Fun City Heist by Michael Kardos

Fun City Heist by Michael Kardos delivers what it promises on the cover. While the Fun City of the title is an ageing New Jersey boardwalk fun fair, this novel is, as advertised, a lot of fun. Kardos understands and uses all of the common tropes of the heist genre but delivers something that has plenty of verve but also has a little bit of heart.

Mo was the drummer in a 1980s band called Sunshine Apocalypse. He now spends his days renting out beach chairs and umbrellas on the Jersey Shore in the shadow of the Fun City Amusement park. When his old lead singer John turns up and talks about getting the band back together for one last gig at Fun City, Mo is at first reluctant. But after connecting with his other two old bandmates who are as keen as Jonny, Mo finds himself drawn in. And when their guitarists Rick injures himself and they find themselves subbing in Mo’s estranged daughter Candice (who ends up living with him when her Jersey accommodation falls through), Mo is in further. And that is before he finds out the Jonny wants to use the gig as a cover to rob the park, an idea he has had since their first ever gig there thirty years before.

That is before a whole slew of complications. Mo finds himself dating a local policewoman, the band are threatened and blackmailed by local thugs and of course, the whole plan is so crazy that it probably won’t work. But all of the band members are desperate, he finds himself connecting with his daughter for the first time and and so Mo finds himself caught in a bind and trying to find a way to make this work.

Fun City Heist is tense, it is funny and it oozes with nostalgia – Mo and Jonny formed the band when they were in high school and it went on to some moderate success. And while this generally follows the heist narrative playbook, Kordas still manages to deliver some unexpected twists which play a little with reader expectations. One word review: fun, as promised.

Fun City Heist by Michael Kardos

7

7.0/10