Spanish Fly

A beautifully written, compelling novel about con artists in the 1930s and 40s. The historical research is thorough and fascinatingly presented as part of the narrative, and the characters sympathetically drawn, especially the narrator, who has the brain but not the heart of a con man - a young man of many talents, but no pretensions. One of the most compelling elements of the book is the description of the various types of con tricks, but it is the people playing them who stay with you. The sense of place is strong too: you can almost smell the dust of the poor towns of the southern United States in the mid-20th century. Very highly recommended: a real pleasure.

This is a marvellous road trip novel, set in the 1930s, detailing the exploits of Virgil and Miss Rose who, in Paradise Flats, a back-of-beyond town in the mid-West, make the acquaintance of young Jack Geary. Jack learned an early lesson at the hands of his father, who sold almost all his possessions in the grip of a nation-wide scam that promised those investing in it a portion of the gold that Sir Francis Drake sent to the bottom of the ocean in the war with Spain. Jack is smart, puzzling over Pascal's wager in the library and learning even more in pursuit of the librarian's daughter. He is duped by carneys (carnival fraudsters) while trying to win a prize for his girlfriend, and then he meets up with Virgil and Miss Rose and takes off with them on a roller-coaster ride around the townships and misbegotten wayside stop-overs of the mid west of North America. Neither Miss Rose nor Virgil are who they purport to be - they are card-sharps, scam merchants and tricksters and a great deal of the novel features their exploits with all kinds of confidence tricks, including selling the proverbial Spanish Fly (labelled `Genuine Placebo' in a nice touch). But then comes the scam to beat all others and the trio are almost wiped out - a matter of dandelions on the lawn and a gum-chewing waitress who doesn't pick up her paycheck are what saves them. This book is genuinely funny as well as rather shocking, and the characterisation is uniformly good. It's an entertaining read and though the pace flags a little towards the last third, it ends on a high note and is well-worth the reader's persistence.

Quite different from the run-of-the-mill novels. Certainly recommend this book to those who think out of the box sometimes...and are not too conventional.

Ferguson's novel is a masterpiece of storytelling well tied together from beginning to end and one that's hard to put down once you start. Fiction it may be but it is historically accurate and reflects the time of the depression and life in rural American in the days of Roosevelt and the ABC work plan he implemented during the Great Depression. Great characters depicted in the story and while the schemes of the con artists are a bit hard to follow by times it was well worth the read.

This is just a very funny, clever and well written book. Treat yourself.

Everyone should read this book. This edition is printed in America but in England the title is The Hustle. One of his best books.

The book is repetitive and dull. The characters seem to sleep-walk thru their grifts. They are presented in an unlovable way, very little depth. I read 419 and thought it absolutely flawless so to say I am disappointed in this book is an understatement