Stuff Dreams Are Made Of: A Novel

by Don Bruns

Overview

While their last venture was hardly crowned with success, James Lessor and Skip Moore, (and their white box truck) are back. When Reverend Preston Cashdollar and his traveling tent revival come to town, James and Skip reinvent themselves—as holy rollers. But these two aren't seeking salvation; they're seeking the Almighty dollar. After all, Cashdollar's prosperity gospel draws thousands of people with open minds-and open wallets. With a few modifications to the truck, Less or Moore Catering is ready to roll, and the entrepreneurs are born again, intent on making a mint by selling meager meals to the hungry masses. Cashdollar may preach about seeing the light, but his organization has a dark side of greed, corruption, and murder. What in the name of all that is holy have James and Skip gotten themselves into? This meals-on-wheels venture is more like hell on wheels.As James and Skip seek the truth, they'll learn that the stuff dreams are made of may be their worst nightmare. They'll either need to keep the faith, or run like the devil.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781933515670
Publisher:	Oceanview Publishing
Publication date:	11/02/2009
Series:	The Stuff Series , #2
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.70(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Don Bruns is an award-winning novelist, songwriter, musician and advertising executive, who lives in South Florida. He is also the author of Stuff to Spy For, Stuff Dreams Are Made Of, Stuff To Die For, Bahama Burnout, St. Barts Breakdown, South Beach Shakedown, BarbadosHeat and Jamaica Blue.

Editorial Reviews

“Bruns maintains a narrative tone that would have done Huck Finn proud in this combination Andy Hardy adventure and hard-boiled thriller.”— Booklist

“Another excellent book by Don Bruns. His prose is crisp as ever, the plot is gripping. Once you start reading this one, you won’t put it down.” — The Strand Magazine

From the Publisher

At the start of Bruns's talky second mystery to feature best friends Skip Moore and James Lessor (after 2007's Stuff to Die For), the pair decide to make a buck by serving food to the attendees of a tent revival at Oleta River Park near Miami, Fla., led by charismatic Rev. Preston Cashdollar. Once on the job, Skip and James realize certain people associated with Cashdollar have met untimely ends. Particularly disturbing are two unsolved murders-that of Cabrina Washington, an African-American teen rumored to have had an affair with the married minister, and that of Fred Long, a conservative U.S. senator from North Dakota who angered Cashdollar. After Barry Romans, a right-wing talk-show host critical of Cashdollar, is shot, Skip and James turn amateur sleuths. Likable protagonists compensate in part for the thin, improbable plot. (Sept.)

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Publishers Weekly

Seeking to strike it rich, two young simpletons get in over their knuckleheads. Preston Cashdollar-yes, that's his real name-is a revivalist preacher who's mesmerized a tent flock into piling high his collection plates. Bemused by dreams of avarice, Skip Moore and James Lessor (Stuff to Die For, 2007, etc.), buds from boyhood and not greatly evolved since, decide they want in on the action. They plan to convert their truck into a burger-and-fries dispenser that can serve quick meals to born-agains whose hunger is more than spiritual. The blinkered pair don't consider the chilling presence of the thuggish full-time vendors who follow venal Cashdollar from meeting to meeting, and who make it plain they don't welcome part-time competition. Nor do they wonder about the grim fates of those who've found themselves on the Cashdollar enemies list. But even clueless Skip and James begin to worry when their manna-on-wheels is vandalize, money is stolen and James loses big in a poker game clearly rigged against him. Even so, our heroes soldier on, persuaded, as the author seems to be, that Cashdollar's success must stem from a secret worth their study. Feckless and Reckless adrift in a plot that's essentially mindless.

Kirkus Reviews