Book Review: Delete This At Your Peril by Neil Forsyth as Bob Servant

Stars: 5 out of 5
Pros: Extremely creative exchanges with plenty of laughs

Cons: A couple that could have been cut down

The Bottom Line:

Fighting against spam

By turning it into laughs

Wish I had done it

Fighting Spam for Laughs

I am reviewing this book because of spam.

Okay, maybe I shouldn't be admitting that right up front, but it is true. The author of Delete This At Your Peril sent me a cold e-mail asking if I was interested in getting a copy in exchange for an honest review. Despite the irony involved (which he freely acknowledged, too) I couldn't resist. And I'm glad I did because this book is so funny.

The book purports to be a collection of e-mail exchanges that "Bob Servant" (please tell me you'll catch on to that name faster than I did) had with various spammers. Bob lives in Scotland and is a sixty-two year old former window washer/cheeseburger cart owner who only retired because gypsies stole his ladder (don't ask). Bored one day, he started replying to the spam in his e-mail account. When he shared the results with his friend Neil Forsyth, the result became this book. (Or so the story goes. Again, closely observe Bob's name.)

There are eight chapters to the book, each one collecting one set of exchanges. There are basically three types of e-mail included, the classic 419 (or Nigerian) scam, the local agents needed scam, and the Russian bride scam.

But just because there are only three types of scams here doesn't mean that the exchanges are similar. Nothing could be further from the truth. Frankly, I'm hesitant to share too much because half the fun of these e-mails is watching the exchanges unfold into the absurd. Sometimes, Bob plays things straight for a while, like his first time with the Nigerian who wants to use Bob's bank account to get money out of the country. That is until he starts demanding his fee in something other than currency. Or gold. Something living, in fact. He turns one into free legal advise when he gets involved in a feud. And he attempts to become a customer of two of the businesses who just want to hire Bob to process local transactions for them (through Bob's bank account, of course.)

This book also shows just how stupid the spammers really are. Well, maybe desperate is the word I want. Every e-mail from them asks for the same information over and over again. Yet Bob ignores it or gives just enough information to string them along. Frankly, it is a brilliantly played game. And, once on the hook, the spammers keep coming back for more.

Adding to the fun are Bob's friends. They are a colorful lot and play their own part in the exchanges, usually in the background although one does get directly involved in one of them. Honestly, they add so much to the book that it is hard to imagine it working as well without them.

At only 150 pages, the book looks slim, but it isn't a fast read. The print is deceptively small, making the book longer than it appears. Additionally, the poor grammar of some of the spammers makes it take a little more time to read through their e-mails to Bob.

While some of the e-mails contain crude language and jokes I didn't care for, that isn't really my complaint here. A couple of the chapters get a little long. This is especially true of the Russian bride chapter, but fortunately, there is only one of those. Some of the others could have used a little tightening. Most of the time, however, these exchanges are brilliant.

If you are as tired of looking at spam as I am, Delete This At Your Peril is the book for you. I've found it makes me laugh every day when I open my spam folder. That alone makes the book worth reading.