Stuart Woods, Two-Dollar Bill

Two Dollar Bill

Stuart Woods

Putnam, Apr 2005, $25.95, 304 pp.

ISBN: 0399152511

At Elaine's nightclub in Manhattan, lawyer Stone Barrington meets his new client Billy Bob Barnstormer. Stone doesn't understand why Billy Bob needs an attorney, but he gets his first inkling that this is the client from the nether regions when someone shoots at them while in a moving vehicle. Billy Bob stays at Stone's house for a while, floating a wad of cash, including two-dollar bills. When his latest client and houseguest vanish, Stone and his girlfriend, District Attorney Tiffany Baldwin, share some recreational sex.

The next day on the Justice website, is a video of the DA and Stone having sex; another relationship of Stone's is also trashed. Besides the video, Billy Bob left behind a present for his host, the strangled body of a call girl. Stone does an internet search on his former guest only to find that Billy Bob has many aliases in varying corporations. The CIA want Stone to help them find Billy Bob who has stolen weapons that terrorists will pay a great deal of money to get their hands on. The FBI wants Stone to help them find Billy Bob who has stolen money in his possession. The DA wants Stone to find Billy Bob, not just because of the embarrassing video, but because he stiffed many people with his con games. Stone wants Billy Bob for personal reasons.

Stuart Woods has created a fabulous hero who can turn from nebbish to dynamo when he feels someone threatens people he cares about. Stone does not know why Billy Bob targeted him, but he knows he must take precautions to stop this psychopath; alas his efforts fail and he becomes a hunter tracking his prey. Mr. Woods provides a delightful Barrington tale in which the enemy will fascinate readers with his outrageous behavior.

Harriet Klausner