Meet the best teen con artist team around. Boone McReedy: high school conman, smooth-talking charmer, and the idiot who just got scammed out of $15,000 of his mom’s money. Darby West: ass-kicker, straight-shooter, and Boone’s ex-girlfriend. Now, they must team up to save their parents’ business, one con at a time. That is if they don’t kill each other first. Of course, they’re only going to scam … if they don’t kill each other first.
Of course, they’re only going to scam people who deserve it.
That’s a promise.
Would they lie to you?
As he did in his award-winning debut, DON’T GET CAUGHT, Kurt Dinan brings laughs, twists, and heart to THE SCAM LISTS’ funny world of teen con artists, exes, and outrageous five-dollar bets.
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Oh, now this is an entertaining book. I’m not sure if it’s good for you, exactly, but it’s definitely entertaining. The Scam List, by Kurt Dinan, follows Boone McReedy, a seventeen-year-old whose dad is in jail for running con jobs, and who fears he’s on the same course.
Boone likes to drink at the Underground, a bar in his small Ohio town that doesn’t check his fake ID too carefully, where he can flirt and make out with girls with, let’s say, less than stellar judgment. But what he likes most of all is suckering a mark into a bet and taking his money, and he’s damn good at it.
Unfortunately, one Tuesday night when he’s supposed to take the day’s cash to the bank from his mom’s business, a flea market on the edge of both town and bankruptcy, he heads to the Underground first. A pretty girl named Leyla encourages him to buy them both drinks until late in the evening, and at the end of the night, she takes him to the back of his car, where he passes out and she steals the cash, all $15,000 of it. Boone’s fallen for a con himself.
Without that cash, which also includes the proceeds from all the booths for that day and the previous weekend, Boone’s mom might not be able to make the next bank payment, not to mention that some booth owners might leave for a newer flea market that recently set up across the highway. So how can Boone make $15,000 in a short period of time? He’ll need to use every scam he knows, and he’ll need a partner. The best partner he has is his ex-girlfriend, Darby, who hates him. But her parents run a booth at the flea market, so she agrees to join him for the time being, but on the condition that they only run scams on people who deserve them.
Whether Boone and Darby succeed in getting the money, saving the flea market, rekindling their relationship, finding out who stole the money in the first place (hint: Leila’s not her real name), or avoiding getting beat up by angry marks, I’ll leave for you to discover. Let’s just say you know that any book that has scams with names like the Moneybox Bamboozle or the Kansas City Shuffle is going to be fun to read. There are quite a few sexual references in the book (though no actual sex) as well as underage drinking and some moderate cursing, but I would think this book would be fine for older teens or more mature younger ones. I think anybody who likes reading about heists, double-crosses, or any sort of scenario where one character has to outwit another would enjoy this one.
I was a huge fan of Dinan’s debut, Don’t Get Caught. As a teacher, it’s one of those books I can give to any kid knowing he or she will love it, speed through it, and ask for more by Kurt Dinan. I’m so thrilled to have The Scam List to hand them. It has the exact same feel of Don’t Get Caught, and I’m certain teens will fall in love with this cast of vibrant and eclectic characters. Boone’s witty, self-deprecating voice is hilarious and immersive, and Dinan’s secondary characters are all just as fleshed out and memorable. I loved the unlikely duo of Boone and Darby as they work their way through twisty, clever cons and hilarious scams. Another favorite element was the setting: Garbage Mountain, a local flea market, felt like a character of its own. This book had me laughing out loud hysterically at multiple points and even kept me guessing at times. I sped through this book and once again, I’m look forward to Dinan’s next book. If you’re looking for a fast-paced, genuinely funny book with unforgettable characters, I highly recommend this one.
This was probably one of the funniest books I’ve read in a while. It was clever and witty and had me laughing out loud at so many moments.
THE SCAM LIST revolves around a smart and sharp-tongued kid named Boone. His thoughts and descriptions of people and places were probably my favorite part of this whole book. If I could have him narrate me through life, I think I’d always be laughing.
Something I loved about this book was the many different ways Boone knew how to scam people. And I love that we learned these tricks as a reader from him. It made me feel like I was in on the scam with him. Before reading this, I kinda just thought I’d tag along for one big scam and that would be the book, but I like that I was able to experience multiple small ones as well.
One thing that kept me from giving this book five stars was the pace of it. The book took longer to get to the actionable parts of the story than I would have liked. Sure, there were some small adventures along the way, but I kept finding myself thinking, “Okay. But when are we going to do this thing?”
Overall, I really enjoyed this book! The humor was top-notch, the story-line was fun and wit-driven, and there were so many characters to love. I’d recommend this to anyone looking for a laugh-out-loud comedy and adventure.
Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.