Money For Nothing - Donald E. Westlake

Written by Donald E. Westlake
Read by Michael Kramer
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
Publisher: Books on Tape/Brilliance

Publisher’s Summary
There is no such thing as a free lunch, but it takes Josh Redmont a while to figure that out. The first check arrived when Josh was 27, $1,000, issued by “United States Agent” through an unnamed bank with an indeterminate address in Washington, D.C. The checks continued to arrive once a month, even when Josh changed addresses, with nary an explanation or a peep from the IRS. Seven years later, as he hastens to meet his family for a summer vacation, Josh is approached by a smiling stranger who greets him with, “I am from United States Agent.” Dumbstruck, Josh feigns ignorance until he hears the words, “You are now active.” Westlake fans will revel in his trademark swift pacing, meaty secondary characters, and tongue in cheek style.

Narrater Michael Kramer has great fun with the witty dialogue and the odd assortment of characters with accents to match.

Publishers Weekly….For seven years, Josh Redmont has been receiving $1000 a month from an untraceable source called United States Agent. One day on a dock in Bay Shore while Josh waits for the Fire Island ferry, a stranger sits down next to him and tells him he is now “active.” Active, it turns out, in a plot to assassinate the premier of Kamastan, a fictional breakaway state from the former Soviet Union. Josh soon learns that his problems began with a foreign spy’s scam to enrich himself at his nation’s expense. With the corrupt spy discredited, a new control expects Josh to do as asked or his wife and kids will come to harm. But Josh knows he and his family are slated for execution anyway at the operation’s conclusion. His challenge as an amateur against professionals is to thwart the assassination, survive, and save his family. The prolific, Edgar Award-winning Westlake, author of numerous comic crime capers and other mysteries (The Ax), sketches an engaging tale with unexpected twists and turns and a dash of wit throughout.