The "unexpectedly moving" story of dumb luck and the American Dream set in South Philly from the # 1 New York Times –bestselling author ( Entertainment Weekly ). What would you do if you found a million dollars? When Joey Coyle did, he was a twenty-eight-year-old drug-dependent, unemployed longshoreman living with his ailing mother in a tight-knit Philadelphia neighborhood. While cruising the streets just blocks from his home, fate took a turn worthy of a Hollywood caper when he found $1.2 million in unmarked bills—casino money that had fallen off an armored truck. It was virtually untraceable. Coyle? Not so much. Over the next seven days, fueled by euphoria, methamphetamine, and paranoia, Coyle shared his windfall with everyone from his eight-year-old niece to total strangers to a local mob boss who offered to "clean" it. All the while, Det. Pat Laurenzi and members of the FBI were working around the clock to find it. No one was prepared for how Coyle's dream-come-true would come tumbling down, or what would happen when it did. From "a master of narrative journalism" comes the incredible true-life thriller of an ordinary man with an extraordinary dilemma, and the complicity, concern, and betrayal of friends, family, and neighbors that would prove his undoing ( The New York Times Book Review ). "A miniature serio-comedy about life in the city."— The Washington Post "Masterfully reported and artfully paced."— Entertainment Weekly "A taut, fast-paced tale."— The Baltimore Sun “A brisk, sad story. . . . [As Bowden] accurately reports, South Philly is a close-knit clump of ethnic neighborhoods.” —Anthony Day, The Los Angeles Times “A very good [book] . . . a miniature serio-comedy about life in the city.” —Jonathan Yardly, Washington Post “Masterfully reported and artfully paced, Finders Keepers abounds with colorific detail. . . . Bowden seamlessly re-creates the short spending spree day by day in Finders Keepers , as a frenzied Coyle, often in a drug-induced panic, attempts to stave off the impending greed of his friends, his enemies, and himself. . . . Bowden’s sympathetic treatment brings out Coyle’s charming endurance, and the story’s ending is unexpectedly moving.” —Brian M. Raftery, Entertainment Weekly “A taut, fast-paced tale with larger meaning. . . . The myths described so well by Bowden . . . point the way to some disturbing deeper truths about [Joey] Coyle’s caper. . . . Perhaps the deepest meaning in Joey Coyle’s story is the changing idea of the American Dream.” —Daniel J. Kornstein, The Baltimore Sun “Bowden’s writing is razor-sharp; you come away from his fast-paced narrative convinced he understands Joey better than he’s willing to admit. Perhaps we all do.” —Elaine Margolin, San Francisco Chronicle “Not only does Bowden do a bang-up job relating the raw facts, he plunges headlong into the ethical quicksand that can swallow people confronted by large sums of cash. Astoundingly, even the public reacted to Coyle’s larcenous behavior with a shrug and a wink. . . . His eventual fate is a sadly logical conclusion to this modern-day fable of self-destruction, greed and moral vacuity.” —Donna Marchetti, The Cleveland Plain Dealer “Rich. . . . Finders Keepers is not your standard adventure tale, but it has the same kind of edge and steam-rolling pacing as the rest of that genre. . . . A classic story line, and Bowden makes the most of it.” — National Geographic Adventure “In an era when Enron, WorldCom and Global Crossing pensions immorally disappear faster than Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio, you find yourself cheering for Joey Coyle, the urban folklore hero of Finders Keepers . . . . [Bowden’s] prolific use of dialogue–short, snappy sentences with a South Philly accent–keep the story lively and moving along in this quick read, perfect for an airline trip. . . . Bowden also paints scenes that leave you chuckling.” —Lynn Bronikowski, Rocky Mountain News “ Finders Keepers retains the rumpled charm and snappy pace of good beat reporting. . . . Bowden has delivered a story of parable-like clarity and timelessness.” —Paul Collins, Oregonian “[Bowden] presents Joey Coyle’s story sympathetically, but without whitewashing the facts.” —L.D. Meagher, CNN.com “Funny, sad and exasperating.” —Jim Clark, Columbus Dispatch “A master at pacing, putting the reader right alongside Joey, feeling the same spped-induced high as he makes dumb and dumber decisions. . . . Most of all, Mr. Bowden leaves the reader pondering the most obvious question on each page: What would you do?” —Todd Wills, Dallas Morning News “[A] fast reading account of a fool and his money. Bowden keeps a low and nonjudgmental profile but doles out his account like a good storyteller. It’s testament to his solid narrative that even long after the sad sack Coyle loses his charm, his story maintains our interest.” — The Tampa Tribune “An interesting crime story. . . . [ Finders Keepers ] does such a good job documenting human nature, both gen