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Welcome!! My name is Paul Lappen. I am in my early 60s, single, and live in Connecticut USA. This blog will consist of book reviews, written by me, on a wide variety of subjects. I specialize, as much as possible, in small press and self-published books, to give them whatever tiny bit of publicity help that I can. Other than that, I am willing to review nearly any genre, except poetry, romance, elementary-school children's books and (really bloody) horror.

I have another 800 reviews at my archive blog: http://www.deadtreesreviewarchive.blogspot.com (please visit).

I post my reviews to:

booklore.co.uk
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I am always looking for more places to post my reviews.

Friday, July 26, 2019

We Run Bad

We Run Bad, John Curry, The Okie Doke Book Publishing Corporation, 2018

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 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.

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