GRQ

by

Steven Bernstein

Not your average, straightforward financial suspense story.

GRQ (Get Rich Quick) by Steven Bernstein gets really quirky fast. Part stream-of-consciousness and part suspense, where the narrator continually breaks the fourth wall, it is the story of a manipulative financial advisor, a get-rich-quick opportunity, and his desperate client, Marlon, on the day his house is being repossessed. Can Marlon scrape together all the cash he has left, even emotionally pressuring his relatives and in-laws into buying into his dream of a cryptocurrency killing? Or will he take what he’s got and walk away, hoping for another chance with the wife he’s boldly lied to about their circumstances for years? 

The story’s delivery is unique, with short, first-person chapters from the financial advisor that reveal his backstory and confess his scheme to make money off his hapless clients. Those chapters alternate with how Marlon came to be where he is today, revealing shocking details along the way. The wife, Viola, is complicit in their situation by failing to take a more active interest and ‘trusting’ Marlon to take care of her from the start. 

The novel is fast-paced, with great galloping swaths of pages containing only a single line of text in an extra-large font, bullet points that prove the narrator’s current point. Marlon makes his final stand from the fallout shelter built into his home, the suspense of his risky move ratcheting up by the minute as Los Angeles is wracked by a series of earthquakes, with the BIG ONE just waiting to hit. 

I recommend GRQ to readers looking for financial suspense stories and something really fresh, unique, and punchy. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours.