cover image Ordinary Money

Ordinary Money

Louis B. Jones. Penguin Books, $7.95 (352pp) ISBN 978-0-14-014531-1

A carpenter who is guarding $20 million in counterfeit bills uses the fake funds to upgrade his lifestyle while stashing the rest in the garage of a debt-ridden friend who is engaged in his own financial scheme. ``The dichotomies of genuine vs. counterfeit, substance vs. surface are a bit overdrawn,'' suggested PW. ``Still, Jones's gracefully written, often zany debut satirizes a culture in which the fake is worshipped as real.'' (Jan.)