Book Review of Criminal Mischief by Stuart Woods – Quick and Easy Read
Table of Contents
My Rating – 3.5 out of 5
Plot Summary (Storyline) – Criminal Mischief
Another quick and easy on the brain thriller from Stuart Woods – only other author besides James Patterson and his co-author factory who churns out many books per year! Good for voracious readers like me who can look forward to a constant stream of reading material in our favorite genres. A little tough to believe but this is Stone Barrington number 60 and this been a yearly affair, Stone would be a hundred years old, with the libido of a thirty-something stud!! Hence for the sake of sanity and rationality, we have to assume that the incidents narrated in each book are three to a year, to give Stone Barrington a shot of believability, rationality and reality.
Like the others, Criminal Mischief also starts off rather innocuously, with Stone and his bosom buddy Dino Bachetti (Police Comissioner of NYPD) are having dinner. A single woman befriends Stone and after the mandatory bouts of intimacy, they part ways. Strangely, with no other apparent link to the story, this woman steals an artefact from Stone’s study while leaving in the morning, only to return it in the evening. Soon, this woman is gone from the story forever – her only contribution being the fact that her inheritrance was all tied up in a Ponzi scheme by a fraudster, Viktor Zanian, who is now on Stone’s radar for recovering the invested fortunes.
Unfortunately, Stone has a run-in with another intimidating man – the ex-husband of another woman that he’s shacking up with. But with the unlimited resources at his disposal, Stone makes short work of that threat. His focus is now the Ponzi fraudster Viktor Zanian and with the FBI announcing a ten million dollar bounty on him, the uber rich Stone Barrington is apparently doing this to earn more money! Yeah, go figure!! Stone and his contacts keep tracing Zanian as he jets around the world in his private Gulfstream, changing destination at the last minute to avoid being captured. A rather inept looking FBI is left scratching their collective heads, depending solely on Stone to complete their investigation.
From continental US to island-hopping in Hawaii and then onto the endgame in a Middle Eastern monarchy, we are breathlessly travelling across the world, with Stone in his own Gulfstream leading the chase and the sloppy FBI playing catch up at all times. Please do not disbelieve any part of it, in the alternate universe of Stone Barrington, such things are very much possible, paricularly when the inheritance-rich playboy Stone Barrington is not only a consultant-Director with the CIA but also shares the bed sometimes with the President of the US! So yeah, nobody messes with Mr. Barrington and his endless resourcefulness. This is James Bond at his freelancing best!
Conclusion – Book Review of Criminal Mischief
Suspend your disbelief, question not the ridculousness of some scenarios, banish that look of incredulity from your face and you will be able to relish this super fast read of a thriller. It is almost magical that despite being rather thin on substance, all these books are such super quick reads and once you have begun you will not be able to put them down without finishing them. Of course, if you are a stickler for propriety in how a novel is structured, you may not be able to finish this, though I doubt that curiosity will keep you going. After all, there is something called the ‘theater of the absurd’ which despite its impossibility, piques our interest.
If your New Year celebrations have been heavy or you are burdened by the onset of another round of the pandemic, you could lose yourself in the exhilaration that is ‘Criminal Mischief’! Or if you are not a very fussy reader you could just read it as a quick entertainer.
*I hope you have enjoyed reading this book review as much as I have enjoyed writing this! Do watch this space for more such reviews and navigate through the links below for more… Thank you!! *
Yea, I have wondered how Stone has avoided aging which even Joe Pickett is subject to. Still reading but the chase from NYC to Hawaii to Saud stretches even the most loose definition of the Absurd. Appreciates that, although he openly stated his allegiance to the Dems, he does not stoop to the mudslinging of Carl Hiaasin(sp?)