Publisher's Weekly
This absorbing adventure should reap even more raves than did Perry's award-winner, The Butcher's Boy, and its successors. Exciting, funny and moving moments blend in events set afoot by Harry and Emma Erskine, abetted by fellow con artists. Flying from a mobster Harry cheated, the couple land in Miami where they enlist a Caribbean smuggler, Lord Carnavaron, in a new scam. Aboard his boat, the three travel to various locales where they recruit other partners on the way to Harry's objective, an uninhabited island far off the shipping lanes. The companions turn the place into an exotic attraction for wealthy vacationers who fulfill Harry's dream of the riches he and his friends intend to accumulate. But they have established the island as an independent country, home to uprooted Caribbeans, and its affluence draws the attention of secret government agencies as well as the Mafia. Here the story builds into unexpected, irresistible dimensions. As armies attempt to take over the country, the author intensifies our feelings for his beguiling group, roguesrogues in name only.

Library Journal
Harry and Emma Erskine are con artists who leave the States with a lot of money not their own. They team up with Vickers, a professional soldier, and a couple of other less than reputable characters. Poring over maps, they discover an unregistered island that they build up into a tax haven and touristy attraction so successful someone tries an invasion. What begins as a caper soon oozes out in all directions until the cuteness fades, the action becomes predictable, and too many new characters and plot lines appear. The book fizzles out to a boring conclusion of confusing patrotism, Haitian immigrants, and deja vu . A disappointment from the author of Metger's Dog . Robert H. Donahugh, Youngstown and Mahoning Cty. P.L.