A LICENSE TO STEAL

A LICENSE TO STEAL would make a fine magazine article. As an audiobook, it comes off as self-aggrandizing, insincere and way too long. Narrator Joe Barrett does a good wise-guy impression, telling the story of Walter T. Shaw, an unrepentant jewel thief and mobster. However, Shaw repeatedly says that the focus of his book is not his own story, but the story of his father, Walter L. Shaw, who created the speaker phone, conference calling, and call forwarding, only to have the inventions ripped off. And then Shaw continues to talk about himself. Barrett does a good "Moustache Pete" and an excellent Sicilian, but Shaw doesn't really have much say. Barrett’s talents would be better used in a book of substance. M.S. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2009]