Attorney Alton Carver has a problem: he's under federal investigation for embezzling and securities fraud. Instead of spending the next three to five years behind bars, he's got a plan: stage his own death, take the money he stole and light out for Central America, leaving behind wife Nicole and daughter Clara. But when he sticks around town long enough to watch his own funeral, he makes the unpleasant discovery that the life he's leaving behind isn't the life he thought he had.
The shock of seeing Nicole in the arms of another man leads Alton to postpone his plan to run for the border and forces him to reconsider his self-image as a respected and admired pillar of the legal community. What comes next is a slow-burn train wreck, a tale of self-deception, revenge, and bad decisions.
The
Sexy Nerd ‘Revue’
This is one of those quirky stories that should have made me angrier beyond belief, but truth be told, I so enjoyed reading these crazy ass characters.
Alton Carver does indeed have a problem. He’s a married man with a four-year-old child whom he adores. Alton also works as an attorney. So, now you’re probably wondering why is that a problem? Well, Alton is a thief, and he’s done some rather unfavorable things to his clients and his law firm. The feds are cracking down on his thievery, and as any criminal will tell you, they never ever want to be caught. Knowing that he’s about to lose everything he’s ever worked for, Alton comes up with the bright idea of killing himself so that his wife and daughter will be able to live off of the insurance money and go on with their lives.
Hmm, ok, so that sounds horrible, but it’s doable. The only problem is Alton doesn’t really want to kill himself. Hell, Alton has more living to do—just far, far away from the life he once lived. And besides, what would be the point of stealing your clients’ money if you don’t plan to live out your dreams? So mister genius decides to fake his own death. What the reader will quickly discover is that Alton is a damn fool, and not only is Alton an idiot, I couldn’t help but wonder how the hell he ever passed the bar exam to become an attorney in the first place? Oh, my, Alton, Alton, Alton!
His poor wife Nicole was just beside herself. What is she supposed to do being a young widow and raising a four-year-old by herself? This isn’t how she envisioned her life. But, Nicole had a few tricks up her sleeve as well. What will become very obvious is why Alton and Nicole got together in the first place? Birds of a feather definitely flocked together in this wild and crazy story. I could not get enough of these two idiots. OMG, I’m not sure if this is what Fleury was going for, but I couldn’t stop laughing through the whole story. The Carvers remind me of the couple in War of the Roses, but with completely different set of circumstances. However, as idiotic as Alton was, his beautiful relationship with his daughter, Clara, was very touching. In fact, Clara was the only thing Alton and Nicole got right. But for the two of them as a union, umm, they certainly don’t deserve the Parent-of-the-Year award.
This was the most outrageous story I’ve read in a long time and there’s so much humor in it. The characters felt so real, in fact too real, because people really do act the way the Carvers behaved. I became so engrossed in Alton’s life, I read this book in two days. It was that damn good! Fleury did an impeccable job in keeping the reader focused on the zaniness of Alton’s and Nicole’s daily lives. I just couldn’t believe the lengths these two would go and trust me, readers, you will want to take the journey with them because you, too, will find yourself saying, I know they didn’t just do this? But oh yes they did!
I give How I’m Spending My Afterlife five I-Do’s because Alton and Nicole should have said I Don’t! (chuckle). Ordinarily, I wouldn’t love characters like these because their actions were so stupid to me, but it works for them and this story. It was really quite enjoyable. Fleury, you’re all right in my book! For this to be your first time out, you hit it straight out of the park. Well done! Great work!
I’m still laughing thinking about this couple!
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