Skim

by James G. Pattillo

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0939149508
• ISBN13: 9780939149506
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: Soho Press
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

A real adrenaline rush

David Pike, a Los Angeles lawyer, is consulted by Maurice Baranowitz, a movie producer with a problem. Maurice thinks money is missing from the bank account of one of his production companies. But he doesn't want to offend his Director, Michelle ('Mickey') McDonald by being the one who asks questions about it. He's worked with her often, and almost thinks of her as a daughter. So he wants Pike to say he's acting on behalf of another investor in the production company, get the books, and have them audited -- but without saying it was Maurice's idea. When Mickey finishes the project she's working on for Maurice, she wants to make her own film -- a film that will establish her reputation as a director. She's optioned the movie rights to a book by a major novelist, and wants to film it using her own money so she won't have to make compromises with producers or studios. Although it's only gradually revealed, she 'skimmed' $50,000 from Maurice's production company and used the money to buy cocaine, which she has been selling to raise working capital. These events form the plot armature of the novel, but there's a lot more going on -- subplots involving the guys that Mickey buys the cocaine from, the ex-FBI agent that Pike hires to look over the books of the production company, Pike's about-to-be ex-girlfriend, and more. The characters are all well drawn and are real people. They do outrageous things, but the things never feel forced -- they're driven by the character's personality and motivations. After they happen, they're logical, but you don't see them coming. When it's over, you feel as if you've just walked away from a near collision in your car -- shaken, jangled, and fizzing with adrenaline.

An Edge of Your Chair Thriller

When attorney David Pike's client, an over-the-hill Hollywood producer, asks him to investigate accounting irregularities in his indie production company, author James Pattillo sets a story in motion that leaves bodies scattered around Tinsel Town as Pike seeks answers. Pike meets a beautiful female movie director who comes on to him. He can't decide how she fits into the case and whose side she's on until he enlists the help of an on-the-wagon ex-FBI accountant, who puts him on the track of the person skimming funds from the producer's company. Pike is a bit down on his luck to begin with, recently divorced and crashing in his friend's Malibu cottage. There he meets a shy Texas farm girl who swims in his pool, cooks his dinners but can't stand the stress of Pike's non-stop investigation - and that's before Pike's life takes a turn for the worse when a muscle-bound Neanderthal vows revenge for a beating Pike gives him. Pike races from Marina del Rey to Malibu and points in between, uncovering dead bodies and important facts along the way. But in the end he must sort out who is doing what to whom. And why. Then he must take action no matter what the risks. This is Mr. Pattillo's first thriller, and a first rate one it is, promising more good reading to come.

Great Read

Great read. I had no idea at the outset where the story was headed -- but once it got there, everything fit nicely into place. Real characters, not cardboard cut-outs (I loved the alcoholic ex-FBI agent), and believable financial machinations. Rumor has it that the author wanted to call the book, 'Kill with a Smile' from a line in the Billy Joel song 'Always a Woman.' That title would have fit the lead female character better, but under either title the book rocks.

Lucky Find

Found this book in a used bookstore and couldn't put it down. It's a bit dated (no cell phones) but full of situations balanced on a knife-edge.