Karl Boyd shares quite a story in The Nearly Perfect Plan and readers get a crime drama that keeps them guessing to the very end.  And the good news is that there are two more adventures being written for a trilogy of thrillers.  All three books revolve around the characters of Roger Booth and Carl James, two young and ambitious “con” men. 
 
This is not a “Who dunnit?” story because the reader gets to see both sides of the crime scene, from inside and then from the side of the police and FBI.  It is more of a “Holy cow (or in this case a bull), how did they manage to pull this one off?” type of drama.  Roger and Carl are able to enlist the help of twenty of their ex-Army buddies to pull off a “perfect plan” that seems to be just that, until the very end of the book. The story revolves around setting up the Crossed X Ranch and using it as a legitimate business to cover up all of the goings-on to pull off a few Brinks’ heists.
 
This book is a perfect match for readers who enjoy getting into the characters’ minds and are always trying to figure out the mystery of it all.  Karl Boyd does a great job of creating a masterful crime plan and he keeps the authorities at bay, as are the readers.  In the end, “good” wins out over “evil,” or does it? 
 
In an interview of Mr. Boyd that I read on his website (www.karlboyd.com) I discovered that he gets a lot of his inspiration for his writing from his dreams.  Being an elementary teacher who wakes up from dreams with great lesson plans rolling in my mind, I can truly understand that.  What I am thankful about is that Mr. Boyd WRITES about his dream inspirations and doesn’t act them out!  The other inspiration that I personally received from him is that he only began to seriously write at the age of sixty-five.  I am thoroughly looking forward to reading his other novels.
 

Review by Joyce M. Gilmour, MWSA Reviewer (November 2009)