Casinos Books

While reading this book I couldn't help wondering what happen to the "Hippie's","Jock's","Greaser's" that I went to High School with. This book was a walk through memory lane. This book took place in the city but it could of been anywhere. The feelings that the characters had were alot like my own. The tests,homework,hormones,drugs,violence,fun,failure,dating,fear, growing pains,ect...All of these experiences made us who we are today. A fun and easy book to read on a rainy afternoon in Fla.

An excellent book, with characters beautifully depicted, it encourages one to take a glimpse back and remember being so young and winsome!

Del Casino crafts an engaging and vivid portrait of a young man attending a competitive high school in the 1960s. Told through first person narration, the always observant narrator might remind some readers of Salinger's Catcher in the Rye.

The narrator is preparing to take the AP calculus final exam of his senior year of high school. As he waits to start the exam, he reminisces about freshman year. Characters are fresh, and descriptions of their clothing and the language they use make it easy to get caught up in the story. Intending to take my time and read the book over a couple of evenings, I found that I had to finish it in one sitting.

The 1960s setting will appeal to young adults who are interested in those tumultuous years as well as young adults just looking for a good read. Situations described in the book are still relevant to today's youth. The narrator deals with trying to fit in at school, avoid bullying from the rough crowd of students at a neighboring high school, and solve a hometown crime committed by a gang member.

The book is well suited to its target audience; however, strong language and some plot elements might be objectionable to some parents. However, the prevailing themes are rejecting violence, being fair, and finding ones own place in the world. I would recommend this well written book to teenagers as well as adults.

On the Balls of My Feet is an amusing short novel that begins as a look back by a young man about to embark on life after high school--both a heady and nerve wrenching moment we can all identify with. He is about to take his last exam before graduation and starts to reminisce about the people (some great real life character studies), places (e.g., everyone's corner candy store), and events (both remembered and romanticized) of his earlier adolescent years. These are artfully woven together into a first-person narrative with multiple story lines that come together in the end in a human morality-mystery tale.

I enjoyed being transported back to the 1960s, which the author evokes through allusions to hit songs and TV shows of the era. The main character reminded me of a cross between the cynical, bawdy-mouthed Holden Caulfield of A Catcher in the Rye and the wide-eyed and innocent Kevin Arnold of TV's The Wonder Years. Anyone who grew up and went to school in a city will have fun identifying with the book's street characters, subway denizens and idiosyncratic personalities--personalities we barely understood or tolerated as kids, but which became cornerstones of our most cherished memories of growing up.

The author clearly loves telling this tale and you will be glad to join him--as I did--on this engaging tour back to the 1960s.

The author's frequent use of first-person narrative, speaking with a lively and humorous voice, renders a quality of immediacy to this thoroughly enjoyable tale told by a high school senior as he reminisces about his freshman year.

Without hesitation, I recommend this short story to readers of all ages and backgrounds: young teens will sigh with relief as they relish sharing our freshman's uneasiness in his new environment; older folks will smile as they relive life's earlier phases; those from quieter hometowns will vicariously experience the urban landscape; and the rest of us raised in large cities, but now living in the burbs or beyond, will be beckoned back to our urban roots as the author adeptly conjures up the pace, sights, sounds and smells of city life.

The descriptive vignettes of people and places combine with the story's easy conversational style to produce a compelling story that draws us effortlessly into this curious crowded urban world of hoodlums, cops, teachers, shopkeepers and students. Enticed to know more about the various characters that surround us, we are immediately thrust onto the adolescent scene with an intensity of an opening scene in a movie.

ON THE BALLS OF MY FEET has the feel of a short play with an intriguing cast. Choreographed by artful storytelling, the pace moves along quickly, crisply, and comfortably between past and present. I look forward with eager anticipation to the author's next book.

Now that Casino Royale has been released as a movie I decided to reread the book to see if it held my interest as several readings before, and yes it did.

When Ian Fleming set pen to paper to write about things he knew well, having been involved during WWII with such matters, he tailored the figure of Bond on things he not only knew well but fashioned Bond after many things he, Fleming, spent his entire life pursuing. While Bond is not an exact clone of Fleming he is most certainly somewhat Ian Fleming's near shadow.

This first book not only establishes a style and pattern of writing for the other 13 books in the Bond series, but sets a new enemy before us: SMERSH, short for SMYERT SHPIONAM which translates "Death to Spies". And in the case of James Bond in this first book he gets the ideogram for SMERSH cut by a knife into the palm of his hand. As Bond would later say in another book, "he got the point".

The location of the story is Royale-les-Eaux and casino, situated as a resort in N.E. France. Since the book was first published in 1953 that may be an approximate time for the action, and it most certainly has to be a few years after WWII from references made by Bond. Quite a bit of the story is set at the card tables within the casino involving the card game baccarat. Other than 'M' there are only 5 main characters: James Bond, Vesper Lynd, Rene Mathis, Felix Leiter, and one of Fleming's most interesting creations: Le Chiffre or the cypher. And had it not been for the intervention of SMERSH, Le Chiffre had the best of Bond and would have killed Bond in this first novel; Le Chiffre certainly came close enough. Sub characters concern a group of Bulgars or Bulgarians who are hired hit men trying to use several camera bombs to blow James into tiny, little pieces. The reader's interest is held to all of this as the story unfolds, what could have happened 50 years back is quite plausible yet today, too.

As Raymond Benson states in synopsis of this first James Bond novel: "Most atmospheric of all novels; most serious and violent of all novels; Bond at his coldest and most ruthless.". I would also add as the reader arrives at the end of the book, a most philosophic James Bond, and through his philosophy as he speaks to Rene Mathis, James gives us his reasons to continue on with the "00" number. He explains that his number is 007 and the "OO" number is only given to agents after they have killed two people in cold blood prior to becoming an agent. When he begins his lengthly philosophy Bond seems bent on resigning from the secret service, but by dialogue's end, he has convinced himself he must, however, take on this new evil: SMERSH.

And as all of us having both the books and DVDs know quite well, it has been and continues to be, one glorious and bumpy adventure, one after the other.

If you are a newcomer to James Bond and decide to read the books, and that is really the only way to come know Bond, it is advisable to read them in the order written. Though they stand independently, one from another, and can be read as such, reading in sequence will allow your knowledge of things "Bondian" a gradual growth. As in this first novel we find that Mr. Bond wears suits that cost $6000.00. Now in the 1950s that could amount to 2 year's salary for most factory workers! Just one of many other inside items never finding its way to the silver screen.

Good reading, shaken but never stirred.

Semper Fi.

This is not only Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel but one of his best. It is richly textured, well written, clearly defines the Bond character and has survived not only as good literature but as a great period piece of the 50s. It also gives us a glimpse of the often unseen smoke filled cocktailed night life found in Europe's plush casinos of that era. Clearly, James Bond is a worldly character that lives and breaths in this unseen world described by Ian Fleming in this novel. James Bond can easily adapt to any locale or situation, size it up and endure. He is both innovative and resourceful and he must rely on his talents and instincts to survive. This is a very good Bond novel. The interestingly designed retro cover too adds to the ambiance.

I was intrigued to read the book after seeing the movie, which i really enjoyed, and wWas excited to see that some of the film's strains (there were things that seemed incongrous) were efforts to stay loyal to this book. In surprising measure, the film does.

"Casino Royale" gives the impression of a much more human Bond than the film character, and the new film captured that as well. Fleming's 007 is not the unflappable quip-ready playboy made popular in cinema, instead favoring the grittier portrayal carried off in the new film.

It's not all grit, there is an element of sentimentality that seeps through in the novel, and many of Bond's interior monologues in the novel are reminiscient of Bronte.

All in all, I found the novel a quick reading and enjoyable spy story. As someone in my 20s, it was interesting to get a taste of espionage fiction from before the digital age, and Fleming's narrative is happily not overburdened by the gadgetry of even the early Bond films.

In his first published adventure, Ian Fleming's James Bond is despatched to the dangerous arcade of Casino Royale, where nothing is ever as it seems, to gamble a decadent Soviet operative known as "Le Chiffre" into oblivion in a winner-take-all game of Baccarat. But the unexpected lurks behind every corner, and Bond must put his trust in the beautiful but enigmatic Vesper Lynd. In the end, only one man can hold the winning card...

CASINO ROYALE is chronologically the first of Ian Fleming's legendary Bond novels, and indeed it is one of the finest. Atmosphere and characterization are at the heart of Fleming's Bond stories, and CASINO ROYALE is exceptional even by Fleming's usually high standards. Bright lights and the air of expensive cigarettes radiate from each page, and the whole is a taut, rarely-equalled example of the Cold War thriller. 007 himself is introduced as the ruthless, rather sinister assassin who set the archetype for all secret agents to come, despite the best efforts of some of the movies to turn him into a playboy with a gun fetish. The unreadable Vesper Lynd adds sugar & spice to the plot, and in my opinion makes for one of the two most alluring of all the Bond Girls (rivalled only by Tracy from ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE), and the intense hot or cold affair between she and Bond is a real stinger. Despite the relatively spartan action scenes, notwithstanding one of the most horrific torture scenes in popular literature and a purely theoretical weakness which the excellent 2006 movie more than makes up for, CASINO ROYALE never wants for suspense, and once it's begun the novel is almost impossible to put down. A classic not only of the spy genre but as a drama, CASINO ROYALE is most heartily recommended.

Great guide book to learn the game of craps from either side of the table. Keep on hand to refer to later.

I have carefully examined hundreds of gaming books, and when it comes to information regarding how to deal the game of craps, this is the best. The only bet it did not properly cover, was placing the point, when a customer arrives at the table after a point has been established and places a bet on the outside line for pass bets, indicating that he wants to make a "place bet" on the point number. - There now you have it all. As far as supervision goes, the book is still the best in print, but more could be done on spotting cheaters.

As a craps student at dealer school, I wanted a book to take home with me so I could study after school. The book is written in a slightly annoying way -- the other review mentions being "150% sure," and other quirky things like that pop up many times in the book, but absolutely everything you need to know to deal the game is there. I've looked at the other (few) books available on this topic and I'd have to say that this one is by far the most complete.

The authors may be excellent craps dealers and/or supervisors, but their English skills and publishing expertise are nil. As a writer and computer expert-turned-Craps dealer student, I found the book to be very difficult to read as a result of the poor grammar, editing, and lack of any professional construction. Uppercase words are overused to the extreme to convey emphasis. I won't even mention how many times the writers want you, the reader, to be ' 150% SURE ' of something. However, once I got past this hurdle and was able to digest and assimilate the info, I found the book to be very helpful.

My rating:
Content: 5
Construction and writing: 1
The key to figure actual rating: 5+1/2=3
(SEE what I MEAN?)

I bought this book while taking a fiction workshop taught by Lee Barnes, curious about his published work. It was a great decision. The story never slows and takes the reader from the old streets of Las Vegas to the mountains of Montana. Peter grows a lot from a kid until a strong, compassionate adult. Barnes did a wonderful job turning his characters into real people. And overall wonderful story.

I am a Las Vegas junkie and as such purchased this book on Amazon. I mean, who couldn't purchase a book with such a cool cover.

Unfortunately, I was hoping to read a real tour-de-force about Vegas; its people, its energy.... and particularly, to get a huge dose of vintage Vegas. Although all of these elements are present to varying degrees, the story is a bit too conventional, and the characters a bit too cardboard, for me to get really excited.

That being said, it is very much in the "coming of age" (Bildungsroman) genre -- transplanted to Vegas. Kind of Dickensian. A little TOO much so. It is very self-consciously literate, culminating in the wince-inducing exchanges between the Casino Boss and the protagonist over "that fella Gatsby." Catch my drift?

I judged a book by it's cover, and picked this off the shelf at my local library.

And I am so glad that I did.

A powerful, engaging coming-of-age story that eloquently details the story of two families tied together by history, love, responsibility and success. Although the twists and turns are occasionally predictable, the imagery and characters make up for it. Definitely recommended.

H. Lee Barnes has written a novel--at times engaging and at times disturbing but at all times interesting--about a boy's coming of age in 1960s Las Vegas. Peter Elkins, son of a woman infected by wanderlust, is taken in by a casino king, Willy Bobbins, who offers him a chance to take his place as the owner of the Lucky, a downtown gaming house. Peter, however, must deal with the vicious and chaotic elements of Vegas culture, as well as the vicious and chaotic members of Bobbins's family, in his pursuit to discover himself. Barnes skillfully blends together elements of Fitzgerald's _Gatsby_, Conrad's _Heart of Darkness_, Dickens's _Bleak House_ and _Great Expectations_, and the biblical story of Moses to give the story its scope and direction, and his attention to the details of the Las Vegas landscape--both inside and outside of the casinos--will delight those who are familiar with the city. Careful readers will also see Barnes borrow from his own Viet Nam short story "Tunnel Rat" to give measure to the chaos that dominates the story: if Viet Nam is Chaos, and Willy's Montana ranch is Heaven on Earth, then Las Vegas strikes an uneasy balance somewhere between. Peter Elkins also falls somewhere between--a good man who nevertheless commits questionable actions--and he finds a peaceful life only when he can extract himself from the extremes of the landscapes that have shaped him.

Even though this book was not written by Harold Robbins, it is still an enjoyable story. The book is an interesting read but the Publisher needs to hire a proofreader who knows how to spell. If not for numerous typos, I would have given the book a 4 rather than a 3.

The story is familiar. We root for the street-smart hero, who we learn early on is the illegitimate son of Howard Hughes. The kid grows up tough with the grit and guts to confront power brokers and move up the ladder of high living. Explicit bedroom scenes pepper the fast-moving narrative. And the bad things our hero does are only for well-deserved revenge. The true stories that legends are made of, such as Bugsy Siegel and the Flamingo, give the tale a ring of authenticity. When there's lots money around, there's also lots of cheating, and I was fascinated by the many scams and cons from slot machines to high-stakes Baccarat. The constant tension drove the plot, cumulating in a card game in the finale that had me holding my breath.

The book's 383 pages are easy reading and I gulped it down in two sittings. I found it a pleasure to just relax and follow the story. No deep thinking is required. And I didn't learn anything new. It was just pure pleasure. Which is what reading for entertainment is all about.

Took this book on a cruise and it was a perfect quick and easy read. This book kept me interested from beginning to end and was very believable and certainly entertaining. You feel like the characters are alive and you are following them through all their adventures. Being a big fan of Vegas, this book takes you back to it's beginning, with all the faults and dangers that the Commission works so hard to eliminate today. "Sin City" is just that; then and still today - I would recommend this book to anyone that gambles or goes to Vegas and likes a story that has some teeth to it, spicy sex, and provides insight into the cheating side of gambling too. You won't be disappointed!

Twenty-two years old Las Vegas waitress Betty Riordan receives her fifteen minutes of "fame" when an ancient Howard Hughes has sex with her. Betty gives birth to a boy she names Howard Hughes, Jr. Three months after that Betty with her infant in tow tries to visit the father of her child. However, the Hughes entourage simply hands her cash to leave town with the renamed baby, Zack Riordan.

Zack returns to Vegas at twelve where he thinks the Strip must be home to God. He earns a minor living distributing sheets for the low life casinos. However, when Betty, as he calls his mother, is killed, Zack leaves town. He returns several years later and becomes a student of the gambling experts who know every cheating trick possible. His advanced degree in cheating leads to his appointment as security manager at Vegas' Glitter Gulch until the owner's daughter Morgan fires him. In retaliation he rapes her and flees to Asia before eventually returning to SIN CITY only to learn he sired a child with Morgan.

Five years have passed since Harold Robbins died and he still is cranking out tales as a prolific ghostwriter. The latest Robbins tale, SIN CITY, is perhaps "his" best novel in many years including when the author lived. Sort of written as a biographical fiction, the reader sees Las Vegas as a siren of the desert luring wannabes and cheats to its glittery idols. Fans of the author and his living retinue will enjoy SIN CITY by far the best of the posthumous career.

Harriet Klausner

I am a very serious poker player and I play several times a week. I've read most of the poker literature. This book is one of the best. It looks at 77 concepts and analyzes the play of various types of hands based on these concepts. I thought the book was thorough, well written and intellectually challenging. If you play poker this belongs right up there with Sklansky's best work. Renzey obviously knows the various games and he has a marvelous way of teaching his points. But this is not a beginner's book.

The title sounded like a cheesy "get rich quick" magic formula, but I found the book to be full of down-to-earth, informative poker logic. The "77 ways" simply takes one poker strategy scenario at a time, and explains its underlying purpose in detail. It does this with general poker concepts first, like the subjects of check-raising or pot odds, then follows the same format with four different casino poker games.
Each strategy point involves only two or three pages accompanied by an illustrated hand to show its use. This made it easy to study and digest just one concept for 10 minutes, then put the book down for another time. It is also very easy to go back and refer to a particular concept after you've played a session.
I thought the strategy explanations were clear and educational, particularly in the two high-low split games of Omaha-8-or-better and 7 Card Stud-8-or-better. The other two games covered in the book were straight 7 Stud and Texas Hold'em.
This was definitely a thinking man's book that teaches you what you're trying to make happen when you play poker.

I would not recommend this book for beginners, but for those players who have moved into mid or upper limits it is a solid piece. Some of the concepts are basic because he has to make the book appealing to a wide audience but I found the hidden gems of information useful. The organization of the book, a series of 77 concepts, is excellent. There are no references to low limit games, which is refreshing. The author makes a point of avoiding discussion on low limit because, and I agree with him, low limit has too many exceptions to the rules of normal conduct. For poker players like myself who wish to dabble outside the realm of Hold'em, the pointers on Razz, Studd and PLO are very good.

This is a great book to get if you are a novice craps shooter. It doesn't get into the step by step betting sequences like some other books. If that's what you're looking for than this isn't the bookto buy. This is an "attitude" book. It explains a few strategies and talks about the mental toughness to be a good craps shooter. The best part and biggest reason to buy is the exercise about rolling the dice and charting the outcomes! You'll be amazed!!

I enjoyed this book because it had a realistic sense of what it is like to play and gamble in the Casinos in Vegas and Atlantic City. Mr. Stuart has "been there, done that". I have used with some success two of his "systems", on occasion. He knows percentages and how to use them, and his other advice on gambling is very helpful. We all know the house will always win in the long run, but he really puts it to them, in his lucky streak, and I believe, as does he, that is the only way to go.!! Great Reading.

Packed with true grit and determination. Funny and witty at times. True stories from a 'high roller' hit home even for one who spends his time at the 2$ tables. Has saved me thousands. Even came away a winner a few times. Re read it every time I go back to Vegas. Wish I could have met the author. George S. Getz October 7, 1997

Gayle's first book is an easy read and easy to understand--she offers not only the rules of five best bets, blackjack, craps, (mini)baccarat, slots and my favorite video poker but explains the best strategies to "attack" these games. She tells some good stories and offers best casinos in Vegas and Laughlin - I now have her second book.

Superb book - learned so very very much - thanks Gayle - you taught me so much and I had a great time with your humour. Learning can be fun, can't it?

We purchased this book because we wanted to possibly expand the number of casino games we were playing. With all of the screams at the Craps and Blackjack tables, were we missing the fun? Our only game was slot machines before we read Gayle's statement,"If you play and learn only one other game, make it video poker." After studying the strategies in this book, we have found the FUN. My VP play seemed successful from the begining. My 4th trip delivered the "Royal Flush". My wife, also a beginner, has recently hit one as well. Even more astounding, to us, in a 3 week period this month we hit 19 VP and 2 slot jackpots. Making a 1999 total of 26 jackpots, so far. This book has improved our selecting slot machines and we never had any VP strategy previously. We are now ordering her book "Video Poker Made Easier", just in case this winning can indeed get easier. Thanks, Gayle.

The author performs a complete and delicate post-mortem of modern capitalist beliefs and misconceptions. I read Ayn Rand's "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal" some time ago. Daniel Ben-Ami constructs a compelling argument in favour of unregulated markets, healthy competition and good old fashioned risk taking. Unlike Raynd he steers away from abstruse philosophical theories and sticks with what really matters to the reader: Real life examples, cataloging the myriad failiures of faux-capitalism. If like me you whince every time you hear about another ill-thought out but well intended goverment safeguard, you'll enjoy this book for the intellectual ammunition it delivers.

Letýs start out this review by stating up front that we disagree with Daniel Ben-Amiýs assertion that a preoccupation with risk measurement and management is a detriment to the global economy. With that out of the way, we can say that Ben-Ami presents a unique analysis of the modern global economy that is not at all without merit. His contention that lagging growth is a greater peril to the worldýs economy than financial instability is reasonable and backed up by ample evidence and illustration. And his position that increased regulation could be doing more harm than good will be embraced by all free traders. On the basis of these discussions alone, we [...] recommend this book to anyone thinking seriously about international financial systems. But this book is perhaps most useful as a starting point for debate, which it will certainly generate in the mind of any informed reader. While you might quibble with Ben-Amiýs conclusions ý as we do with his assertion that the threat of the 1990s financial crises was overblown ý you will not be bored.

Usually, books on the dry subject of modern finance are a difficult read but this one is a welcome and worthy exception. The text is so fascinating that I managed to "make it" in three rather short sessions - and without the slightest trace of boredom in the process. I found no superfluous or pseudo-profound sentences and even the footnotes of this carefully researched study fully deserve the reader's attention.

Ben-Ami manages to explain in a few dozen pages the basics of apparently difficult concepts (as he rightly tells us, "even the most complex strategies tend to be built from simple components") such as derivatives, mutual funds, pension funds, hedging, etc. In the process, he shatters a lot of mistaken myths and conventional wisdom.

It is simply not true, he explains, that the instruments of modern finance are essentially speculative; on the contrary, they are usually a means for corporations and investors in general to better manage risk. Modern capitalists, unlike their predecessors of a more dynamic era, have an exaggerated aversion to risk and they try to build their portfolio in a way that minimises it. Thus a corporation dedicated to making cars, for instance, might prefer to invest part of its earnings in derivatives or hedge funds instead of innovating its production processes. The result would of course be a less dynamic form of capitalism, where more resources are spent on the financial markets - as opposed to the real, productive side of the economy. This, insists Ben-Ami, is in short what has been happening since the end of the post-war (1945-73) economic boom.

He offers powerful examples to illustrate his thesis. Yes, he says, it's true that George Soros made a billion dollars out of speculating against the British Pound in the early nineties - but that was only because the fundamentals of the British economy were really incompatible with the high value of its currency. A few years later Soros was betting on a fall of the Rouble and eventually lost two billion dollars. This time he had made a wrong analysis of the fundamentals of the Russian economy and got his fingers burned. The conclusion? Well, speculators really don't have the power to dominate events. So much for the idea that modern economies are but passive instruments at the hands of unscrupulous capitalistic sharks!

Ben-Ami regrets the general climate of fear for the future and horror of risk-taking that he thinks has taken hold of Western Europe and even more the USA in the last few decades - and has been, BTW, amply demonstrated in the recent near-hysteria caused by the appearance of a few cases of Anthrax in the US. He sees in this tendency a sign that the "animal spirits" that Keynes considered essential for the proper working of a dynamic capitalist economy are faltering.

The author doesn't present us a "solution" for this problem, probably because he's well aware of the fact that cultural attitudes are very hard to change. But he does warn that the climate of fear that currently permeates western society constitutes a clear impediment to stronger economic growth, both in the First and Third worlds. And he writes in such a clear, unpretentious style that one might just hope his analysis will eventually find a sympathetic hearing in the decision-making centers of Europe and the United States.

Coyote is a kick in the pants. Richard Millerýs character Beffle, alias The Beer Fairy, changes personas and disguises like most of us change socks. In fact, many characters in this book change identities as Beffle and her erstwhile employer Two Bears roar through several American Indian casinos trying to escape a vast unnamed conspiracy that threatens to murder them.

From an Ohlone home base casino in Carmel Valley, Calif., Beffle and Two Bears plot the resurgence of American Indian culture through the pocketbooks of American consumer culture, primarily gambling, called here as in advertisements, "gaming." Miller not only places the reader on the Big Sur coast but also trails us to Las Vegas and Connecticut, while making a strong point that the motel rooms that Beffle frequents could be "anywhere USA."

Beffle and Two Bears travel to develop a scheme that will combine casinos around the country to buy back Indian land and establish a new Indian confederacy. The motel culture of the dominant culture wonýt do; perhaps the resurrection of the Indians with their respect for nature will save society. Or will it? Miller makes the reader acutely aware that casinos are sprouting in places where the deer once roamed.

Thereýs lots of background on what the dominant white culture has done to the Indians since stealing their land and Two Bears becomes an eloquent spokesman for the injustices as well as for the dreams of the tribes. His diatribes skewer our contemporary consumer culture as surely and accurately as an arrow strikes the bulls eye.

Yet thereýs something rotten in Denmark, as Shakespeare would say, when various people attempt to kill Beffle, and the pair, along with their trusty bodyguards, confront an unknown force that could be the CIA, the FBI or the Mafia. Who is trying to kill them and why? Or is anyone what they seem? And who are these sex-crazed twins and their cohorts who keep popping up to rescue Beffle at the oddest times?

Not to give away the plot, but no one is who they seem to be and the last pages of the book once again turn identities on their heads. Make an afternoon free to read this compelling story of ideals that bend back on themselves like pretzels and still hold out hope that something can change; people will triumph over their own doubts and greed and we can look to some of the beliefs of the American Indians to see us through our complex so-called civilization.

COYOTE is a swirling vortex of thoughts and ideas. It is about our mortal and immortal selves. It is about the pyramids of power who do their damnedest to control us, and inadvertently, themselves. It is about innocence and deceit. Who are the bad guys anyways? Should we be judged by what we do or why we do it? COYOTE is both thoughtful and fun, a fast-paced fiction that raises many serious issues. I truly recommend it!

Like its namesake in Native-American mythology, Miller's Coyote is playful and cunning. Its heroine, the resourceful and mysterious Beffle-who's an accomplished disguise artist-takes the reader on a coast-to-coast tour of Indian Casino gambling, that includes a stop in the nightmarish Mecca of gambling, Las Vegas. It also includes a bizarre high school reunion in the bowels of Ohio. Coyote is funny, suspensful, and serious as it looks at the history of relations between Native Americans and the Europeans who dropped by uninvited. Lots of good history wrapped in a witty, fast-paced adventure. I read it over a weekend and forwarded it to a friend who read it in a night. Terrific book.