Rating: 
Summary: Amazing
Review: I whizzed through this book in a day.I thought it was fantastic -- but it also made me think that I'm 22 and haven't accomplished anything near what this guy did at 18. Mind you I've never been arrested..... still. The whole book is amazing. The picture in the back doesn't make him as handsome as he made himself out to be though.
Rating: 
Summary: Poorly Written Plausible Cons
Review: This first-person account by one the world's pioneering "paperhangers" (check counterfeiters) is moderately diverting, but eventually gets stale due to the repetitiveness of the author's adventures and the weak, cliche-ridden writing. In a nutshell, as a teenager and young man in the 1960s he passed himself off as a respectable professional (usually a Pan Am pilot) for the purposes of cashing bogus checks and living large off the results. It gets old reading about how he refined his scam this way or that and then partied with yet another lovely "fox" in this or that city. The book is more interesting when he passes himself in other professions (pediatrician, lawyer, sociology professor) and actually manages to bluff his way through actually practicing them for a short time. It's a testament to how anyone with good looks, an air of confidence in what they're doing, a keen sense of observation, and a bit of research can bluff their way through life, although it should be noted that many of his scams would not be nearly so easy in our contemporary world of computer record keeping and instantaneous data transfer. The veracity of his tale is hard to measure, certainly the whole books reeks of exaggeration, but the basic scams sound entirely plausible--whether he was able to pull them off as often or as easily as he makes out is hard to say. His after-the-fact self justifications mixed with his constant reminders that he only fleeced corporations, not honest individuals quickly get annoying. Abagnale does not write with a great deal of introspection either, he seems to have no motive for his crimes other than financing a luxurious lifestyle and getting his kicks. He never examines why he's driven in that way, although he obliquely blames his initial con jobs on the need to have extra cash to woo women properly. Women are perhaps the real losers in his cons, as he bounces from conquest to conquest in his attempt to live out some teenage fantasy, he breaks at least one heart that he tells of and likely many others. The result: "My dalliances, by and large, had all the permanency of rabbits' relationships, and about the same degree of satisfaction." The book would have benefited from an interweaving of the story of his persuit by the FBI (which is alluded to here and there, but never really fleshed out), and his ultimate transformation from criminal to FBI consultant. Indeed, it's a story that would be more interesting and complete coming from a neutral observer who could paint the whole picture.
Rating: 
Summary: Tedious and far-fetched white-collar crime
Review: This is a flat and ultimately boring tale - incidentally, devoid of "fun," despite its subtitle - that promises much more than it delivers. Abagnale's compulsive lying, the felonies it engendered, and the numerous women he met but never really seems to have known begs the question, "How did he get that way?" One would hope that the author would have wondered, too. One might assume that there was some terrible deficit somewhere in his early life. Unfortunately there is no introspection in this story, and no self-awareness, either. An autobiographical portrayal that, finally, allows the reader to think of Austin Powers as a deep, sensitive, and complex man. In addition, it's an unintentional catalogue, whether factual or not, of just how much a reasonably clever, ambitious, well-spoken, well-dressed middle-class white American male, intending to do harm, could get away with - albeit before Interpol. Depressing stuff.
Rating:
Summary: top notch, flip flop, and hip hop, to the tip top, with
Review: chris rock. This book was wonderful. I honestly want to be a criminal now. It's well written and has wings. I want to write bad checks sort of. He lead a glamorous lifestyle and didn't get stomach ulcers easily. CT
Rating:
Summary: Tiresome and exaggerated
Review: Author Abagnale has conned the purchasers of this book for gosh knows how many thousands of dollars in royalties. Apparently there were no editors available when the book went to print, so the writing is poorly structured and rife with terrible cliches. Gems like these make up nearly every other sentence: "There was a storm brewing in the Sierras when I crossed the mountains, but it was nothing compared to the whirlwind of crime I was soon to create myself" Simple grammar dictates that "...I was soon to create myself" is redundant. It only gets worse. The book reads as though a 13 year-old decided to write down all his fantasies and pretend they were fact. I don't doubt Mr. Abagnale committed many of the crimes in the book; I do doubt his endless descriptions of women falling for him within minutes of meeting him. His constant bragging grows boring. His con tactics are not remarkable. Many of his stories leave out enough detail to be nearly unverifiable. Save your money. Wait for the movie. It will be one instance where Hollywood might be better than the book. As Frank would say "When you're at the bottom, there's no where to go but up."
Rating: 
Summary: DIARY OF A CON MAN
Review: The premise of this book was exciting from the beginning. A master thief tells of his exploits and details his devilish deads. But Frank Abagnale was not an ordinary thief. He didnt break windows and steal the family silverware. Rather he targeted airlines, banks, and hotels out of millions over his illustrious criminal career. The kicker is that he was a teenage high school dropout while he was doing it. Abagnale quit high school to become a self taught man. The problem is that he taught himself to become the ultimate con man. He flawlessly learned the airline business to pose as a pilot. He brushed up on his law and passed the California bar exam to briefly collect a paycheck with the D.A.'s office. He even posed as a pediatrician. His strong suit though was the passing of bogus checks. He started by bouncing on his own account and graduated to bilking Pan Am and others out of thousands of dollars in phony pay roll checks. Abagnale gives a quick reading book. It falls short of a five star affair in some minor but noticeable ways. First Mr. Abagnale toots his own horn a little too much. I expected this when he was relaying his criminal enterprise, but when he constantly alluded to his sexual exploits it became a little annoying. There was also an awkward ending to deal with. The book was good enough that you wanted more detail on how his life of crime came to an end and how he started a good guy life with the FBI. However, these minor flaws do not detract from the overall effect of the book. This is a must read for not only the true crime fan but also for those that work in the airline, bank, and hotel industries. A solid four star book.
Rating:
Summary: Almost...I say almost...unbelievable.
Review: I have had a lot of double takes reading this book. How could anyone have got away with so much for so long. There is no doubt that Frank could have put away a retirement sum and gone to ground into retirement for the rest of his life, but why would he? He had so much fun. He lived everyones dreams, to be a pilot, a lawyer, a doctor, a lecturer, and all without even a high school diploma! My favourite part has to be where he recruits his own "flight crew" of stewardesses and takes them on an all expenses paid tour of europe, on rubber cheques. Obviously a highly intelligent individual Frank ascribes his success to being well turned out, paying attention to people and doing your research. I have to say that's good advice for life! It is no surprise to me that he now works in the business of closing all the loopholes that he himself exploited. It is well worth reading about the escapades of this (semi) moral crook who only robbed institutions, not individuals, except for a particularly mean prostitute! A great and surprisingly light read. Your cheque book will never look the same after you read this book!
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable light reading
Review: This book has a way of reaching out and grabbing the reader. The author writes fluently and entertainingly of his career as a criminal. He provides enough details so you can get a sense of what he really did, but is obivously leaving out enough that it would be difficult to use this book as a guidebook to the kind of criminal life he once pursued. In order to pull off his crimes, the author has to be a man of great charisma and charm, and a great deal of that is present in the book. However, I felt that the book ended prematurely. It would have felt more complete had he described some of what happened after the supposed end of the book. How did he change? How did he end up married? If you are looking for great meaning, you won't find it in this book. If you are looking for a light-hearted description of a remarkable criminal career, this book will meet your requirements.
Rating:
Summary: Catch this book - if you can
Review: Working in the airline industry, I had the pleasure of hearing Frank Abagnale as a guest speaker at an airline-hosted seminar. (He said he owed it the airline personnel). Hearing him live was incredible. In today's world, it's amazing to hear what he got away with. I'm sure he may be one reason that airlines do 10-year background checks.... I couldn't get a copy of his book after his seminar (out of print), so I rushed to buy this copy. Hearing him live is much better than reading, but this is definitely the next best thing. It's fun and fast reading. I'm buying copies for my fellow airline workers (those in Security, Flt Ops, Inflight, Purchasing).... Oh and bankers, hotel staff, too. Is there a group he did NOT step all over? Thank goodness he's not doing it now. (At least we THINK he's not). We'd be furious with him instead of amazed. Read this book!
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, but incomplete
Review: I wanted to give the book four stars for how much I enjoyed reading it, but I had to reduce it to three for incompleteness. I have to agree with some of the other reviewers that the author's complete lack of remorse really got to me (though he admits to having convinced himself that his crimes were "necessary"). By late in the book, it got kind of hard to take. There were two glaring omissions in this book. The first was a much more thorough description of the FBI's pursuit of this expert forger, to be meshed in the story; this would have given much more urgency to what he did (his multiple escapes from the arms of the law were quite interesting). The second was the very abrupt ending of the book, without even a postcript describing what happened in the last few decades along with more in-depth descriptions of why his scams would be nearly impossible now. This left me feeling like I had read only half of a book. While I understand the feeling that the author had another con going in writing this book, I am not inclined to believe that very much was pure fiction (I could easily believe that some of his exploits were embellished, based on how he wrote and how he describes himself). Altogether, a pretty interesting read when you want something light. Those looking for a thorough and tight examination of significant criminal career with attending profiles and such should definitely look elsewhere.
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