The Deadly Kiss-Off

Set in an unspecified part of the American West, Di Filippo’s disappointing second caper thriller featuring disbarred attorney Glen McClinton and former arsonist Stan Hasso involves a far less ingenious get-rich-quick scheme than the one in its predecessor, 2018’s The Big Get-Even. When Stan gets a gig driving an 18-wheeler loaded with fake goods across the country, Glen joins him as his shotgun-toting bodyguard. The arrest of a counterfeit game console distributor leaves their employer, local mob boss Vincent “Weeping Ear” Santo, with a warehouse full of 5,000 bogus Intel microprocessors on his hands. In search for a new buyer for the chips, Stan turns to his former business partners in a harebrained venture that would have turned parts of a wrecked ship into jewelry. These partners, in turn, connect Stan with a professor who claims to have invented a new handheld explosives detector that requires microprocessors. The con, naturally, doesn’t unfold as Glen and Stan hope, and leads to an unsatisfying ending. Readers will hope Di Filippo gets back on track next time. [em]Agent: Richard Curtis, Richard Curtis Assoc. (Apr.) [/em]