Exact Change Book

THE STORY: Three lifelong buddies, Vietnam vets, are about to pay off a balloon on money borrowed from a local heavy. They meet at their New Jersey bar and grill to set up for a celebration: After years of hard work, they will finally own the place, free and clear. The party, however, never happens. One of them has quietly invested all the payoff cash, and lost it in the futures market. They are soon holed up in an abandoned South Bronx warehouse after having bungled a ransom/kidnapping when the intended victim, a dentist, escaped from them on the Major Deegan Expressway. Can they be traced? What are they going to do now with no Plan B to pay off the man? Percolating beneath their desperation are possible liaisons between one wife and two buddies, stretching all the way back to high school. With everything in the open, can they finally take charge of their lives? Or has the time passed them by? Epstein has an eye for absurdity that is all his own‚¬¦I haven't laughed so much in a theatre all year. - NY Times. On the surface, this is a likeable runaround comedy‚¬¦Sarcastic put-downs and inventive oaths fly like knives. Then a harrowing revelation will sneak up and hijack the caustic banter. - Evening Standard (London). ‚¬¦hilarious‚¬¦a non-stop, wisecracking gift. - Independent (London). ‚¬¦crackling with energy and dark humor‚¬¦ - Weekend Telegraph (London). ‚¬¦a sleeper, with a wry, manic overtone all its own. - International Herald-Tribune.