God Doesn't Shoot Craps: A Divine Comedy
After years of peddling profitable direct-mail get-rich-quick schemes to gullible customers, divorced, middle-aged grifter Danny Pellegrino finds himself scrambling for a new angle in Armstrong's absorbing if woodenly written debut. He goes into business with rich, aging inventor Virgil Kirk, the spiritually inclined author of a supposedly foolproof craps gambling system based on a mathematical principle called Win by Losing. Only after Danny launches a junk-mail effort does he secretly discover Virgil's system to be a gold mine. Wanting the jackpot for himself, Danny sends out apology letters to potential customers, deceives Virgil and eludes postal service fraud attorney Richard Goldman and David Invidia, a disillusioned Atlantic City casino host. Once word gets out about the easy money to be made using Virgil's system, mobsters want in, and they want Danny out—for good. A dash for the bright lights of Sin City puts Danny in hot water, but not for long, as mob royalty and government forces tangle with one another instead of Danny. The novel's madcap chicanery, gaming systems theorizing and casino settings will make it entertaining distraction for hopeful high rollers flying Jet Blue to Vegas.(Mar.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.