Confidence: A Novel

Orson and Ezra meet at a camp for troubled teens. They build up a relationship there, and also run the underground smuggling operation. They are both "scholarship" students who also have a knack for non-violent crime. The engage in schemes to treat a store clerk out of money or return things they have not bought. They do move on to more legitimate jobs (such as working at a hotel), but continue to master the art of parting people from their money.

Orson is the master smooth talker, while Ezra is more of a "brains". They eventually pass themselves off as Stanford students and tech innovators. Their device really does nothing, but they tell people it helps them feel happy. This in turn does make people feel happy. They market it (complete with patents and piggybacking off research.) The company grows and then includes a "retreat" in upstate New York where the rich and famous come for New Age enlightenment. They also expand to other countries and become fabulously rich. Some people do find benefit from the work, even though it is essentially a giant pyramid scheme build on psuedo-science.

Things eventually unravel. They are in the middle of a third-world coup that goes badly. There are accounting irregularities. An early friend who signed away patent rights when he was drunk starts to stalk them. He eventually falls to his death from a flying device as they are taking him away. They end up in prison.

The characters are just grounded enough to not be too over the top. Both Silicon Valley Hollywood are gullible to a well-placed charlatan. Ezra is a bizarre character. He is in love with Orson, yet doesn't seem to be very phased when he goes off with a woman. He is super trusting of his assistant of others, which eventually leads to his downfall. He also fails to pay attention to his eyesight and he ends up practically blind. In spite of all this, he continues to be optimistic and ready for his next scam. How many rich executives are just scam artists in a suit?