From Publishers Weekly
For anyone who's ever dreamed of finding a cash windfall, Grippando's (The Abduction) new crime novel offers a cautionary tale of greed, family secrets and the dangers of getting what you wish for. Just before Frank Duffy dies, he tells his physician son, Ryan, that there is $2 million hidden in the attic, and that Frank got the money through blackmail?albeit off someone who "deserved it." The level-headed Ryan considers both claims unbelievable?until he finds the money. What secrets had his mild-mannered, hard-working father been hiding? Meanwhile, Amy Parkins, while struggling to support her daughter and her grandmother and to put herself through law school, receives $200,000 from an anonymous benefactor, apparently Frank Duffy, whom she'd never met. Why? Could the gift have anything to do with her mother's mysterious suicide 20 years earlier? Troubled by the criminal implications of his father's legacy, Ryan decides he can't touch the cash until he knows where it came from. His questions kick off a wild ride involving lawyers and guns, Panamanian banks, seductive strangers and too much FBI interest for comfort. Amy, too, tries to trace the money, putting her on a collision course with Ryan and his greed-maddened family. As Ryan and Amy search for the money's source and meaning, they uncover a conspiracy involving high-ranking government officials, multi-billion-dollar corporations and a hidden crime committed on a hot summer night years ago. The final revelation is a real kicker, but it would carry even more force if overly tricky plot contrivances hadn't diluted the suspense of what came before. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
An impoverished single mother is stupefied to find $200,000 in a package anonymously mailed to her, until her house is broken into shortly thereafter. A dying electrician tells his son about $2 million buried under the floorboards of the attic. The son, incredulous, locates another $3 million in a Panamanian bank, but when he goes to investigate, his papers are stolen. Both of the newly wealthy people have reservations about keeping money acquired so suspiciously and are soon in touch. Grippando (The Informant) nicely plots a baffling yet believable story of extortion and deception from an earlier generation. Sad to say, the tale eventually degenerates into a gun battle at a remote dam after midnight, with a hired killer and the appointee to head the Federal Reserve Board. Still, the setup is well done, and if the story slips into thriller clich?s, well, it's that kind of book. This is one of the few abridgments that doesn't leave the listener wondering whether a tape was left out of the package; Mark Blum reads with a real sense of urgency. Overall, you could do much worse.AJohn Hiett, Iowa City P.L. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.



"Readers will want to applaud. Number this intelligent, cleverly constructed thriller among the best."



"Grippando writes in nail-biting style."

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Amy Parkens is a struggling single mother forced to abandon a career in astronomy for a practical computer job. She feels condemned to long hours, low pay, and no time to spend with her daughter. Then an unmarked package arrives. There's no card, no note, no return address. Someone has simply sent her a small fortune. Amy has no idea who - or why. She only knows her dead-end life has changed forever. But when she tries to look her gift horse in the mouth, someone snatches the money away - quickly, violently. Ryan Duffy is a decent, responsible man, a small-town physician from the plains of southeastern Colorado. Like Amy, Ryan has recently found unexpected wealth. His father's estate is worth more than Ryan could ever have imagined - millions more. Truth is, Dad was a hardworking electrician for forty-five years. But in his attic, he hid a fortune. The Duffy family has been guarding this secret. Was it extortion, burglary, or some other shocking crime? And now that Ryan has the money, what should he do? Painful as it is, Ryan is drawn to his father's dark past. Amy, on the same desperate quest for answers, soon crosses Ryan's path. Their search takes them through a labyrinth of deception and blackmail, leading to a man of unfathomable power. Yet the past is not what it appears. Heinous crimes touched their families years ago. Amy and Ryan must solve a treacherous puzzle to learn why the true victims never came forward, why the real wrongdoers went unpunished, and why certain people would kill to keep their secrets.

FROM THE CRITICS

David Pitt

If the quality of a thriller can be measured by its ability to confound and then delight its readers, then Grippando's latest is very good thriller indeed. Like his previous novel, The Abduction, this one sets up a situation--28-year-old Amy Parkens receives $200,000 in the mail from an anonymous donor--and piles up question upon question until readers feel they might go crazy trying to figure everything out. Did the money come from a man who recently died, leaving millions of dollars stashed away? What is the secret buried deep in the man's past, and does it have anything to do with the apparent suicide of Amy's mother 20 years ago? The questions keep coming, long after the halfway point (when most thrillers tend to start providing answers), but all of a sudden, everything clicks, and readers will want to applaud. Number this intelligent, cleverly constructed thriller among the best.--Booklist

Larry King - USA Today

Grippando writes in nail-biting style.

Orlando Sentinel

A plot filled with twists and turns. Found Money is a good yarn about two honest people whose main problem is that their parents kept too many secrets.

Orlando Sentinel

A plot filled with twists and turns. Found Money is a good yarn about two honest people whose main problem is that their parents kept too many secrets.

Publishers Weekly

For anyone who's ever dreamed of finding a cash windfall, Grippando's (The Abduction) new crime novel offers a cautionary tale of greed, family secrets and the dangers of getting what you wish for. Just before Frank Duffy dies, he tells his physician son, Ryan, that there is $2 million hidden in the attic, and that Frank got the money through blackmail--albeit off someone who "deserved it." The level-headed Ryan considers both claims unbelievable--until he finds the money. What secrets had his mild-mannered, hard-working father been hiding? Meanwhile, Amy Parkins, while struggling to support her daughter and her grandmother and to put herself through law school, receives $200,000 from an anonymous benefactor, apparently Frank Duffy, whom she'd never met. Why? Could the gift have anything to do with her mother's mysterious suicide 20 years earlier? Troubled by the criminal implications of his father's legacy, Ryan decides he can't touch the cash until he knows where it came from. His questions kick off a wild ride involving lawyers and guns, Panamanian banks, seductive strangers and too much FBI interest for comfort. Amy, too, tries to trace the money, putting her on a collision course with Ryan and his greed-maddened family. As Ryan and Amy search for the money's source and meaning, they uncover a conspiracy involving high-ranking government officials, multi-billion-dollar corporations and a hidden crime committed on a hot summer night years ago. The final revelation is a real kicker, but it would carry even more force if overly tricky plot contrivances hadn't diluted the suspense of what came before. (Feb.) Read all 7 "From The Critics" >

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING