| A novel based around real estate in Miami, I was not | | | | who also happens to own one of Benji's favorite |
| convinced that I would enjoy it. I had thoughts of | | | | watering holes needs 'dirt help', he leaps, albeit |
| tawdry love affairs among realtor's, and board room | | | | reluctantly, into the ride of his life. |
| struggles between power brokers. But, instead I | | | | The rather decrepit Century Club that Walter owns |
| found a hugely entertaining, and side splittingly funny | | | | has suddenly become a much sought after piece of |
| novel that makes me chuckle every time I see the | | | | dirt. And there are few lengths that an unscrupulous |
| cover. This is humor at its very apex. Humor is a hard | | | | developer will not go to secure it's ownership. |
| genre to be successful in but this author definitely | | | | The characters that Alan Rolnick has created are wild. |
| has 'The Write Stuff.' | | | | But they are so well crafted they take on a reality in |
| Alan Rolnick has created a vignette of life in Miami | | | | the readers mind. From the accident prone Benjy, to |
| with Landmark Status that deserves a spot on the | | | | the money hungry mayor Oscar Torres, the even |
| best seller list. The characters are wild, bent | | | | money hungrier would be land developer Chuck |
| politicians, bent land developers, and even a Ponzi | | | | Steinbeck and his slightly aging trophy wife Evelyn, |
| scheme thrown in for good measure, and what finer | | | | they are all so well described I can guarantee you will |
| setting than Miami? | | | | love them. And these are just the beginning, we also |
| The hero in our story is attorney Steven Benjamin | | | | have love interest from the Mayors niece Delia, we |
| Bluestone, Benjy to his friends. Benjy is a delightful | | | | have Raj the Cigar Man, oh, and of course Rico the |
| character, and as he explains early in the book, he | | | | bungling bodyguard! |
| became an attorney because his father was one, but | | | | This is a riotous book, you are laughing on page one, |
| he has little interest in wrangling and courtroom | | | | and you are still laughing on the last page. There are |
| drama preferring the more sedate type of lawyering | | | | cars wrecked, planes burned, Voodoo curses, even |
| that involves smoking Cuban cigars and ogling young | | | | cemeteries desecrated, and this is all achieved with a |
| ladies! He avoids at all cost the world of Real Estate, | | | | dark humor that I find hard to believe comes from a |
| 'Dirt Lawyers' is how he describes them. | | | | first time author. This is also a book that would |
| Unfortunately for Benjy an old client returns, one | | | | transition easily into a very very funny movie. And I |
| who had used his services in a divorce (something | | | | did note that Alan Rolnick is not only an attorney, |
| else that Benjy doesn't do), and persuades him to | | | | and an author, he is also a director, so come on Alan, |
| assist in a 'dirt deal'. If Benjy has a fault it is not being | | | | make it happen! |
| able to say no, when ex client, and friend Walter, | | | | |