the chaosâ??and what he himself hears in the wake-up callâ??is the fuel that drives this full-throttle, terrifically entertaining novel.Read More