Rating: 
Summary: What if a complete idiot found a million dollars?
Review: Another great book from Mark Bowden. But this time, I listened to the book as the author narrates it himself. He does a great job delivering this fascinating tale that he briefly covered as a young newspaper reporter. Later in his career, he did a retrospective series about the episode that became the basis for the very forgettable movie starring John Cusack, Money for Nothing. Bowden does a terrific job of reconstructing for the reader (or listener) the very private lives and moments of the story's principles. While few of the characters are very sympathetic, they nonetheless are, at least presented by Bowden, fascinating to follow. It's no Blackhawk Down, but it's a well-woven yarn.
Rating: 
Summary: A funny true crime story?
Review: Can there be such a thing as a funny true crime story?
Mark Bowden answers the question with a solid yes, with this tale of down and out Philidelphians whos stumble upon a box of armored car money.
It s aquick read that takes time to delve into the backgrounds of the major charachters enough to make us sympathetic to them and even pitty them at times. Well reported and not overwritten, which must have been ahrd because some of the charachters cried out for a lot of sterotypical descriptions.
Rating:
Summary: Short, intriguing, sad...
Review: Don't expect "Black Hawk Down"--this is a story about bad choices and bad results. Bowden tells his story with skill and pace, romanticizing the premise without romaticizing his central character, the man who is doomed the moment he finds his treasure...two bags filled with over $1 million in unmarked bills. Bowden's honesty kept this from veering into the hype of similarly themed books (has anyone read the book that Catch Me If You Can was based upon?). The book is slim, but held my attention.
Rating: 
Summary: A FISH WOULD NOT GET IN TROUBLE IF IT KEPT ITS MOUTH SHUT!
Review: Ever wonder what you should NOT DO if you were fortunate enough to find $1.2 million in unmarked bills in the middle of the road?
It's all in this book. The story of a man who could not keep his mouth shut after he found the money.
Unsure of what to do with the money he gives one third of it to some mobster aquaintainces for "safekeeping", part of it to other unsavory characters and splits the balance with others who knew of his find.
There is little about the main character that makes a reader wish he had managed to keep the money and that the story had ended differently.
A fast but not particularly insightful read by an author who has written some excellent books in the past.
Rating:
Summary: Not a lot of substance to this book
Review: I bought this book after reading a complimentary review online. Unfortunately, this book proved to be a very bland, unentertaining read about an unintelligent, vanilla main character who doesn't even give himself a chance to keep the money that he found.Nothing spectacular really happens in the book; in fact, this probably would have been a better feature article for a second-tier major newspaper. I found the characters very difficult to follow, much less get interested in. I do not recommend this book at all.
Rating:
Summary: Not a lot of substance to this book
Review: I bought this book after reading a complimentary review online. Unfortunately, this book proved to be a very bland, unentertaining read about an unintelligent, vanilla main character who doesn't even give himself a chance to keep the money that he found. Nothing spectacular really happens in the book; in fact, this probably would have been a better feature article for a second-tier major newspaper. I found the characters very difficult to follow, much less get interested in. I do not recommend this book at all.
Rating:
Summary: Who Wants to be a Millionaire Crackhead?
Review: I can think of lots of things I'd do if I suddenly found a million bucks, but going on a meth bender and blabbing to total strangers isn't even in the top ten. "Black Hawk Down" scribe Bowden dissects an amazing-but-true tale from his own South Philly backyard, where in 1981 speed freak Joey Coyle stumbled upon a carton of cash that literally fell off an armored car. From there Coyle made every bonehead move possible, from divvying his loot with a mobster to spilling drug-induced confessions. In fiction Coyle would wind up on a tropical isle, but the real tragicomic ending is still compelling, if only because it happened to some other schmuck. This account definitely evokes a hundred 'what-ifs' in every reader's mind.
Rating:
Summary: Breezy book with an edge
Review: I received this as a Christmas present, and what a neat present it was!
I started reading this obviously fictional book about this unemployed meth addict Philadelphian dockworker named Joey who finds $1.2 million in unmarked unsequential $100 bills laying on the street -- a $1.2 million which literally fell off the back of the truck. He immediately enters into all these improbable and zany adventures, capped by an arrest at the airport as he's getting ready to fly to Acapulco! During his trial, his attorney opts for a temporary insanity defense, which the jury buys because the guy's buddies testify he "went bananas" for a week when he found the money.
Yet this comedy has an edge to it -- the tragedy of "men who were raised to go to work out on the docks like their fathers and uncles and older brothers, only there's no work for them on the docks anymore, and there's nothing else they know how to do.... It's a story about addiction, about the belief that there is a shortcut to true happiness."
When I got to the Epilogue, I was quite surprised to find that this obviously fictional story was true! The author tells what happened after the trial, and how Joey's story was literally Disneyfied -- and how his good fortune turned out to be his tragic ruin.
The typeface used is a bit distracting since there is no "1" -- and unlike ancient typewriters, instead of the small "L," the capital "I" is used: thus $100 is $I00 and 314 Dunfor Street is 3I4 Dunfor Street.
This is a great book because it encompasses universal themes -- Joey is a Greek tragic figure whose internal flaws, despite his good fortune, emerge to undo him. Many of us, likewise, have envisioned what we would do if sudden riches came upon us.
Rating: 
Summary: This book reads like it was phoned in
Review: Mr. Bowden is the author of the "Black Hawk Down" and a few other well received books. Since "Finders Keepers" is the first title I've read by Mr. Bowden, I'll have to assume it's the exception to his writings and not the rule because, frankly, this one reads like it was phoned in.
To be fair, Bowden is a competent writer, yet this book's biggest asset--that it's written in a straightforward, accessible manner--is also its biggest liability. Why? Because the plot is threadbare and boring. You could argue that Bowden did what he could with the story he had (it is a true story). However, the flip side of that coin is "why bother" if the facts of the story are that uninteresting. There's just not much "there" there.
The following one sentence plot summary could save several irretrievable hours of your life: In 1981 a 28 year old meth addict finds $1.2 million on a back Philly street, blabs his mouth about it to everyone he knows, makes a couple of lame efforts to launder the money, gets caught trying to flee the country, goes on trial, then gets off scott free, end of story.
The front of the book contains a note disclosing that portions of it were previously published in the "Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday Magazine" (in the 1980s). It's as if Bowden's literary agent convinced him that 20 years after the fact it would be alright to recycle the articles, add a bit of filler here and there, stretch it out to 200 short paperback pages, and call it a "book".
If Mr. Bowden and his editor had spent more time fleshing out details and revising the manuscript to make it feel more like reading a novel (instead of a dry newspaper piece), it might have been more enjoyable. As it turns out, I only feel like I've helped Mr. Bowden make his next boat payment.
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Summary: Review by darren
Review: The novel finders keepers by Mark Bowden the author of Black hawk down, is a story about a meth addict named Joey Coyle who finds 1.2 million in un marked $100s that fell off the back of a truck that was driving from a casino to a bank, and what happens while Joey and his friends are trying to keep the money secret and the trial after wards Joey is cought. What I did like about this novel is that it is a very fast paced easy to fallow book with everything from cops to mob leaders. I also like how there was a little suspense for example when Joey heard on the radio that some had gotten a description of the car I thought they were done for. I also like the distinct characters for example Joey a meth driven longshoremen. In addition I also liked the setting of the book a town where everybody knew everybody. The theme that the author is trying to convey is if a person lets greed and envy influence them, then they will lose all of the friendships they have. I agree with this theme because if some one is greedy and thinks that they should only receive and not give then they are not a very high-quality person. This theme relates to my life now because I am in high school now and if you are greedy and envious in high school it it probably very hard to make and keep friendships.
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