Review by Ndiviwe -- Money Faucet by Joe Calderwood

[Ndiviwe]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Money Faucet" by Joe Calderwood.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Money Faucet by Joe Calderwood is a fictional crime novel and is the second installment in the Clint Kennedy series. Clint is a money launderer for the kingpins of the Mexican drug cartel. While he is taking care of some family matters in California, chaos occurs in Mexico that results in some of the kingpins being assassinated and new kingpins being assigned. Pablo, one of Clint's kingpins, instructs Clint to lay low in California until the chaos dies down. This gives Clint the time to sort out the different facets of his personal life. His father has a stroke, he has to sort out some business concerning his imprisoned brother who strongly dislikes him, he also has a funeral he has to plan, settle Eddie's estate and be a guardian to Eddie's sick grandfather. Clint's main concern is the war going on down in Mexico, what the result will be and how the result will affect the family bank business and his luxurious lifestyle. Will he make the same amount of money as before the war or will the money faucet cease to flow and dry up resulting in the family bank business going under?. If you want to find out get a copy of Money Faucet.

I don't usually go for crime novels written from the criminal's perspective, but I decided to give Money Faucet a chance because of the official review I read for the book. The review promised a balanced portion of the book, if not more, contained non-criminal activity. And I was not disappointed, the main character has a lot on his plate. He has a good bad guy persona that I surprisingly loved. It was enlightening to see a responsible family orientated criminal with a "heart" and that gives wholeheartedly back to his community. He genuinely wants to give the children of Merida a chance to succeed in life with better education and to give them the option of not choosing crime as a career, an option he did not have.

Another expect of the novel that was surprising was the main character's sexuality. At first, I thought it was a secrete but as the book progresses it becomes clear that he is an openly bi-sexual criminal, which is something you do not see often. I did not particularly like the characters, they were a bit too posh for me. I would have loved it if Eddie was alive in this installment, I feel like his character would have added some well-needed "spice" to this novel. I did not read the first installment, so I'm not sure if Eddie was the main supporting character in the first book or not. But, from what I have read of him in this installment he sounds very likable.

The author's word choice was exquisite, almost poetic at times. I loved how he chose words wisely and used certain words in different scenes to evoke particular emotions in his readers. But, the author chose to write in long-winded sentences full of conjunctions. These long sentences confused me and led me to stop reading the book many times. I enjoyed the storyline of the novel, but the long sentences and sometimes random short sentences between the long ones put me off a little. If this is the author's writing style, I do not mean this in a derogatory way, I am just stating that the writing style is not to my taste.

There were a few characters that were mentioned, but they never made an appears or they died before the readers could get to know them. Characters I would have loves to appear were Eddie and Taavi because they brought a lot to the story and contributed significantly to the main character's development. And I believe they would have added more personality to the wide array of almost bland characters. The character that I liked the least was Abe, Clint's brother. He is so disgustingly selfish, arrogant, egotistical, and insensitive.

I rate Money Faucet by Joe Calderwood a three out of four stars because although I enjoyed the storyline, the long sentences threw me off multiple times. And I think the book lacked a distinct character with an unforgettable personality to make the book a memorable experience. I found a few errors in the book, which lead me to believe that the book was not expertly edited. Nonetheless, the novel is satisfactory and I recommend it to crime novel lovers and readers who are dedicated to the Clint Kennedy crime series.

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Money Faucet
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[Naaya123]

I've only read a handful of crime novels and definitely want to give this one a try. Great review!

[Precious Naiti]

The fact that money faucet was written from the criminal’s perspective makes it all the more interesting and i loved that about the book.

[markodim721]

An interesting plot setting, with a great narrative and cleverly designed characters is what makes this book great. Also, the review does not lag behind the quality of the book.

[DANAWEB]

Crime novel about a drug cartel, money laundering scheme and their leaders and followers.

[Umesh Bhatt]

This seems to be an interesting crime book on the background of drug trafficking and drug Mafia. The review has nicely brought out its plot and other features. Thanks.