Books with title Bait and Switch

The bestselling author of Nickel and Dimed goes back undercover to do for America's ailing middle class what she did for the working poorBarbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed explored the lives of low-wage workers. Now, in Bait and Switch, she enters another hidden realm of the economy: the shadowy world of the white-collar unemployed. Armed with a plausible résumé of a professional "in transition," she attempts to land a middle-class job—undergoing career coaching and personality testing, then trawling a series of EST-like boot camps, job fairs, networking events, and evangelical job-search ministries. She gets an image makeover, works to project a winning attitude, yet is proselytized, scammed, lectured, and—again and again—rejected.Bait and Switch highlights the people who've done everything right—gotten college degrees, developed marketable skills, and built up impressive résumés—yet have become repeatedly vulnerable to financial disaster, and not simply due to the vagaries of the business cycle. Today's ultra-lean corporations take pride in shedding their "surplus" employees—plunging them, for months or years at a stretch, into the twilight zone of white-collar unemployment, where job searching becomes a full-time job in itself. As Ehrenreich discovers, there are few social supports for these newly disposable workers—and little security even for those who have jobs. Like the now classic Nickel and Dimed, Bait and Switch is alternately hilarious and tragic, a searing exposé of economic cruelty where we least expect it.

Stay up late tonight reading (and chuckling).When Nora Sheldon’s husband is kidnapped while they’re on their honeymoon, all her hopes and plans tumble into a nightmare. Then the FBI comes knocking. Turns out Nora doesn’t know Skip as well as she thought she did, and the feds are equally anxious about his fate. Not to mention they sure did a shoddy job of keeping him under surveillance.But Nora has an advantage. She’s not bound by the rules and procedures the government agents have sworn to uphold. She took no oath of office except her wedding vows. So she’s going to poke and prod and irritate and hound the mobster enemies she’s acquired through matrimony until she gets answers. She doesn’t have a lot left to lose—until she has everything to lose. Because the place she seeks refuge, the one place where she might have some breathing space for plotting her guerrilla campaign against the Mafia, that abandoned poor farm out on the edge of the Dark Divide in Washington State—it also houses a ragtag camp for outcast boys. Boys who are dependent on her husband’s ill-gotten money for their very survival. She’s down one husband, but she just got a family.And now it’s a race—to figure out what Skip knew and what he did with that knowledge before the FBI acts on their open suspicion that she was complicit in his masterful con. All while trying to elude the top organized crime bosses on the West Coast, because they can get downright cranky about their money disappearing.Fast-paced and riveting, with dashes of humor, the Mayfield Mysteries are perfect for binge reading!

The New York Times bestselling investigation into white-collar unemployment from "our premier reporter of the underside of capitalism"―The New York Times Book ReviewAmericans' working lives are growing more precarious every day. Corporations slash employees by the thousands, and the benefits and pensions once guaranteed by "middle-class" jobs are a thing of the past. In Bait and Switch, Barbara Ehrenreich goes back undercover to explore another hidden realm of the economy: the shadowy world of the white-collar unemployed. Armed with the plausible résumé of a professional "in transition," she attempts to land a "middle-class" job. She submits to career coaching, personality testing, and EST-like boot camps, and attends job fairs, networking events, and evangelical job-search ministries. She is proselytized, scammed, lectured, and―again and again―rejected. Bait and Switch highlights the people who have done everything right―gotten college degrees, developed marketable skills, and built up impressive résumés―yet have become repeatedly vulnerable to financial disaster. There are few social supports for these newly disposable workers, Ehrenreich discovers, and little security even for those who have jobs. Worst of all, there is no honest reckoning with the inevitable consequences of the harsh new economy; rather, the jobless are persuaded that they have only themselves to blame. Alternately hilarious and tragic, Bait and Switch, like the classic Nickel and Dimed, is a searing exposé of the cruel new reality in which we all now live.

Sequel to The Shadow OperationLeo’s mission is supposed to be routine—befriend high-school student Freya Moore. But things rarely go as planned, and Jack is called in to provide assistance. Questions quickly arise: Why is the Center interested in Freya, who is fellow student Ryan Anderson, and what is he trying to accomplish? The answers will alter Jack’s life forever. Allegiances will be strained, and Jack’s history, identity, and reasons for being at the Center will finally be uncovered.

Payback’s a bitch.Jette Driftwood is a witch with a plan for revenge. Seven years ago the Bleak imprisoned her father for a crime he didn’t commit. Four years later she topped their list as the most talented magic breaker they’d ever employed.Until she stole an ancient power right out from under their nose.Now the only list Jette tops is the Bleak’s most wanted. No worries. It’s all part of the plan to free her father from their clutches. But after years on the run, hiding among humans is the least of the fugitive witch’s concerns.Because the stolen power is killing her—and a magic-wielding murderer has come to town.Jette is the prime suspect in the supernatural murder mystery when a handsome vampire for hire shows up to collect the bounty on her head. Time to make a deal. If she can use her unique talents to help bring down the murderer, it will clear her of the slaying and buy time to formulate an escape.But as the body count rises and her stolen magic flares uncontrollably, Jette realizes sometimes even the best laid plans go awry.And time runs out...

The bestselling author of Nickel and Dimed goes back undercover to do for America’s ailing middle class what she did for the working poorBarbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed explored the lives of low-wage workers. Now, in Bait and Switch, she enters another hidden realm of the economy: the shadowy world of the white-collar unemployed. Armed with a plausible résumé of a professional “in transition,” she attempts to land a middle-class job—undergoing career coaching and personality testing, then trawling a series of EST-like boot camps, job fairs, networking events, and evangelical job-search ministries. She gets an image makeover, works to project a winning attitude, yet is proselytized, scammed, lectured, and—again and again—rejected.Bait and Switch highlights the people who’ve done everything right—gotten college degrees, developed marketable skills, and built up impressive résumés—yet have become repeatedly vulnerable to financial disaster, and not simply due to the vagaries of the business cycle. Today’s ultra-lean corporations take pride in shedding their “surplus” employees—plunging them, for months or years at a stretch, into the twilight zone of white-collar unemployment, where job searching becomes a full-time job in itself. As Ehrenreich discovers, there are few social supports for these newly disposable workers—and little security even for those who have jobs. Like the now classic Nickel and Dimed, Bait and Switch is alternately hilarious and tragic, a searing exposé of economic cruelty where we least expect it.

Return to The Superhero's Son universe ...As the children of an infamous supervillain, Bait and Switch find themselves ostracized and isolated from their peers in the superhero school they attend. Even many of their teachers distrust them on the basis of their parentage.Switch wants to leave the Academy and break their supervillain mother out of prison, while Bait sees the Academy as their best chance at rising above their mother's legacy and become superheroes themselves. The two fight over these differences of opinions more often than they fight supervillains, but when their long-lost supervillain father returns with sinister plans for the twins, Bait and Switch must put aside their differences to defeat him.If they can't, then not only will they fail to get what they want, but their world will be destroyed.

Sequel to The Shadow Operation Leo’s mission is supposed to be routine―befriend high-school student Freya Moore. But things rarely go as planned, and Jack is called in to provide assistance. Questions quickly arise: Why is the Center interested in Freya, who is fellow student Ryan Anderson, and what is he trying to accomplish? The answers will alter Jack’s life forever. Allegiances will be strained, and Jack’s history, identity, and reasons for being at the Center will finally be uncovered.

Jessica Banks is on the top of her game as a high fashion designer and business owner in New York City. Looking to expand her business, she sets up fashion shows in Los Angeles, where she is surprised to encounter her ex-boyfriend from college, Pierre Van Buron, now an unemployed, troubled actor in a precarious circumstance. Trying to help him salvage his reputation gets her into a sticky situation with atrocious people, where she finds herself having to be more conniving than they are; and to top it off, Pierre is re-flourishing his feelings for her.

When Nora Sheldon’s husband is kidnapped while they’re on their honeymoon, all her hopes and plans tumble into a nightmare. Then the FBI comes knocking. Turns out Nora doesn’t know Skip as well as she thought she did, and the feds are equally anxious about his fate. Not to mention they sure did a shoddy job of keeping him under surveillance. But Nora has an advantage. She’s not bound by the rules and procedures the government agents have sworn to uphold. She took no oath of office except her wedding vows. So she’s going to poke and prod and irritate and hound the mobster enemies she’s acquired through matrimony until she gets answers. She doesn’t have a lot left to lose—until she has everything to lose. Because the place she seeks refuge, the one place where she might have some breathing space for plotting her guerrilla campaign against the Mafia, that abandoned poor farm out on the edge of the Dark Divide in Washington State—it also houses a ragtag camp for outcast boys. Boys who are dependent on her husband’s ill-gotten money for their very survival. She’s down one husband, but she just got a family. And now it’s a race—to figure out what Skip knew and what he did with that knowledge before the FBI acts on their open suspicion that she was complicit in his masterful con. All while trying to elude the top organized crime bosses on the West Coast, because they can get downright cranky about their money disappearing.

The bestselling author of Nickel and Dimed goes back undercover to do for America’s ailing middle class what she did for the working poor.Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed explored the lives of low-wage workers. Now, in BAIT AND SWITCH, she enters another hidden realm of the economy—the world of the white-collar unemployed. Armed with a plausible resume of a professional “in transition,” attempts to land a “middle class job” undergoing career coaching and personality testing, then begins trawling a series of EST-like “boot camps,” job fairs, “networking events,” and evangelical job-search “ministries.” She gets an “image makeover” to prepare her for the corporate world and works hard to project the “winning attitude” recommended for a successful job search. She is proselytized, scammed, lectured and, again and again, rejected.BAIT AND SWITCH highlights the people who’ve done everything right—gotten college degrees, developed marketable skills, and built up impressive resumes—yet have become repeatedly vulnerable to financial disaster and not simply due to the vagaries of the business cycle. Today’s ultra-lean corporations take pride in shedding their “surplus” employees—plunging them, for months or years at a stretch, into the twilight zone of white-collar unemployment, where job-searching becomes a full-time job in itself. As Ehrenreich discovers, there are few social supports for the new disposable workers—and little security even for those who have jobs. Like the now classic Nickel and Dimed, BAIT AND SWITCH is alternately hilarious and tragic, a searing expose of economic cruelty where we least expect it.