"Fun frolic"
In the middle of the night, Cary Mitchell flees Charleston
to obtain help from his twin brother Grant better known
as "Mitch". Cary owes bookie Flash Gorman twenty grand
that if he does not pay now will lead to broken kneecaps.
Cary also mentions that he has stolen from the till of a
bar filled with dirty money to pay off some of the debt.
What he fails to tell his sibling, an Atlanta cop, is that
the reason he fled town is that Flash expects Cary to pay
his tab by breaking the kneecaps of other clients behind in
their remittance. Mitch decides that the best course of action is to hand
Flash over to the police so when Cary refuses to play,
Mitch offers to go undercover as Cary in a BAIT AND SWITCH
operation. The first problem surfaces when Cary's
girlfriend Peyton McDowell, daughter of a DA, arrives
yelling at the switched Mitch. Others surface, but as he
tries to solve his brother's problems, nothing goes right
especially when it comes to Peyton because he begins
falling in love with his sibling's girlfriend. Siblings switching places is a theme that is as old as the
Old Testament yet Darlene Gardner keeps her story line
fresh by enabling the readers to distinguish between the
twins because their personalities remain intact. This
especially occurs with Peyton confused by Mitch's change in
behavior and attitude. Thus amusing situations arise, as
nothing is smooth as expected with a long-term identity
exchange. The BAIT AND SWITCH of Mitch and Cary leads to a
fun frolic for readers. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted October 3, 2002
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