A dramatically unsatisfying tale, aimed narrowly at poker aficionados.
A young Englishman tries to solve his father’s mounting financial crisis with his poker skills in this novel.
Tommy Hitchcock’s dad, Alan, is in a heap of trouble. He’s a small-time fisherman whose boat has been impounded, and it’s going to cost him thousands of dollars in fines to retrieve it. He also owes money to loan sharks who are increasingly impatient with him. In an attempt to raise cash for his father, Tommy leaves the small town of Lowestoft, England, for London and lands a job at a department store, working in the fish department. There, he quickly makes friends with two students, Lilly Bookerman (in the books department) and Nick Monroe (in sports), the latter of whom acts as the narrator of this story. Nick comes up with an idea to start a “boat fund” to help Tommy’s dad, and the two friends plan to raise money for it by playing poker. Nick is a novice at the game, but Tommy’s unusually talented, as his father had previously tutored him in poker’s complex nuances. Lilly connects them with her wealthy, card-playing friends, and they quickly graduate to higher-stakes tournaments. As their pile of winnings gradually grows higher, Goodhart (Cards, Kafka and Prague, 2016) describes the games they play. But when Tommy’s victories embolden him to take dangerous risks, Nick becomes concerned. Meanwhile, Lilly is attracted to Tommy’s preternatural self-possession, and their nascent friendship blossoms into a romance. The author’s prose is punchy and clever, driven by sharp dialogue: “You’re the fish nibbling the bait if you’ve got an iffy hand…. Any little unusual movement and you’re gone; be suspicious, try not to get hooked.” Goodhart’s mastery of the machinations of poker is also extraordinary. However, there’s so much play-by-play—granular, complicated renderings of match after match—that the novel may not appeal to readers that don’t already have an abiding enthusiasm for the game. Also, readers may feel that Lilly’s sudden feelings for Tommy are too strong to be believable. Finally, the conclusion is abrupt and peculiar, as if the author simply ran out of steam.
A dramatically unsatisfying tale, aimed narrowly at poker aficionados.Pub Date: March 4, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5088-2847-1
Page Count: 252
Publisher: The Gate Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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