October 10, 2022
Frumkin’s exuberant latest (after The Comedown) pulls off a queer take on the caper novel. Insecure, brainy Ezra Green and handsome, charismatic Orson Ortman meet as teenagers at the Last Chance Camp, a kind of pre-juvenile detention program. Both show a precocious knack for con artistry. After their release, they partner on a series of mini-cons, like hustling wealthy older women, that takes them into their 20s. Eventually, they embark on their greatest scam—founding a company called NuLife that sells happiness via wearable magnets. Ezra handles the business side and Orson takes care of all things spiritual. At the same time, they strike up a sexual relationship. Ezra is in love with Orson, but never says so for fear that Orson won’t reciprocate. The cultish NuLife grows into a huge success, making Ezra and Orson rich and famous. But then their empire comes under attack from a seemingly relentless financial investigator, a Stanford grad student who claims they stole his ideas, and a Hollywood starlet who comes between the two men. Frumkin’s sharp observations and clever plotting echo the Theranos scandal and the NXIVM cult, though some of the twists are a bit improbable. In the end, Frumkin advances the subversive notion that love might be the biggest con of all. For the reader, the deception is thoroughly enjoyable.
June 10, 2024
Frumkin's (The Comedown) latest follows Ezra and Orson, who meet at Last Chance Camp, a boot camp designed to put juvenile offenders on the straight and narrow. Instead of reforming their ways, Ezra and Orson find that they have much in common, and they begin a partnership, starting with small-time scams at low-wage jobs. They begin to engineer more and more complicated scams, often engaging the support of wealthy women, until they create NuLife, a massive New-Age company that purports to deliver bliss and spiritual healing. Narrator Em Grosland expertly provides a variety of engaging voices for the characters, capturing their growth from small-time crooks to leaders of a cultlike pyramid scheme. Grosland effectively conveys the momentum of the story--the headiness of succeeding with outrageous projects, and the growing sense that this precarious success won't last. Grosland is at his best when portraying Ezra and Orson's complicated relationship, poignantly communicating brainy Ezra's unrequited love for charismatic, increasingly corrupt Orson. VERDICT A caper novel with a twist. Share with fans of Kirsten Chen's Counterfeit or Mateo Askaripour's Black Buck.--Joanna M. Burkhardt
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