{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20261010T034321Z-reviewed-full-unique-works","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/076530919X?tag=bookfrontie00-20","asin":"076530919X","authors":["Donald E. Westlake"],"book_id":"9780765309198","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/god-save-the-mark-9780765309198","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780765309198.jpg?v=84cbb7def902c5b6","description":"WINNER OF THE EDGAR ALLAN POE AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL * mark n. An easy victim; a ready subject for the practices of a confidence man, thief, beggar, etc.; a sucker. - Dictionary of American Slang , Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1960 That's the long definition of a mark. But there's a shorter one. It goes: * mark n. Fred Fitch What, you ask, is a Fred Fitch? Fred Fitch is the man with the most extensive collection of fake receipts, phony bills of sale, and counterfeit sweepstakes tickets in the Western Hemisphere, and possibly in the entire world. When Barnum said, \"There's one born every minute, and two to take him,\" he didn't know about Fred Fitch; when Fred Fitch was born, there were two million to take him. Every itinerant grifter, hypester, bunk artist, short-conner, amuser, shearer, short-changer, green-goods worker, pennyweighter, ring dropper, and yentzer to hit New York City considers his trip incomplete until he's also hit Fred Fitch. He's sort of the con-man's version of Go: Pass Fred Fitch, collect two hundred dollars, and move on. What happens to Fred Fitch when his long-lost Uncle Matt dies and leaves Fred three hundred thousand dollars shouldn't happen to the ball in a pinball machine. Fred Fitch with three hundred thousand dollars is like a mouse with a sack of catnip: He's likely to attract the wrong kind of attention. Add to this the fact that Uncle Matt was murdered, by person or persons unknown, and that someone now seems determined to murder Fred as well, mix in two daffily charming beauties of totally different types, and you have a perfect setup for the busiest fictional hero since the well-known one-armed paperhanger. As Fred Fitch careers across the New York City landscape-and sometimes skyline-in his meetings with cops, con men, beautiful girls, and (maybe) murderers, he takes on some of the loonier aspects of a Dante without a Virgil. Take one part comedy and one part suspense and shake well--mostly with laughter.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780765309198","publication_date":"20040101","publisher":"Tor/Forge","slug":"god-save-the-mark","subtitle":"A Novel of Crime and Confusion","title":"God Save the Mark"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"FIC022010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Hard-Boiled Mystery","score":0.7277,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"FIC022090","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Private Eye Fiction","score":0.7274,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"FIC022080","confidence_band":"medium","label":"International Crime Fiction","score":0.717,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"FIC022010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Hard-Boiled Mystery","score":0.7277,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"FIC022090","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Private Eye Fiction","score":0.7274,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"FIC022080","confidence_band":"medium","label":"International Crime Fiction","score":0.717,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"FIC016000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Funny Fiction","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"FIC022100","confidence_band":"high","label":"Amateur Sleuths","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Hard-Boiled Mystery","score":0.7277,"slug":"hard-boiled-mystery"},{"label":"Private Eye Fiction","score":0.7274,"slug":"private-eye-fiction"},{"label":"International Crime Fiction","score":0.717,"slug":"international-crime-fiction"}],"reader_fit":["For readers who enjoy crime stories mixing comedy and suspense."],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Lawrence Block"],"book_id":"9780060872892","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780060872892.jpg?v=fb7bccefd5a7e41a","score":0.6761,"title":"The Burglar in the Rye","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780060872892"},{"authors":["Otto Penzler"],"book_id":"9780525432487","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780525432487.jpg?v=052a6ac948c5bf4c","score":0.6634,"title":"The Big Book of Rogues and Villains","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780525432487"},{"authors":["Charlie Huston"],"book_id":"9780345464781","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780345464781.jpg?v=d13dde3dcbbfaa6e","score":0.6624,"title":"Caught Stealing","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780345464781"},{"authors":["Don Winslow","Reed Farrel Coleman"],"book_id":"9780063450455","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780063450455.jpg?v=e7a25be1c2d64e6e","score":0.66,"title":"The Final Score","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780063450455"},{"authors":["Lawrence Block"],"book_id":"9780060872731","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780060872731.jpg?v=7c1259623d477bf8","score":0.6544,"title":"The Burglar in the Closet","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780060872731"},{"authors":["Anna Johnston"],"book_id":"9780063397309","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780063397309.jpg?v=12d5b754d70dcb72","score":0.6523,"title":"The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780063397309"},{"authors":["Shaun Harris"],"book_id":"9781633881761","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781633881761.jpg?v=d7857b630a80c534","score":0.6486,"title":"The Hemingway Thief","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781633881761"},{"authors":["Christianna Brand"],"book_id":"9781453236741","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781453236741.jpg?v=66e6f37d4ae62254","score":0.6484,"title":"Fog of Doubt","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781453236741"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:adventure"],"label":"Adventure","score":0.0897,"slug":"adventure"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:funny"],"label":"Funny","score":0.0718,"slug":"funny"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:crime"],"label":"Crime","score":0.0487,"slug":"crime"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:action"],"label":"Action","score":0.0371,"slug":"action"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:edgar award winner"],"label":"Award","score":0.0359,"slug":"award"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: Confidence schemes, Murder and suspense, Comic misadventure.","Pacing: fast, momentum-driven storytelling.","Story elements: Hapless heir attracts danger."]},"llm_signals":{"confidence":0.94,"pacing":"fast","reader_fit":["For readers who enjoy crime stories mixing comedy and suspense."],"themes":["Confidence schemes","Murder and suspense","Comic misadventure"],"tropes":["Hapless heir attracts danger"]},"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":true,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":491,"goodreads_ratings_count":1618,"goodreads_reviews_count":194,"quality_score":0.9384}}