Review of "Stained Fortune," by Joe Calderwood

Review of

Stained Fortune, by Joe Calderwood ISBN 9781621343509

Four out of five stars

 This story is most unusual in that it has all the structure to be a book replete with violence with a dramatic ending. Yet, there is very little violence and nothing climactic about the ending. There is a great deal of sex mentioned, but only a little is described. Clint Kennedy is a bisexual man with a background in finance, sexual action and shady deals. He knows a family that owns a bank in the United States that is in trouble, so he offers them a deal that will save the bank.

 The deal is with a Mexican drug dealer named Alvaro that is also bisexual. Alvaro has millions of dollars that he wants to transfer to the United States for laundering and Kennedy knows how to do this. By concentrating on long dormant accounts, the money is electronically transferred into them in small amounts and then passed forward. Kennedy of course takes a healthy cut of the transferred money, he quickly becomes a multi-millionaire because of the deal. Kennedy has a good side, he spends a lot of money in Mexico, including the building of a school for children.  

 The story is based on Kennedy’s interactions with the drug dealers in Mexico, the banking family and towards the end, a lawyer that once kept him as his boy toy. There is very little action and danger, the people talk to each other far more than they shoot at each other. Every drug gang knows its place and stays within it. Therefore, there is little tension, just the continuation of Kennedy’s actions and how others react to it. If you like action and battles, you will be disappointed.