Gambler's Rose

Categories: Rediscoveries , Fiction

With the World Series of Poker about to begin, pick up G. W. Hawkes’ engaging wild card of a novel about a family of card sharks and the son who wants out of the business, Gambler’s Rose.   

Charlie Halloran is the youngest in a long line of gamblers and cheats.  His father, Music, trained him to the peak of perfection in card counting and the practical psychology of gambling.  But Charlie doesn’t like the calculating person he has become, and falling in love with a mathematician has given him reason to change his life.  Can he really walk away from such a perfectly honed skill, though, or change the way his mind has been trained from infancy?  As Music sets up a crucial poker game, Charlie has to decide whether he’s in or not.

This odd, fascinating little novel is both suspenseful and philosophical.  The tension isn’t so much in the card games but in Charlie’s struggles over his decision, in the complex relationship between him and his father, and in the really big stakes—true love—he’s playing for.  It’s a winner.