Reduced Circumstances

Vincent H. O'Neil

★ ★ ★

Set in the panhandle of Florida, Frank Cole is working as the midnight dispatcher for a cab company. One of the cabs picks up a young kid fleeing the scene of a drug bust at a sleazy motel..... Then the kid disappears and several not-so-savory people come to the cab yard searching for the kid.

In his previous life, Frank ran a very successful software company, but when the company fell on hard times he did what no serious business owner should ever do, he borrowed from the "sharks".... Although Frank claimed bankruptcy and lives in near poverty, the sharks know that he has a stash of unpublished software and are wanting to get their hands on it in order to get their pay-off.

Now Frank has gotten involved in the kid's disappearance and things begin to heat up in Florida...... The kid's parents are in Kansas at long term care facility of the government's; the local cops are in hot water for jumping the gun on the drug bust; a wad of money is missing; and the kid turns up dead.....

This was a smooth read, but not overly interesting.... A lukewarm story w/ lukewarm characters, and a lukewarm ending.