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Josh Redmont is just an average guy who loves his wife and son but finds himself in a terrible predicament because he didn't have the moral fiber to do the right thing seven years earlier. At that time, he began receiving monthly checks for $1,000 from 'United States Agent'. He did try to phone and write to notify them of their error, but the information provided in the mailing was incorrect. So he did the easy thing and just kept cashing the checks, $1,000 a month for seven years. Little does he know that he was unknowingly recruited to be a 'sleeper' spy by Ellois Nimrin, who signed up several young men without their knowledge so that he could collect the checks, a scheme that quickly went awry. Now it's payback time, and the spy team is expecting Josh to deliver. Of course, he's terrified, but he doesn't see any way around cooperating. The first thing that is asked of him is to allow his New York apartment to be used as a 'safehouse' while he's away, which doesn't present much of a problem. Another time, he finds that they've decided to store a cache of weapons and military uniforms in his home. Putting two plus two together, he believes that they are planning an assassination attempt of a visiting dignitary from Kamastan. Nimrin originally 'recruited' six young men, three of whom never cashed the checks. The other recruits were not so ethical. The fourth has been murdered. Josh is able to find the only other surviving sleeper, a thespian by the name of Mitchell Robbie, and they work very effectively together to try to thwart the assassination attempt. Learning from Mitch, Josh puts aside his normal passivity to fight for his family's lives. MONEY FOR NOTHING is an entertaining read, a little implausible, but generally enjoyable. I liked the character of Josh, who was basically a decent guy who made a stupid mistake, with no evil intent. He had a good relationship with his wife, Eve, and told her what was going on so that she was in the loop. Mitchell Robbie was also a likeable character, an inventive man who was much more solid than he first appeared and added quite a bit of comic relief. Westlake elicited sympathy for their situation -- how many people would have the ethical principles required to not cash the checks when they kept appearing month after month? Westlake is known for his caper-type books, and MONEY FOR NOTHING fits the bill. It is unpredictable, absurd and casts a new light on an old homily: you should look a gift horse in the mouth!
Reviewed by Maddy Van Hertbruggen, September 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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