Island

This is a really fun read! Perry has a great way of making the reader root for the bad guys. The concept is extremely farfetched, but, somehow, I didn't care. The idea by the two capers is really a joke that just keeps going beyond anywhere they could have ever expected. When a completely ludicrous idea is suggested, the characters recognize the ridiculousness, and then do it anyway. This is no run of the mill novel. It can be kind of hard to find, sense it is out of print, but if you can get your hands on a copy, I highly recommend it.

Island, first published in 1987 and long out-of-print, one of Thomas Perry’s most sought-after titles, is now available to readers in e-book format. The riveting and entertaining thriller follows a husband-and-wife con team on the run from the Mob, a soldier of fortune between jobs, a two-bit operator with grandiose dreams of tribal dynasty, a sultry CIA operative with divided loyalties, and the most dazzling defector ever to hurl a split-fingered fastball––twentieth-century buccaneers who wash up on a tiny island in the Caribbean and turn it into a multinational cash machine—but then the shooting starts.

Somebody is trying to invade the island, and that somebody could be anybody: the CIA, NSC or IRS; the most powerful, corrupt show more bank in the U.S. or the South American cocaine mafia—or it could just be the Los Angeles incarnation of the devil himself, a shadowy figure with a checkered past named Fat Jimmy…

Reviews:

“Island has more thrills than The Butcher’s Boy and more laughs than Metzger’s Dog, and it makes you feel good to read it. A pure delight, start to finish.” – Lawrence Block.

“Thomas Perry’s Island is the tourist trap to end all tourist traps—a fearsomely funny oasis where Gilligan wouldn’t survive the first luau, but where Ivan Boesky or Oliver North might feel right at home. A wild and terrific book.” – Carl Hiaasen show less

For those who remember Donald Westlake, this could well be a homage to Dortmunder and his ilk. - A thoroughly delightful group of misfits create an island. Trouble ensues.

Very interesting story about a couple who build a Carribean island, complete with casino/resort, airstrip, and all the intrigue that comes from the jealousies of crime bosses and governments. A must read if you can find it. Extremely rare.

Better after a while than the beginning.