Blackjack Autumn: A True Tale of Life, Death, and Splitting Tens in Winnemucca
Given a map of Nevada and the premise that a blackjack card counter armed with $8000 will hit the road for two months, attacking every available casino, the reader expects a certain level of adventure and excitement. Just the escapist illusion of roadside traveling past historic ghost towns, stopping at mom-and-pop diners for conversation, is more than enough to hook most readers. Yet the narrator we encounter here is a one-dimensional individual with a do-or-die agenda for whom the road becomes boring, even annoyingly time-consuming. At one point, paranoia sets in for the writer, who is carrying over $25,000. At issue is his fear of being barred from casinos or spotted for his card counting. Even the death of a family member is handled from a gambler's perspective: just another annoying obstacle not unlike a change of casino dealers. Card counters are portrayed as a breed of loners and social misfits; writers at times tend to be just as masochistic. Turn a card counter into a writer, and you have a sometimes painful reading experience. Not recommended.AMarty Soven, Woodside, NYCopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.