Skin in the Game

by R.P. Finch

Worlds that don t a stodgy, mega law firm and an urban strip club, the Mob, the CIA and a quantum physics lab. Young Eben Burnham, a science buff and shy, first-year lawyer in a cut-throat Wall Street law firm, tries to represent start-up nanotech companies but he doesn't anticipate that any of these worlds will come into play. that his first client's quantum-physics product will have revolutionary secret code-breaking abilities of interest to both the CIA and the Mob, that his money guy might be penniless, that an egomaniacal and incompetent senior partner and a variety of Brooklyn street thugs and strippers will land on his plate -- or that his dream will lead to his own kidnapping.

Genres: Realistic Fiction

330 pages, Hardcover

First published April 10, 2013

Reviews

[Beth Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great read this is!!

[Kathy Rauschenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional, well-written and fun to read!

[Clay Stafford]

The University of West Alabama came upon a prize with R. P. Finch’s first novel “Skin in the Game.” This is a delightfully original and quirky book. Backstabbing deals. Characters’ high hopes with nameless powers and other characters posing as friends ready to dash them. The government. The mob. Bribes left and right in the form of false hope and cash. Lawyers, playing rainmakers, who don’t understand the first thing about documents they negotiate and sign. Revenge. Ambition. A thug wanting to create a theme park of strip joints. An attorney going nuts and seeing ghosts. The mob using the Internet to steal identities or break cyber codes. The government wanting to suppress information to break codes. This novel goes everywhere and, as a legal comedy, it’s one of the best-plotted dramas I’ve ever read. It’s so funny, you don’t realize how serious it really is.

The humor and portrayal of the law firm are the things that really set this novel apart. Author R. P. Finch is an attorney in real life. He must have seen some things on the inside because you can’t make this ridiculous stuff up. It’s a huge firm with huge attorney egos. While we in the general population practice common sense, this law practice – “practicing” because they haven’t got it down yet – makes and defends laws that lack any. I laughed at the absurdity throughout the book. It makes you never want to see a lawyer again. Literally. Not even look at one. Finch is perceptive, blow-your-mind funny, and his words – like the good attorney I’m sure he is – are all well-chosen. If you’re a fellow writer and the least bit insecure, within two pages you’re going to be hating this guy because of what he can do with words. It is wonderful to discover literary brilliance: that’s “Skin in the Game.” My only negative comment would be the ending could have been a little stronger, but that doesn’t diminish the gem that is prior to the end.

It took Finch years to write this book, and it shows. It’s a story someone has nurtured and changed for some time making sure he finally got it right. Finch succeeded. Let’s just hope he doesn’t take as long on the next one.
– Clay Stafford, author, filmmaker, and founder of Killer Nashville


My Review of The Skin Game on Killer Nashville
My Other Reviews on Killer Nashville

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This carefully crafted novel has a lot of something for everyone. Lawyers, both good and bad, mobsters, strippers, ghosts, amputees, sex, humiliating retaliation, kidnapping, nanotechnology, CIA, investment wonks--the whole lot. What is amazing about this book is that for all the careful pacing of the plot, the writing and dialogue really sparkle. With some first-time writers, sometimes you get great stories with fast-moving plots, but the writing and characters are just "meh". Other times the characters are terrific but they don't do anything or go anywhere fast enough to hold a reader's attentions. Lucky for us, Finch is an all-around master who gets it all right. Each character could be a mere stereotype if handled by a less attentive writer, but Finch's wonderfully crafted dialogue brings a unique voice and point of view to each of these characters. It is one of those books where you know who is talking without having to be told by the author. And it's not just the usual devices being employed here. Finch really creates a person who talks a certain way and then consistently brings that through scene after scene.

The humor in this book doesn't laugh at itself. You really have to be smart to find it, and then you are rewarded. Soooooooo much that is said has a double meaning, but not always in the overly obvious nudge-nudge-wink-wink kind of way. Also, Finch throws in just enough physics and nanotechnology to make the reader feel kind of smart, like, "Oh, goody, I get to read a book with hot sex scenes, funny stuff, AND serious discussions about development of nanotechnology? Yes please!" Unfortunately, that steamy sex doesn't continue into the second half of the book, but nobody's perfect. It also would have been fun to see Tito Venga's concept for a "Strip Mall"--a strip club with different rooms with different themes--come to life, but maybe a sequel awaits.

All in all, this is a super fun book that reads as fast as a breezy beach book, but in fact is full of serious ideas about technology, shifts in space and time, class, the realities of competing purposes in business and national security, and, of course, money. Definitely worth a read this summer!

[Drucilla Pettibone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having worked at a few law firms in my time, I can say for sure that Finch's characters are close to reality!! It's a case of the truth being funnier than fiction. I loved how he drew all the characters - the lawyers especially - and relationships between Eben, Ellie and Wolf - such complex characters and yet ultimately endearing. An absolutely brilliant story line as well, which I was constantly surprised by, and can't believe how beautifully Finch pulled off such off-the-wall connections!! My favorite part of all, however, was the writing itself - it is amazingly tight, expertly crafted, and highly sophisticated while still always serving the story. I've read it twice now and have had to stop a number of times and read a passage to my husband so that we could savor a particular description or metaphor. It's no wonder this book has been nominated for the National Book Award!! It is well-deserved. I just hope it is also made into a movie - it would adapt to film tremendously well and I would love to see it all leap to life on the big screen! Still, nothing would come close to Finch's skill and art in wordcrafting. Also hoping for a sequel! I'm a fan for life.

[Andrea Perry Block · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an absolute treat! As some of the other reviewers have written, there is something for everyone. Non-obvious humor (obvious too), nanotechnology/science, sex, gangsters, a bucolic setting, law firm politics, struggling youngsters, and "successful" partners, class struggles, and even more.

The characters are well rounded and truly interesting, and their depth is revealed through their actions and dialogue, rather than merely through flashbacks or other simple devices that many first time novelists rely on too heavily. Although it would be easy for any of the characters to veer into the territory of stereotypes, they really don't.

The writing in this novel is as good as any other. It is carefully crafted, and I imagine the author must have written and re-written every line, but it flows.

This book is smart, interesting and really fun - a total win!

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a delightful book. Quirky and fun with characters that can best be described as "delicious." Funny and entertaining, yet written with style and clear intellect. This book left me with the feeling that I was reading a future literary classic. Seems to me that far too many books become an either/or proposition: either they are great reads, or great works of fiction. Skin in the Game by R.P. Finch does the best job of any book I can remember reading recently of refusing to make this choice, and producing a beautifully written and compelling read.

[Gail Goetschius · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is lots of fun. The plot concerns a young lawyer trying to develop a niche practice in nanotechnology startups at a prestigious law firm. The cast of characters is large and varied each comedic in his own way. My favorite was Tito Venga, a Mafia connected strip club owner with a startup dream of his own. The best part of the book for me was the language play; it is filled with puns and malapropisms that are clever and sometimes laugh out loud funny.

[Gigi Muirheid · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am amazed at how ambitious the book is. I can't imagine the research involved in mastering the concept of nanotechnology. The dialog is spot-on, engaging, and always rings true. The novel is dense with language play throughout; Tito Venga's malapropisms are my favorite. It looks like Finch has set us up for a sequel perhaps?

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really outstanding. The story was original, the characters were interesting, and there are several laugh out loud moments. Once you pick it up you will not be able to put it down. You have got to get some `skin in the game' and read this book!! Lets hope this is the first of many offerings from Finch.

[Charles Cohen · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's been a while since I've read a genuinely bad book. Well, all streaks are meant to end.

This is not good. Go read "A Frolic of His Own." It's much better, and funnier. Finch isn't Gaddis, he isn't Pynchon. Go read those guys.