BUTTON MAN

Sprawling account of a small-time gambler who hustles his way through the long, hot summer of 1988.

Like all gamblers, Hawk thinks he can beat the odds and refuses to learn when experience teaches otherwise. Now more than ten grand in debt to loan shark Armand, Hawk still thinks he can clear the books when his number comes in. He’s had big ambitions ever since he met Sammy, an old-school New York hustler who showed him one election year how he could make more money hawking campaign buttons in a day that he made as a pizza boy in a whole week. That was during the Nixon administration, and now Hawk is heading down to Atlanta for the convention that’s going to nominate Michael Dukakis. He’s under the gun, all right: Armand’s goon, Mr. Skinhead, has already cut off one of Hawk’s toes, with a promise of more to come if he misses his next payment. But there’s positive encouragement too, in the form of his new girlfriend Carla, a nubile neon-sign artist with a quick wit and a little girl from her old marriage. Hawk is still deep in the red after Atlanta, so he looks to the Republican convention in New Orleans to make up the difference. Meanwhile, Carla’s sleazy ex-husband Nelson has found out about her affair with Hawk and has begun stalking her. And Hawk’s old mentor Sammy is in the hospital for heart surgery. So Hawk has plenty of worries beside his own. After the convention, all the loose ends of Hawk’s life come back together in New York, where a gangland battle in one stroke solves most of his problems—but not all.

A nice portrait of life on the make, with a genuine, gritty feel and some memorable characters, but Lyons (Going for Broke, 1991, etc.) tries to put in a bit too much 1980s history, and the story rambles more than it needs to.