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To Catch a Rat by Earl B Henry is a witty, fictional story about a businessman named Drick E. Crawford. Drick E. Crawford is a happy,

easy going fellow who loves gambling and beautiful women. He lives above his means and soon has gambling debts that he cannot pay. Drick struggles to extricate himself from his financial mess. Many people are after him because he is indebted to them, and he needs to disappear and keep disappearing. He is dodging both the tax collector and the Russians. Drick has a penchant for repeating mistakes, and I kept hoping that every mistake would be his last.

To Catch a Rat is a character-driven novel with flawed characters that are easy to like. The language is simple and easy to understand. The dialogue is natural and appropriate for the period and setting in which the book was written. There were several twists in the disappearance plot, and I was never sure if Drick would succeed in disappearing. I liked the fact that this story was written to coincide with a major terror attack that occurred in London. It made the story believable and helped me connect better with the period in which it was written.

The mother and son bond between Drick and his mother is enviable. His mother’s love for him was inspiring. She never gave up on searching for him when he ‘disappeared.’ She kept believing the best about his well-being and would not accept the fact that he could be dead. I found myself liking Drick despite his antics, especially when he took great risks to come out of hiding to attend to his mother’s medical needs.

The ending of the story was unexpected and gratifying. However, I was not sure that Drick had learned his lessons. To me, there is no guarantee that he won’t repeat the same financial mistakes he made at the beginning of the story.

To Catch a Rat was an enjoyable read. I found myself chuckling at intervals as I read. I wondered why a man intent on maintaining a low profile would keep saying to others: “My name is Drick E. Crawford, and don’t forget that.” I think the book was professionally edited because I only found a few non-distracting errors in the book. I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars because it was an enjoyable read. I recommend this book to adult readers because it had a few graphic scenes in it. There was nothing to dislike about this book.

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To Catch a Rat