Fool's Gold

Categories: Mystery & Suspense , Rediscoveries , Fiction

I keep seeing trailers for a new movie with Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson, but the Fool's Gold that pops into my mind every time I see them is a completely unrelated 1993 novel of that title by Albert DiBartolomeo.  Only his second novel (and apparently his last), it was a crisp little mob thriller about a cache of gold coins.

As the book opens, Benny Bean, a violent young thug, steals those coins from a beach house.  But before he has even got them out the door, someone in turn steals them from him.  Furious, Benny tracks down the second thief and kidnaps his daughter, Claire, for ransom.  But the second thief has already been robbed of the coins, too.

Those are just the opening twists in a spirallingly complicated plot.  The coins (which belong to a mob boss) pass through several more pairs of hands while Benny keeps Claire a prisoner and Claire's boyfriend races to recover the coins that will buy her life. 

Fans of the genre will appreciate DiBartolomeo's snappy plotting.  I remember the book as being pretty violent, though with a comic edge, so keep that in mind.  But let me know whether it stands up to my memory of it.  And whether it would make a good movie itself.