[.ca] Mrs. Million (ISBN 0671038656)

wacky:
The first few pages drew me into this book very quickly. The cast of quirky characters makes this a funny story. Barbarannette, (nicknamed Barbie) whose husband, Bobby Quinn, had run off 6 years ago. Now that Barbie has won the lottery and her winnings totaled 8.9 million dollars. She decides to put up a million dollars reward for the safe return of her husband Bobby. Big mistake. At the same time that Barbie was on TV putting up the reward, Bobby is sitting in Tucson AZ watching TV with his girl friend. They decide to pack their bags and go claim the reward for themselves. There are 2 other people who also want the money, Bobby's greedy girlfriend and a crazy bounty hunter. The book goes through their misadventures, in the attempt to try and claim the million dollars for themselves. Barbie's family is a wee bit wacky but they have Barbie's best interest at heart. Be prepared for a surprise end. I found it to be a well, written, lighthearted read that held my attention. A good read for a lazy day.

The professor has a mean streak:
Sam O'Gara appears in most of Hautman's novels. In this one he gets a bare mention. He's the father of Barbaraannette Quinn, who wins the lottery and decides to spend a million of it trying to win her husband Bobby back. He absconded six years before and she's never gotten over the good-looking devil. Bobby, along with his girlfriend, Phlox, sees her offer on TV. They decide to claim the reward and then split, which strains credulity because people are looking for Bobby in Cold Rock, Minnesota. You see, before he left, he conned these two guys out of money to start a dude ranch, and he runs into them as soon as he sets foot in Cold Rock. Suddenly everybody wants the million dollars and Bobby changes hands more often than the Hope diamond. There are a lot of quirky characters in MRS. MILLION, but probably the most interesting one is the college professor, Andre Gideon, who just happens to be in the right place (or wrong, depending upon how you look at it). He's more interested in JJ Morrow, another con man, who sends letters to celebrities to mooch money off of them. Gideon is unique because Hautman is working against type. Gideon looks about as violent as Shirley Temple, but he's got a mean streak as long as the English Chunnel. There's a lot of internal monologue in this novel, which slows down the pace, but it speeds up when Barbaraanette collects the million in cash from her marathon-running banker, who just happens to have loved her forever. The funniest part is how often the money changes hands. You'll start counting heads when the money disappears. Everybody seems to be accounted for. The eventual resolution is sidesplitting.

Quirky, lighthearted, and very entertaining:
If you've read your way through Carl Hiaissen, Elmore Leonard, and James W. Hall but haven't discovered Pete Hautman, "Mrs. Million" is a great place to start. Reviewers who were expecting big action or complex plotting in this book were probably disappointed, but only because they missed the point. Hautman's work is very easy to escape into because it IS odd-ball. It doesn't have to make sense! The characters in this book, like in those in "Short Money," are very offbeat, but immensely likeable. Except for the villains, of course, who are equally offbeat but easy to despise. But like Hiaissen's villains, they always get what's coming to them. I've only read two of Hautman's books, but I'm using an Amazon gift certificate to stock up (and then fortify my local library). Keep up the good work, Mr. Hautman.

Decent, But He's Done Better:
As in his previous books, Drawing Dead and the excellent The Mortal Nuts, Hautman brings Carl Hiassan's tradition of wild and wacky characters to small-town Minnesota. When a 30ish single woman wins the Powerball lottery, she offers $1,000,000 for the return of her missing no-good husband, who disappeared six years ago. This is catalyst for shady shenanigans as he and his girlfriend head back to collect the money. Of course there are other people seeking to claim the reward themselves, etc... Everything ends true to formula, and it doesn't have quite the sharp bite that his other books do.

A Very Interseting Book:
This book is very interesting book from beginning to end, with a few touches of humor. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a book that is fun to read.