BookPage
"Fitzhugh seems to have been born with a gift of laughter along with a sense that the world is mad."
People
“...a comic novel propelled by a wild plot...”
The Mirror (London)
"A rip-roaring farce of a thriller."
Good Housekeeping
"Light, quirky, and occasionally irreverent, this is a totally entertaining urban myth."
People Magazine
"...a comic novel propelled by a wild plot..."
Book Magazine
A strong, fast-paced third effort...a dynamite read.
Morning News Dallas
Where Bill Fitzhugh earned his Ph.D. in street smarts is a mystery. The wicked sense of humor he must have been born with...Lapsed Catholics should proceed to the front of the line.
Publishers Weekly
What begins as an interesting equation of the advertising business and organized religion quickly degenerates into predictable slapstick humor in this somewhat crowded comic novel. Dan Steele, an up-and-coming creative director in a swank L.A. ad agency, is desperate to make partner. Trouble is, his manic-depressive mother, Ruth, periodically suffers bipolar episodes. Dan tries to help, but he's been living extravagantly and he's out of cash, so when lowly copywriter Scott Emmons comes up with the perfect ad campaign for a Japanese corporate client, Dan thinks it's only fair to steal Scott's idea. Scott goes postal with a .44 magnum, but before he can ventilate his sleazy superior, Dan has an unexpected visit from his long-lost twin brother, Michael, a priest back from a mission in Africa, where he witnessed Church and state corruption and tangled with a local warlord, who has left him with a terminal souvenir of his homeland. Dan switches identities with his brother so that Michael can be treated under his own health insurance, but Michael promptly dies and Dan is forced to continue his clerical impersonation to avoid felony insurance fraud. With the trappings of his former life repossessed and the maniacal Scott in pursuit, Dan finds a haven at last at a halfway house, where he meets Sister Peg, a transparently secular nun and antibureaucracy crusader. Sparks fly between the non-priest and non-nun; climax, fadeout and roll credits. Fitzhugh (Pest Control; The Organ Grinders) may have written Cross Dressing with deals in mind: according to the publisher, he even arranged with Seagram to feature their liquor products in his text. While he ably proves his comic wit on the printed page, and backs some of the novel's more informative sections with actual research, this novel is ultimately as slickly packaged and shallow as the industries it parodies. Film rights to Shady Acres/Universal Pictures and Shady Acres Entertainment. (June) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|
Library Journal
Having taken on geneticists in his earlier efforts--of which his latest was The Organ Grinders--Fitzhugh turns his gimlet eye almost nostalgically to such tried-and-true satirical targets as advertising, the Catholic Church, and Los Angeles, demonstrating their staying power. Everything is finally coming together for rising advertising executive Dan Steele. His latest campaign (stolen from a colleague) is clearly considered the equal of "Where's the Beef?" Beverly is ready to lead him through the Kama Sutra, page by Technicolor page. It is then that things predictably start to unravel. His wronged colleague goes ballistic, he misses his rendezvous with Beverly, and his credit cards max out. When his twin brother, a Roman Catholic priest, returns from Africa to die, Dan happily assumes his identity only to learn that it's all a matter of image. Before his past catches up with him, it turns out that this slick operator fits almost too comfortably into the new Cat-o-Lite Church ("less guilt; more forgiveness"). Fans of other outrageous caper books, say, those by Elmore Leonard or Donald E. Westlake, might want to sample Fitzhugh. Fans of The Simpsons might keep Cross Dressing in mind during the summer rerun season. For all larger public libraries.--Bob Lunn, Kansas City P.L., MO Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\
Kirkus Reviews
A deft, funny, caper novel, incorporating (1) gleefully savage attacks on the Church, the advertising industry, and the charity industry, (2) occasionally heartfelt characters, and (3) an inspired marketing gimmick. While often compared to Carl Hiassen, Fitzhugh (Pest Control, 1997, etc.) is fast creating his own dark and funny category. In this third outing, amoral adman Dan Steele, up to his neck in debt and smug consumerism, is fish-out-of-watered when he steals the best idea of his career (`More is more`) from an unstable copywriter, just as Dan's twin brother Michael, an excommunicated do-gooder priest, returns from Africa, ill. Registered at the hospital as "Dan" for insurance coverage, Michael succumbs to tetanus, and, on the run from legal problems, insurance investigators, and his now-homicidal ex-colleague, Dan dons Michael's collar. As Father Michael, Dan goes to work at Sister Peg's Care Center, where he falls for Peg (fortunately, no more a nun than he is a priest). Predictably, Dan finds redemption caring for others, and he'll obviously save the financially teetering facility with his advertising savvy. Fitzhugh commits sins of inclusion as well: there are two hookers with hearts of gold; no fewer than four gunmen converging for the climax; and, not content to harpoon his satirical targets, Fitzhugh levels them with assault weapons, then jumps up and down on their heads. There's always a bit too much of everything, but the author's having so much fun that we do, too. To top it off, he claims ((has, we should say) a product placement deal—the first ever for a novel—with Seagram's, and you can hear him chortling through the ad-speak whenever Danisglowingly described sipping Scotch. Tut-tutting critics, sure to take him to task, guarantee an already likely bestseller an even higher profile. Smart, fast and funny. Fitzhugh is a dangerous man. Film rights to Universal Pictures and Shady Acres Productions
