Confidence by Rafael Frumkin

​Ah, finally. I’ve been waiting to read this book for a while, ever since Netgalley offered a deficient ARC. The first chapter engaged me absolutely and then I had to wait until the publisher reached out and ever so kindly furnished a proper ARC. So naturally the question is…as it worth the wait?
The answer is YES…mostly.  The story did take some directions I didn’t quite expect from the first chapter, but hey, don’t you want your books to surprise you?
I love con stories. I find them uniquely American, like apple pie and gun violence. I’m sure there are con artists all over the world, but there’s something about the very specifically American blend of stupidity/gullibility, rampant and baseless exceptionalism and individualism and, above all, the greed and exigencies of Mammon that makes the art of con proliferate and thrive here.
This is very much a con story.
A story of two young men  - the proverbial odd couple of charm and brains – that sets up a personality programing cult. Well, technically they start off small, but cults are where the real money are, so they turn to that. And they are killing it too, for a while. But then, like every tower that reaches too far…
What gives the story its emotional backbone is the profound, obsessive, and ultimately destructive love the two men share. Or, more specifically, one of them has for the other. The balance is way off between the geek and his Adonis and it ends up being as messy and complicated as such dynamics tend to go.
And so, in three classic acts, you get to witness a version of the American dream. The pursuit of green at all costs. All that.
And yes, it is compelling and well-crafted and clever. Like a good con.
Not sure how much I enjoyed the characters as far as emotional engagements go. There’s something tragically pathetic about the geek and something oddly vague and unfocused about the object of his desperate attentions. But overall, this was definitely a very good read. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.