By Megan Thomas
It’s a real pleasure to be a part of the blog tour for Good Scammer by Guy Kennaway – just in time for you to grab a copy for any last minute Christmas shopping you might be doing, too! But first, you probably want to hear a little more about it…
Clive ‘Bangaz’ Thompson is somewhat of a Jamaican Robin Hood in Campbell Cove, though others might just call him a phone scammer. Many wouldn’t know what to make of him, which is possibly part of the reason why he approaches Willy Loxley-Gordon, a local author, to write his story. The book is a hybrid of Bangaz’ engagement with Willy, sharing his desire to have his legacy out in the world (he likens himself to the mafia which is pretty reflective of his perspective of self), and extracts of Willy doing just that.
Even with the details of how Bangaz has conned people out of thousands of dollars, it’s hard not to think of him as a lovable rogue, especially when you consider the life of poverty he has endured, and his early introduction to this ‘industry’ by scamming tourists with his uncle as a child. Moreso, if you consider the deeper undercurrent established by Kennaway of the non-existent reparation following the historic criminality of colonialism. While so much of the novel is tongue-in-cheek, this is really just the surface and there is continued social commentary on all manner of political and economic topics, from Western priorities such as global warming to corruption on both a macro and micro scale.
What is pretty fantastic (in a morbid sort of way) is that this novel is apparently only very gently fictitious – after 35 years living in Jamaica, Kennaway was asked by a man he had known since he was a child that he write his life story… of how he became one of the best scammers in West Jamaica.
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