Gamblers Rose edition by GW Hawkes Mystery Thriller Suspense eBooks
Download As PDF : Gamblers Rose edition by GW Hawkes Mystery Thriller Suspense eBooks 
For generations they have known how to deal, when to fold, and how not to get backed into corners. They communicate with signs and quiet symbolism, and what they say is not what they mean. Like his father and brother, Charlie spends his young life manipulating everyone he meets into handing over just what he needs of them. But he's still playing in the kinds of games that leave scars. And he has just pushed one mark too many - a little further than he should
Review
The hero of G.W. Hawkes's third novel is a card shark--just like his father, his grandfather, and his great-grandfather. In fact, no Halloran within recent memory has held down an honest job. You might say the family has gambling in their blood--or, to be more precise, in their genes "The double helix of our DNA is a gambler's rose," Charlie says. "You couldn't have become anything but a sharp" is how his father (the wonderfully named Music Halloran) puts it. "Someone or something else rolled those dice first." With or without marked decks and shaved dice, the profession still has its risks Charlie's grandfather was killed with a welding torch and his cousin Dex was beaten with shovels until no one knew whether he'd wake up. Washed ashore in Hawaii after a run of bad luck, Charlie seems well on his way to upholding this part of the family tradition as well.
But then at a Honolulu hotel, he meets up with a professional mathematician (Charlie, naturally, is charging drinks to someone else's tab). A believer in the "rigid order in apparent randomness," Lia O'Donel studies turbulence, so of course she and Charlie fall in love. The pairing is odd but also oddly believable, and for the first time he thinks of going straight. To do so, however, he needs a stake, and there's only one way he knows how to earn it. Enter his father, brother, a stunning yacht named Music Hall, and a very high-stakes poker game. As all the players lay their cards on the table, Gambler's Rose combines some heavy thinking about chaos, fate, and design with rat-a-tat-tat Chandler-style dialogue and a stylishly cinematic plot.
From Publishers Weekly
Cheating at poker may be a risky business, but Hawkes shows it's even trickier to play straight in this story of a father and two sons, card sharps all. Building his tale around a series of suspenseful poker games, Hawkes (Surveyor) captures the lexicon and atmosphere of the world of professional gambling, where the twitch of an eye, or the positioning of one's body at the card table supply more information than the uninitiated could ever imagine. It is 1971, and after an exchange of cryptic notes, family patriarch Music Halloran and his sons, Charlie and Reggie, meet in Honolulu. Music has won a beautiful sailing vessel and has set up a mark he wants to fleece in a high-stakes game at sea. The mark, a perfume manufacturer named Vince Arthur, is accompanied by his daughter, Bobbie, who immediately seduces Reggie, and a professional gambler whom Arthur has hired to keep the Hallorans honest. Meanwhile, Charlie is having doubts about the family profession, and when he falls in love with math professor Lia O'Donel back on shore, his anxieties are compounded. Another high-stakes bet may give him the means to exit the game, but the question is whether he really wants out. Hawkes's setup is dynamite, and his prose is sharp and clean. But after the novel's promising beginning, with each Halloran going his own way, the story begins to lose focus. There is a scheme to sink the sailing boat; there are long-unresolved issues among the three Hallorans, dark secrets that are forced to the forefront as the boys cope with the possibilities of settling down. Hawkes may strive too hard for profundity at times, overloading his gambling metaphors, but the force and wily integrity of the tale ultimately win out. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Informa
Gamblers Rose edition by GW Hawkes Mystery Thriller Suspense eBooks
As with any novel, I figure that if it holds my interest, if I am curious to see what happens next, if I am enjoying the journey, as opposed to waiting for it to end, it deserves at least 4 stars. This book met those criteria for me. However, I did have a few nits with it that would prevent me from considering it a classic. First, I found Music's character to be somewhat annoying and pedantic, particularly in his dealings with Vince Arthur and, to a lesser extent, with his sons. It seemed as if every quote from him was some sort of soliloquy analogizing the game of poker to the game of life. The first few times he did it, it was interesting (and I have no doubt that such analogies exist), but by the 50th time, it got a little monotonous.Second, I felt that most of the dialogue was a bit too pat, too perfect, too many bon mots. It didn't seem to be the way people really converse in gave-and-take conversation.
Finally, I felt that the romances between Charles and Lia and Reggie and Bobby were a bit too instantaneous. There was no build up at all. Both women met both men and seemed to immediately fall for them.
Having said all of that, I still consider it a 4-star book.
Product details
|
Tags : Gamblers Rose - Kindle edition by G.W. Hawkes. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Gamblers Rose.,ebook,G.W. Hawkes,Gamblers Rose,MP Publishing Limited,FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS General,FICTION General,FICTION Suspense,FICTION Thrillers,JUVENILE FICTION General
People also read other books :
- Wrapped in Lace edition by Prescott Lane Literature Fiction eBooks
- Just A Flavor edition by Cynthia Moran Raegan Moran Humor Entertainment eBooks
- Hoof Prints in the Snow Jim Hawley 9781479702817 Books
- Land of Blood and Water The Long War for England Book 1 edition by Martin Lake Literature Fiction eBooks
- The Free Lances A Romance of the Mexican Valley Classic Reprint 9781332809158 Mayne Reid Books
Gamblers Rose edition by GW Hawkes Mystery Thriller Suspense eBooks Reviews
This is the first work I'veread by this writer and I wasquite impressed. The subjectgets you hooked right away and the characters are the heartof noir. If you like a fun read with a cast of charactersthat keep you guessing, then Idefinately recommend this book.
There seem to be two dangers in reading (or writing) books about life and cards. The interplay between the card game and the characters needs to transcend the plot line of either. G.W. Hawkes succedes in enhancing what we know about the characters through the cards on the table, making this a fun book to read. On the other hand, if the technicalities of the game overshadow the novel, it's hard to read. I never understood how German lost in Pushkin's "Queen of Spades." I was nearly lost several times in the Gambler's Rose. While the novel was too technical for me at points, the characters are strong and their interactions are interesting. This book is a good read.
Sooner or later, the cruel mathematics of risk will crush even the luckiest gambler. That's why the Hallorans don't believe in luck and certainly won't risk any more than they've already stolen.
Set in Hawaii in 1971, "Gambler's Rose" is an anything-but-tender story about a family of card sharps. Trained almost from birth to beat every mark, Charlie and Reggie Halloran can read almost anyone at a glance -- except their father, Music Halloran, a one-eyed professional cheat who has called them together for a game that could ensure they'd never have to cheat at cards again.
Of course, one of Music's grandest lessons for his double-dealing sons was No game they'll ever play is an honest game. And the endgame he's contemplating will be anything but fair.
In 13 chapters of "Gambler's Rose"-- perhaps a salute to Music Halloran's belief that nothing is accidental -- Hawkes deals a full-house of high-stakes poker and higher-stakes love, and how a player determines the risks worth taking. The card games themselves are occasionally difficult to visualize, but one needn't be a poker player to grasp the essence of Hawkes's message Maybe the only games worth winning -- including life -- can't be manipulated.
Poker clearly isn't a new literary metaphor for life, but few have done it with Hawkes's technical precision.
I kept reading trying to find some story. If you really enjoy poker, maybe the description of plays might be interesting--I just skimmed over them. I suppose there was suppose to be some comparison between the game, its players, and their children, but I found it a lot of hogwash.
As with any novel, I figure that if it holds my interest, if I am curious to see what happens next, if I am enjoying the journey, as opposed to waiting for it to end, it deserves at least 4 stars. This book met those criteria for me. However, I did have a few nits with it that would prevent me from considering it a classic. First, I found Music's character to be somewhat annoying and pedantic, particularly in his dealings with Vince Arthur and, to a lesser extent, with his sons. It seemed as if every quote from him was some sort of soliloquy analogizing the game of poker to the game of life. The first few times he did it, it was interesting (and I have no doubt that such analogies exist), but by the 50th time, it got a little monotonous.
Second, I felt that most of the dialogue was a bit too pat, too perfect, too many bon mots. It didn't seem to be the way people really converse in gave-and-take conversation.
Finally, I felt that the romances between Charles and Lia and Reggie and Bobby were a bit too instantaneous. There was no build up at all. Both women met both men and seemed to immediately fall for them.
Having said all of that, I still consider it a 4-star book.
0 Response to "[AH5]⋙ Download Free Gamblers Rose edition by GW Hawkes Mystery Thriller Suspense eBooks"
Post a Comment