Fifteen Digits

A while back I wrote a blog piece called Krazy For Kindle where I espoused upon the joys of using the electronic e-reader. The Kindle has given me the opportunity to read more and just about anywhere. I read in waiting rooms, in the checkout line of supermarkets, while I’m waiting in fast food lines, or when I’m dining by myself during lunch or dinner hours from work. I sometimes even get into the longer lines at Costco, just to have a chance to read a little more. There’s never any down or boring time when my Kindle is handy.

But the Kindle is only valuable, if there is something worthy to read. So I want to share with you a summer time novel that I just finished which was a joy to read from cover to cover (or is it pixel to pixel now). That book is by screenwriter Nick Santora and it's called Fifteen Digits.

Nick Santora has spent a career expertly weaving compelling story lines with complex characters for television. So it's no surprise that he does it with his second novel, Fifteen Digits (his first novel was called Slip & Fall).

As a screenwriter Nick has written and/or produced for The Sopranos, The Guardian, Law & Order, Prison Break and Lie To Me. He also co-wrote, created and executive produced the A&E television series Breakout Kings. All projects with a history of richly developed characters.

With Fifteen Digits, Nick delves into the modern world of white collar crime. In a world where more criminals are working computers rather than weapons, this tale of insider trading and the surprising perpetrators involved, is a tightly wound, fast paced novel.

Its slow build brings you into the lives of those involved. You get to understand their wants and desires and learn what drives them. By the time you reach the plotting and execution of the crime, you HAVE to know what happens to these characters and how their actions affect those around them. And you'll be surprised which directions the roller coaster ride will follow as you try to read faster and faster to absorb this thriller.

Not only is the story compelling, but Santora has a way of turning a phrase that makes you smile, if not laugh out loud; welcomed levity for a story that has a somewhat dark underbelly.

To get a little bit of a taste for the story, take a look at this trailer that Nick has put together, and has expertly cast with Jimmi Simpson, from his own Breakout Kings as Jason Spade, the spoiled-son of a law partner who hatches a get-rich-quick scheme with consequences. It was this trailer that made me immediately hit “buy” on Amazon.com and purchase my Kindle copy; and that was a purchase well worth not only the price, but my time in reading it.

I’m looking ahead with this story. With Nick’s writing skills and his extensive background in crafting highly charged, engaging television, I’m hoping that this trailer, which he directed, will lead to Fifteen Digits being fleshed out cinematically so that we can watch the entire story unfold.

But in the meantime, I completely recommend the book Fifteen Digits. Some people might call it the perfect summer read, but that statement just robs the other seasons of an enjoyably juicy tome.

That’s the Stuph – the way I see it