Did anybody watch Mad Dogs on Amazon Prime? Something terrible happens, and the whole cast of characters spends the rest of the show making the absolute wrongest decisions whenever they’re presented with a choice, and you spend the whole time yelling at the TV? This book felt like that. Every time Erin said “Hey, let’s do this,” I wanted to yell “NO DON’T!” It was aggravating, but in a fun ‘I couldn’t put it down because how on earth is this going to end’ way.
Erin and Mark, as described by Erin herself, are a blissfully happy couple. From the outside, he seems kind of a jerk and she’s a bit of a drip, but she’s happy. She’s a fledgling documentary filmmaker, and he’s a hedge fund banking dude. He loses his job and does not take it well, lashing out and spiraling into depression, but they go ahead with their wedding plans.
On their honeymoon, they’re on a boat in Bora Bora after a big storm and find a floating bag of money (along with a phone, a USB drive, a bag of diamonds, and a gun). If A Simple Plan and Shallow Grave taught me anything, it’s that you should immediately call the police. Do not pass Go, do not collect $2 million dollars.
From there, things get out of control fast. Mark keeps calling Erin stupid, which made me want to push him into a boat propeller, but then she keeps doing stupid things! “We have to be smart, we have to be careful – NO WAIT AND I’M GOING TO STROLL INTO THIS PUBLIC DIAMOND MARKET AND DO SOME VERY PUBLIC RECON.” When she KNOWS that the police, the original (criminal) owners of the money, and a crime boss she’s been interviewing for a documentary, are ALL possibly following her.
I can’t decide if I would recommend this or not. Pajiba Dustin did, which is why I picked it up, but it’s a maddening read. But it’s a quick one, and I couldn’t wait to see what happened next. Erin is one lucky twit.