John Curry (6)

Any book you start and finish in one day has to be good. It also has to be pretty short, which this one is, and what a good thing that is. The author has no time for anything that isn't essential. Instead, we get a first-person narrative from a really down and out, drug and alcohol addled gambling addict from Philadelphia who finds himself in New York running illegal poker games. But the book isn't really about anything that actually happens in the real world--although a lot does. It is show more about just how screwed (substitute a stronger word here, please) up somebody can get and how in such a state the meaning of everything just sort of blurs into one big haze and whatever is meant by free will is totally beyond comprehension. Not that this is a work of philosophy. It is just a non-stop can't stop reading immersion into a world most of us don't want to go to. It will reawaken paranoia about the city that you put out of your mind years ago. It will make you look closely at everything around you. It will do something to the pit of your stomach. Most books of this ilk also feature over the top violence, but Curry doesn't need that here at all. He knows that the lasting violence takes place in our own heads. I rate books based on how well they achieve what I assume they are setting out to achieve. This isn't The Great Gatsby. It isn't The Brothers Karamazov. But for what it is, it is perfect. Highly, highly recommended. show less

Set during the Great Recession, Tim is a failed house flipper. He heads to Atlantic City to attempt to regain his luck at the gaming tables. That doesn't last very long. Having hit rock bottom, Tim is given a chance to run an underground (and very illegal) poker game in New York City.

For Tim, it looks like a no-lose proposition. He gets a free place to stay, and a piece of the action. Life is pretty good. That is, until the police use their battering ram and break down the reinforced steel show more door. Tim spends the night in jail.

After being released, Tim figures that his underground poker days are over. Brian, his "boss", is incredulous. Dealing with the police is simply part of the cost of doing business. He needs to be up and running today.

Every week, Tim moves between a couple of different locations. Heading to one of the locations to get ready for "work", Tim sees several vans parked in front of the building. They are full of people whose jackets say "FBI".

This is an excellent stream-of-consciousness novel that is a very quick read. It certainly feels like the author has first-hand experience with the world of underground poker games. It does a really good job at showing the seamy underbelly of present-day America, and is very much worth reading. show less