King Con

Stephen Cannell did a fantastic job researching con artist and some of the scams that may or may not exist. The book is unpredictable and has an excellent story line, his characters are well thought out and Cannell keeps the hook in your mouth from start to finish. I highly recommend this book!

I bought this book with a half-hearted interest. Never one to gamble, I just didn't see a connection to the topic. From the first chapter, I was hooked, I could not put the book down (read it in one afternoon). The lead character, Beano Bates, is so well written you find yourself in the middle of this Con. If you love a fast paced read with lots of twists and turns, this book is for you.

This is the first book I have have read from Stephen Cannell, and I am looking forward to reading more. Tricky Vicky is full of surprises! I relate to her well, and Cannell has a way of portraying his characters as real people that can be anyone. This is certainly well written and full of life!

This is the first Stephen Cannell book I have read. I tried it because I have always enjoyed his T.V. series. I was not disapointed. It was a fast paced entertaining read. The characters were fun to read about. I had trouble getting anything else done but reading about Beano and company. Just one thought, I get a little tired of people who put modern day authors down just because they do not write classics or what others deem to be classics. I read to be entertained and not so I can go to a book club and try to impress people. What happens in books does not have to be real or even feesible. Enjoy for the simple pleasure of reading and escaping into another place for a short time. So let's lighten up on the Cannell's and Grisham's of the world!!

"King Con" is an easy-reading and informative thriller. I really enjoy learning from a novel about things that I wouldn't read anywhere else. Here we are given the inside story on confidence games -- big and little, new and old. The plot is lifted directly from the movie "The Sting." Grifter mistakenly cons bad guy, bad guy kills someone grifter cares about, grifter assembles and runs "big con" to get revenge, grifter gives away his share of the loot. But somehow this transparent plagarism goes down smoothly. The Sting was a great movie, and if you are going to copy from someone it makes sense to copy from the brightest kid in class.Cannell's great gift is naming his characters. Who else could have come up with B.A. Barakus, "Howlin' Mad" Murdock, and Beano Bates? In King Con Mr. Cannell shows us Beano's extended family: large, unusual yet believeable, as quirky as their names, yet skilled professionals in their arcane specialty. Mr. Cannell's books are fast acquiring a following, and this one will only add to it. If you like Cannell, don't miss this one.