MONTECITO

A man lands a dream job that’s too good to be true in Cox’s thriller.

Hollis Crawford of Montecito is a talented man—he’s a whiz at computer programming—but he’s saddled with “substandard emotional intelligence,” a near inability to read others and negotiate the rocky terrain of professional relationships. As a result, the socially awkward and physically clumsy man is fired from three jobs in seven years. Once again unemployed, he is forced to rely upon the vastly superior corporate skills of his wife, Cricket, to provide for him and their two children. Hollis’ luck seems to change when he meets Cyrus Wimby and his wife, Genevieve, new neighbors who are as ostentatiously wealthy as they are urbanely cosmopolitan—they travel all over the globe, own a stable of horses, and buy a winery to pursue a fun hobby. Cyrus reveals that his latest entrepreneurial venture is sure to make an unbelievable fortune and “single-handedly change the face of global trade,” and he hires Hollis to be the CEO of his company, ExOh Holdings. Hollis accepts what seems like the opportunity of a lifetime but quickly finds cause for discomfiting suspicion. At first, the signs are relatively innocuous: The website bios of all the principal players, including Cyrus, contain factual inaccuracies. Later, the clues become more troubling; Cyrus insists that Hollis sign bank statements without having read them first, a bizarre and indefensible request. The persuasive Cyrus manipulates Hollis into feeling guilty about his reasonable concerns, a talent portrayed artfully by the author. When Hollis is slow to acquiesce to Cyrus’ demands, he both coaxes and pushes: “Take your time, Hollis….Take all the time you need. But if you want to be the Chief Executive Officer of ExOh Holdings, I need your unwavering, undivided, uncompromised trust. If you cannot do that, then I’m afraid we can’t work together.”

In one sense, the plot is fairly predictable—the reader knows with certainty early on that Cyrus’ business is some kind of fraud. In fact, most readers will be much sharper than Hollis, who is painfully slow to read the boldfaced handwriting on the wall. This is the trickiest part of the novel—Cox wants to make Hollis’ almost childlike credulity believable. With impressive skill, Cox conveys Hollis’ lack of savvy and his common sense–nullifying desire to finally become a success and justify his wife’s unwavering love. His professional mediocrity is particularly conspicuous, and painful, in a place like the star-studded Montecito: “I saw Julia-Louis Dreyfus at the Montecito Village Grocery. I saw Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi walking Padaro beach. I saw Oprah Winfrey at a candlelight vigil after the Montecito mudslides. I passed Jack Johnson carrying his surfboard down the Hammonds Trail. I saw Prince Harry riding his bicycle.” Cox sensitively and intelligently explores Hollis’ vulnerabilities, and out of that perceptive psychological profile spins a gripping crime drama. This is an engrossing story, both thoughtful and exciting.

A marvelously entertaining suspense tale.