The Upper Hand

Fifteen years ago, Axel, Gretchen, and Kurt Ucker lost their father, and learned at the same time that he had secretly been a thief their whole lives, leaving a fortune unaccounted for. Since then the Uckers have lived precariously: their small town shunned them, their mother Bertha retreated into her religion and her favourite televangelist, Brother Tobin Floom, Axel took a dead-end job, Gretchen turned to petty crime, and Kurt stayed home with his garage band.

When Bertha dies, she leaves everything to Floom and his gold-plated revival, and the Uckers are left without an inheritance, a house, or a future. Then their long-lost aunt turns up with a plan: infiltrate Floom's multimillion-dollar ministry and pull off the grandest heist in Ucker family history.

From the Anthony Award-winning author of Big Maria, The Upper Hand is a comic caper about a family of con artists and what, exactly, holds a family together.