Schmidt Delivered, by Louis Begley

This audiobook was obtained from Netlibrary.com, was 8 hours and 11 minutes long, and was free. It was also narrated by George Guidall.

This is a sequel to "About Schmidt", which was made into a movie that starred Jack Nicholson. The movie was pretty good, which is what lured me to download this book.

I didn't care for it. A novel needs at least one likable character for me to get on board. Schmidt is a retired attorney who is everybody's ATM. His bloodsucking daughter scorns him to his face while shaking him down. The young woman who lives with him is already looking for greener pastures while driving the BMW he gave her. Some bad penny that he tried to help out has failed again and is now back on his doorstep. And he could be dangerous.

Add to that the only really compelling character, a pushy billionaire who is trying to get Schmidt out of retirement to run one of his foundations, and there is really no one to pull for. That leaves Schmidt, who you wish would just blow everyone off, get on a sailboat, and sail away with no forwarding address. But who cares if he does, because he is such a schmuck.

One star is all it's worth, and a distant one at that.