"Potent crime thriller"

In the well to do enclave of Paradise Key, a group of wealthy investors lost over twenty-two million dollars in a ponzi scheme perpetrated by Victor Trebuchet and Adrienne Debarret. British Lord Warfield had the investors eating out of his hands as he enthusiastically endorsed the satellite, rocket and launch pad site in Kenya. They even brought in scientists to explain how the new technology used on the rockets and satellites would quadruple their investment in a matter of months. When the scheme collapses the two con men (and one woman) disappear leaving very unhappy investors who want their money back.

Since they don't want the police involved because they would look like fools they hire lawyer Tom Petrie to help them rescue their losses. He gets Dan Shaw, who is supposed to be studying for his bar exam, as well as other allies to out scam the scanners. They trace them to Italy where the head con lives in a villa under the name of Senor Arbaleste; so they rent the place next door to him. They plan to exchange a forged painting by a master for the mission's money and their scheme works but lives are lost because of it.

Ron Faust is a brilliant storyteller who infuses his work with excellent characterizations, plenty of suspense and a beautiful location that mocks the scams taking place. It is like many serpents coming into paradise all of them capable of great evil. Dan, the protagonist and the narrator, is not a particularly sympathetic person as he commits crimes and justifies them by saying they are for the greater good. SEA OF BONES packs a potent touch.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted September 3, 2004

Dan Shaw hopes to be a lawyer some day--if he can only stay out of prison long enough to pass the bar. Neither is likely when he agrees to help a hotshot Florida attorney track down a slick con man whose swindled a consortium of well-to-do Paradise Key clients out of twenty-two million dollars. But the charismatic Victor Trebuchet and his sexy partner-in- crime are a lot more dangerous than anyone imagined. And the silken counter-sting set up in an Italian villa to snare the pair may end up trapping Shaw instead. With that much money on the line, anyone is liable to betray anyone. For now, Shaw's living the high life and he's way over his head. Soon he may find himself doing hard- time--or, worse, in a watery grave at the bottom of Bell Harbor.