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 The Burning Felt
by
Tyler Nals
If you’ve read
Tyler's first two books in this trilogy, “The Dark Side of the Felt”
and “A Darker Side of the Felt”, you definitely won’t want to
miss Tyler’s next adventure as he takes us “all-in” to the world
of underground poker.
If you haven’t read the first two yet, what
are you waiting for? Read them now and follow right behind with this
one!
“If Indiana Jones played poker” is a great visual for
this fun read that wraps up the Trilogy. I’m always impressed by the
authors real-life writing style that brings his gritty characters to life in a
vibrant setting. Bring this book on a plane or on vacation and you won’t
be disappointed how quickly time flies when you are lost in this adventure! In
this episode Tyler falls deeper and deeper into the world of underground poker
and has to turn to some drastic measures to ensure his family's safety and to
try to win at a much bigger game. You won't be able to put this down until the
end!
Paperback - 149 pages (6 Jan. 2019)
£6.28
Kindle -
151 pages (6 Jan. 2019)
£3.10
 A Darker Side of the Felt
by Tyler Nals
This time there's a lot
more than money on the line. After posting a staking offer for a friend on
Facebook, everything spirals out of control. Tyler must recoup the money L (the
staker) is owed or it's throat-slitting time. Tyler digs his hole much deeper
by ripping off an underground poker game in order to pay L. Instead of one
enemy, he builds a long list. He must return to the felt in an effort to repay
his debts. Prepare for guns, sex, poker, violence, and a little
humor.
"As a poker player myself it was very relatable and had a good
strong lead character who was likeable . Had a good mix of drama excitement and
humour."
"I started this book and I could not put it down. For all of us
poker players around the world Tyler gives us a in -site into the dark world of
poker. On the back of this book I have downloaded several more of Tyler's books
and enjoying every page. I take my hat off to you."
Paperback - 250
pages (2 Aug. 2017)
£7.63
Kindle - 252 pages (2 Aug. 2017)
£3.02
![An Occupational Hazard [Paperback] James Wrethman](../images/amazon/bookcovers/2010/an_occupational_hazard_140.jpg) An Occupational Hazard
by James Wrethman
Arh the 1970's, so often
in the shadow of the 60's, yet so much better. An Occupational Hazard is set in
the London casino world of the 1970s and proports to mix fact and fiction. Its
up to the reader to determine for themselves the likely factual elements but
its not unreasonable to assume that most of it is fact.
The story
centres on the Ventura Casino beginning in 1974. The name seems a bit odd but,
that aside, its there to draw the reader knowlingly into a world that really
existed but without giving the name of the casino, or casinos, on which this is
based.
This is an intriguing story that hinges on the fate of staff at
the Ventura Casino, the corruption and the wide spread avoidance of the law
that existed in the casino business in the 1970s. The main character
experiences the extremes that naivety leads her into trouble and the story is
resolved in the present with more unwinding of the tale. It paints a sordid
picture where lasciviousness and money meet institutional deviance. Oh what a
lovely place the casino world used to be.
The defining essence of the
piece is its straightforwardness in that you feel empathy with the main
characters and dislike for the obvious villains.
This work is from a
first time author and the prose reads easily and the story line is well
constructed. Its a bit too long and James Wrethman has shyed away from
comparison with the boring casinos we have today where few things of note
happen. However, it is an enjoyable read and if you spend much time in casinos
this will give you some indication of a different life in very recent
history.
Paperback - 418 pages (25 April 2009) 
£11.99
 Bet Your
Rocks Off by Peter Burden
A
fast moving thriller set in an upper crust world of aristocrats and the
seriously rich – all of whom are on friendly terms with racing’s
ruling elite – The Jockey Club. Throw in the trainer – American born
Annie, Countess of Tenbury – a beautiful woman trying to make it in an
unashamedly man’s world — and Madame Al Hassan’s rapidly failing
health, and it becomes a battle of resolve to see the horse first past the
post. Not only is Bet Your Rocks Off a great, humorous read, it lifts the lid
in an enthralling way on how betting coups work – some barely legal and
some outright criminal.
Paperback - 473 pages (3 Feb 2006)
£7.19
 The Cold Six Thousand by James Ellroy
It is the day of Jack Kennedy's assassination--Las Vegas
cop Wayne Tedrow Jr arrives in Dallas with instructions to arrest a pimp and
make sure he does not survive the arrest. By the time James Ellroy's monumental
thriller The Cold Six Thousand reaches its climax, Wayne has taken his own
private journey into the heart of American corruption, into a cold hell of
betrayal, prejudice and paranoia. Make sure you have access to a comfortable
chair and a pot of strong coffee, as this will grip you long into at least one
night.
Paperback - 669 pages
Reissue (2 May, 2002)
£6.39
 It's My Party
by Cindy Blake
Everyone plays
their cards close to their chests in It's My Party, a hard and fast look at the
equally competitive worlds of business, gambling and love. Cindy Blake's
heroine Isabel is a successful business woman by day and an indomitable poker
player by night. But when it comes to love, she's afraid to lay her cards on
the table; as is everyone in this riotous comedy of errors.
Paperback - 345 pages new edition (5 February,
2001)
expected price £4.79 Buy
This Book
 The Crust
on Its Uppers by Derek Raymond
Derek Raymond is an overlooked genius, perhaps
because most of his books dwell on the seamy side of life and were probably too
"not nice" for the reading tastes of the sixties and seventies.
This book is
much finer than most things you will pick off the shelf of a bookstore today.
The central characters are public school boys ("morries") who feel the world
owes them a living because their background makes them superior to those around
them. In fact, they are nasty, shallow characters who progress from bent
gambling, through fraud to international crime. Their arrogance and misplaced
snobbery make them even more unlikeable, which is exactly Raymond's style.
Paperback - 189 pages new edition (12 October, 2000)
expected price £5.59 Buy
This Book
 nine mil by
Rob Ryan 
Nine Mil is Winie the
Pooh meets Taxi Driver! Through the depressed streets of Atlantic City, cabbie
Ed Behr searches f or Honey, his long lost girlfriend. A chance encounter with
Billy Moon, an old friend, gives him an idea. Billy is rich. And maybe Ed would
have a better chan ce of finding Honey with a million bucks to his name. What
Ed doesn't know is a nyone with a computer can find Honey for
themselves...
There's this bag of money, a washed-up lovesick cabbie, a
photo-obsessed hitman, a raunchy internet porn site, scuzzy Atlantic City, some
weird incred survivalists and...
Paperback - 437
pages (5 October, 2000) expected price
£5.59 Buy
This Book
 Aiding and Abetting by Muriel
Spark
Celebrated
psychiatrist Dr Hildegard Wolf is approached in her Paris consulting rooms by
two men, both claiming to be the Lord Lucan who vanished 25 years after the
vicious murder of his children's nanny. Can she discover their true identities
before her own dark secret is revealed?
Characters, settings, plot are
delineated with an incredible concentration: nothing is superfluous and
everthing adds to the overall effect. This is a novel that resonates in the
mind. Beautiful prose too. I cannot understand why reviewers have found it
difficult to follow the plot or to distinguish which of the two Lucans is being
discussed at any time. For those that read carefully it is perfectly clear. The
moral issues raised however are not. This latest book is an instant classic.
Read it now but don't worry if you don't: it will be in print for the
indefinite future.
Hardcover - 192 pages (31 August, 2000) expected price £10.39 Buy
This Book
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 The Dice
Man by Luke Rhinehart
Very popular book. Readers have given
this
Entertaining, humorous, scary,
shocking, subversive, The Dice Man is one of the cult best-sellers of our time.
Let the dice decide! This is the philosophy that changes the life of bored
psychiatrist Luke Rhinehart - and in some ways changes the world as well.
Because once you hand over your life to the dice, anything can happen. Beware,
once you've read this book you may never think about life in the same way
again.
Paperback - 500 pages
Reissue (15 Dec 1999)
£5.19
.gif) .gif) Fear and
Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
From the moment you start reading
this book, you know you're in for one hell of a ride. Thompson documents his
debauched exploits in typical manic fashion expressing the characters and
settings, however eloquently, according to his warped drug addled perceptions.
From start to finish the reader shares in Thompson's unparalleled journey
through the American psyche and as a result, one can not help but laugh
hysterically at what transpires. I whole heartedly recommend this book to
anyone who wants something a little different, yet at the same time, funny,
original and completely unputtdownable. Top stuff.
Paperback -
224 pages (15 June, 1998) Johnny Depp cover expected price £5.59 Buy
This Book
Paperback - 224 pages (October 1972) Original
cover expected price £5.59 Buy
This Book
 All In by Mitchell Symons
Stephen is a compulsive gambler, and there's
nothing he will not tackle. His reluctance to stop is not just costing him
money: he is finding that it is becoming more and more difficult to lie to his
wife about his debts. Taking stock Steve decides to place the ultimate bet.
Steve's luck has always been widely erratic, but now that he has made an
irrevocable choice, he is plunged into a sinister and terrifying world. All of
this is chronicled by Symons in prose that is raw and rough-edged (yet often
very funny), with the atmospheric milieu that Steve staggers through rendered
with a reporter's sharp eye, and the characters that Steve encounters have none
of the eccentric charm of Damon Runyon's gamblers: the stakes here are often
deadly. The real achievement of the novel, though, is the brilliantly created
diary format in which Symons couches his narrative, with the dialogue always
having a caustic and mordant edge.
Paperback - 320
pages ( 4 May, 2000) expected price
£5.59 Buy
This Book
 Twelve Grand
by Jonathan Rendall
You probably have to
be a gambler to really enjoy reading this. The book is all about indulgence,
mainly on the betting front, although sex, booze and drugs are also high up on
the inebriated agenda. The other caveats (do you need any more?) are that
swearing and blasphemy feature regularly. But the most frustrating aspect of
the book is that the author sometimes uses abbreviations for common words. It
is not always obvious what he means, although you get the general gist. The
main character is clearly in a state of (alcoholic) decline as he relates what
he does with the £12,000 given him by a publishing company
(coincidentally, Yellow Free Press, the book's publishers) to fritter away on
gambling. He ends up waging a "silent war" against a lot of things in his life,
some of them imaginary; a state of mind induced by his almost-perpetual
intoxicated condition? Despite its obvious faults, it is a clever and sometimes
humorous book that gets you thinking. It neatly alternates between the past and
present, until the twain inevitably meet, and it is an interesting read on the
whole, as long as you do not mind the bad language, etc. You (eventually) end
up feeling sorry for the writer and applaud his raw honesty, although you
sometimes feel intoxicated yourself reading the book, particularly the fuzzy
ending.
Paperback - 224 pages (26 October, 2000) expected price £5.60 Buy
This Book
Double or Nothing by Dennis Foon
 Though fatherless,
high-school senior Kip has been well provided for by his dedicated mother and
loyal uncle. Thanks to his mother's hard work and Kip's job in a posh
restaurant, procured through his uncle, there's enough money to cover his
college expenses. Unfortunately, Kip has a penchant for gambling that takes a
devastating turn when his new girlfriend's father, a renowned magician known as
King, turns out to be a high-stakes con artist with an eye on Kip's savings.
This is grittier and every bit as compelling as Pete Hautman's similarly-themed
Stone Cold (1998). Foon uses a wry, first-person perspective to make Kip a
compelling character, and gives readers a fast-moving plot with plenty of
crisp, authentic dialogue. Like one of King's clever disappearing acts, Kip's
downfall creeps up on readers with deceptive ease; only after the smoke
dissipates will they realize the blatant signs of addiction.
Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback - 144 pages
(October 2000) expected price
£4.38 Buy
This Book
Hardcover - 144 pages (February 2000) expected price £12.57 Buy
This Book
 Pisces Rising
by Martha C. Lawrence
Elizabeth Chase
is a psychic detective whose hunches and visions have helped the authorities
solve a number of baffling crimes. But by the time of her fourth outing in
Lawrence's increasingly popular series, Chase is a reluctant sleuth. Her lover
has been killed in a showdown between cult leaders and the FBI, and she no
longer trusts her own extrasensory gifts. But when an old friend asks for help
in solving the murder and scalping of a casino owner at Mystic Mesa on the
Temecu Indian reservation in the California desert, Elizabeth is persuaded to
get involved. She soon finds herself drawn to a charismatic--and strangely
familiar--Native American shaman whose strange gifts awaken and energize her
own. Lawrence spins a taut, dramatic tale, aided by a sympathetic and likable
protagonist; it doesn't take tea leaves or crystal balls to predict that this
psychic detective will turn up again.
Hardcover - 240 pages (March
2000) expected price £14.93
Buy
This Book
 The Gambling Man by
Catherine Cookson
No review as yet
Paperback - 320 pages new edition (2 March, 1995)
expected price
£3.99 Buy
This Book
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