Larry Brooks ‘Bait and Switch’ Review

Written by: Wayne C. Rogers

The author of three previous novels (DARKNESS BOUND, PRESSURE POINTS & SERPENT’S DANCE), Larry Brooks surpassed himself with BAIT AND SWITCH. This is the story of Wolfgang Schmitt, a man who’s still recovering from the unexpected departure of his girlfriend and is ready to end his current career in advertising to start something new and exciting. As the old saying goes, when one door closes, another one opens.

The door that suddenly opens for Schmitt involves billionaire software tycoon, Nelson Scott, and the impending divorce from his wife, Kelly. Through a rather unusual set of circumstances, Scott has become aware of Wolfgang Schmitt and believes that this former model may be perfect for a job he has in mind. Nelson (along with his lovely assistant, Lee Van Wyke) approaches Schmitt with the offer of five million dollars if he will seduce Kelly and live with her for a short period of time, thus setting off a prenuptial clause that will save Scott at least thirty-six-million-dollars a year in alimony payments.

Schmitt is given twenty-four hours to think about it. What eventually pushes Schmitt to take the job against his better judgment are two federal agents putting pressure on him to do as Scott wants. It seems as though the Federal Government has an interest in Scott and some of his financial dealings, and the two agents hope Schmitt might be able to gain some valuable information by sleeping with the billionaire’s angry wife.

Of course, as in all of the novels by Larry Brooks, nothing is as it seems. Schmitt doesn’t know that when he begrudgingly takes the job, he’s entering a spider’s web that’s filled with beautiful deadly women, the ultra rich, untold lies, betrayal from every side, murder galore, and that his life may be the next one laid out on the chopping block. Before this deadly game of cat and mouse is over, Schmitt won’t know whom to trust or where the next bullet is coming from.

Unlike DARKNESS BOUND & SERPENT’S DANCE, the fourth novel by Larry Brooks is low on sex, but filled with high-tension eroticism. This book is abound with incredibly beautiful, sexy, intelligent, aggressive, dominant women who manipulate the main character as if he were a pawn in a chess match, carefully maneuvering him for the final kill. Brooks skillfully weaves an intricate structure of mistrust and deceit and unbelievable suspense that not only keeps our hero on his toes, but the reader as well.

Nothing can prepare you for the ending. I never saw it coming. I thought with a smugness that I knew exactly what was going to happen in the last twenty pages (of course, this is after several startling surprises), but boy was I wrong! The author set me up and then pulled the rug right out from under my feet with one swift movement. I’m still feeling the effects at how it was done.

BAIT AND SWITCH is definitely a novel that both men and women will love, but a warning to the guys out there. Like Larry Brooks’ first novel, DARKNESS BOUND, this book is also a learning manual for women on how to control and manipulate the men in their lives. The male population won’t have a chance after the ladies read this!! Read BAIT AND SWITCH, and then you’ll see that the war between the sexes has never been more deadly and so delicious.

Order it here.

Rating: 5/5