The Last Counterfeiter

“The heart of this wonderful book, which reads like the script for a caper movie...as Williams improvises his way to becoming an expert counterfeiter.” —Washington Post (Best Book of the Year selection)

When Art Williams Jr.’s father abandoned the family and his bipolar mother lost her mind, a life of crime in Chicago quickly claimed him. Parking meter theft led to robbing drug dealers before Art fatefully met a man nicknamed DaVinci who taught him the skill of counterfeiting money. After just a few years, Art would print millions of counterfeit bills, selling them to criminal organizations, all while trying to raise a family on the side.

Art’s greatest challenge arose when the Treasury Department released the 1996 note, the most intricate and secure bill ever created. Between painstakingly perfecting a new hundred-dollar bill to bypass the naked eye and security measures alike, Art was slipping by the Secret Service hunting him, and searching for his long-lost father, a path that ultimately led to his undoing.

Prison may have been the end, but with the same creativity and ambition that locked him up, Art reinvented himself as a professional artist. Art’s unbelievable journey extends beyond a life of crime to one of second chances, healing family wounds, and ultimately, triumph.

"A rollicking and captivating look into a compelling criminal mind.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“A gripping testament to the ills of greed and egotism.”?
—Forbes??

"A book you can't put down—intriguing characters, razor-thin escapes, and a writing style that keeps you racing through."
—Bruce Porter, New York Times bestselling author of Blow: How a Small-Town Boy Made $100 Million with the Medellin Cocaine Cartel and Lost It All