From: High Stakes ed. Robert J. Randisi. Signet, 2003.
For 7/7/07, a story of luck. After hitting a jackpot in excess of $250,000, compulsive gambler and talker Henry Simon decides to leave his shrewish wife Mildred and her two dimwitted brothers.
The narrative cuts between Henry in Nevada recounting his travels to a gambling buddy and Mildred in St. Louis plotting to get back "her money". The characters' voices and the momentum of the chase carry this rambling. funny, enjoyable tale.
Showing posts with label High Stakes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label High Stakes. Show all posts
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Saturday, June 16, 2007
"Breathe Deep" by Donald E. Westlake
From: High Stakes ed. Robert J. Randisi. Signet, 2003.
This 1985 story rounds out Randisi's collection of gambling-themed stories. Vegas dealer Chuck encounters an old man who tells of his "fatal attraction" to casinos on the Strip. Something about the man seems off to Chuck, and he presses a silent alarm.
Security is slow to respond, and the old man goes on to describe the night he was removed from a casino and roughed up to the point of getting buried under green tanks out back. While in the hospital, he is told those green tanks contain oxygen. and he suspects oxygen is pumped in to keep people awake and playing.
Chuck tells the man, "They don't do that with the oxygen." Unconvinced, the man spills lighter fluid on the table and begins to strike a match against the felt...
The old man's voice and mannerisms, expertly handled by Westlake, sell the story.
This 1985 story rounds out Randisi's collection of gambling-themed stories. Vegas dealer Chuck encounters an old man who tells of his "fatal attraction" to casinos on the Strip. Something about the man seems off to Chuck, and he presses a silent alarm.
Security is slow to respond, and the old man goes on to describe the night he was removed from a casino and roughed up to the point of getting buried under green tanks out back. While in the hospital, he is told those green tanks contain oxygen. and he suspects oxygen is pumped in to keep people awake and playing.
Chuck tells the man, "They don't do that with the oxygen." Unconvinced, the man spills lighter fluid on the table and begins to strike a match against the felt...
The old man's voice and mannerisms, expertly handled by Westlake, sell the story.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
"Sex and Bingo" by Elaine Viets
From: High Stakes: 8 Sure-Bet Stories of Gambling and Crime, ed. Robert J. Randisi. Signet, 2003.
Viets's new series character, Helen Hawthorne, is a fugitive surviving on temp jobs after catching her husband with another woman and taking a crowbar to his skull. In this titillatingly-titled story, Helen is working at a boutique aboard a cruise ship when she suspects the bar manager and bingo caller— a good-ol'-boy named Jimmy—is running a scam. The question is how to prove it.
The story ran almost forty pages, but was plotted well enough to hold my interest. I did mind that it was written in third-person, with too much Helen this and Helen that. I wanted to get to know her better.
Viets's new series character, Helen Hawthorne, is a fugitive surviving on temp jobs after catching her husband with another woman and taking a crowbar to his skull. In this titillatingly-titled story, Helen is working at a boutique aboard a cruise ship when she suspects the bar manager and bingo caller— a good-ol'-boy named Jimmy—is running a scam. The question is how to prove it.
The story ran almost forty pages, but was plotted well enough to hold my interest. I did mind that it was written in third-person, with too much Helen this and Helen that. I wanted to get to know her better.
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