The Money Harvest

Rating:
Summary: this is where they steal the ideas for great movies
Review: It's a fun little romp that just keeps you wanting to read another page,with characters so vivdly described you can see them standing at the corner.You keep reading just find out what happens next.

Rating:
Summary: A believable political thriller
Review: This book demonstrates one of the strengths of Ross Thomas's writing, a grounding in truth derived from experience. His own backgrown allowed him a number of jobs that touched on politics, labor organizations, and public relations. He understands the behind the scenes aspects of financial and political power and he uses that knowledge to great effect in The Money Harvest. This is a political thriller that feels like it is true. No exaggerations and no two dimensional characters. This is the real stuff of human give and take, betrayal, murder and coverup. Like all of his books, the central figure is confronted with a world where nothing is as it seems and no one, seemingly, can be trusted.

If you enjoy a mystery, interesting character presentation, surprising plot twists, wonderful dialogue and a satisfying conclusion, you will love this book. I started reading Ross Thomas because I enjoy books set in Washington, DC - but this proved to be the least important reason to read him. His books aren't 'inside the beltway' books so much as they are human stories of intrique, betrayal and survival. He wrote a lot about Washington because he lived here but what one gets in the full range of Thomas's writing is the modern world in all its ugly and beautiful complexity, seen from the somewhat cynical eyes of one who has seen, perhaps, too much.