Cold Deck

February 25, 2013
Set in Las Vegas, this low-key crime novel from Barnes (The Lucky) is about a basically decent man who tries to grab the brass ring before it's too late. Veteran blackjack dealer Jude Helms has survived the disastrous MGM fire in 1980, a firing in 1984, a doomed marriage, a firing disguised as a layoff at the Monaco casino, and a car accident. After yet another job loss, Helms allows himself to get sucked into a lucrative but illegal gambling scheme. Through his teenage daughter, Beth, Helms meets Audra Moser, the attractive mother of one of Beth's school friends. Audra, who may have served prison time, introduces Helms to Ben Goldman, who tests his dealer skills and begins grooming him for a scam. As Helms gets in deeper, he struggles to find a way to extricate himself, but finds his path blocked by his own guilt and vulnerability. Barnes, who obviously knows the ins and outs of casino gambling routines, puts them to good use as Helms makes a last desperate attempt to break free.

March 1, 2013
A Vegas novel, so naturally, it concerns scamming the casinos. Jude Helms is out of his element in Las Vegas, for he's that seeming rarity: an honest dealer. But he's run into a string of bad luck, having been fired without cause from several casinos. (Well, perhaps not totally without cause. Once, he complimented a customer for her largesse, which was misconstrued as "large ass.") Now, it's 20 years later, and although his marriage has fallen apart, he's close to his children, 14-year-old Beth and recent college graduate Lucas. All Jude really wants is enough money to start his own masonry company, but until that time, he's committed--or condemned--to work the tables. Finally he seems to get a break when Audie, the mother of one of Beth's friends, introduces him to Ben, who's impressed by Jude's skill in dealing cards. Ben works with him and with Angel, a slick con, to perfect Jude's technique in checking and changing cards without being seen. In a hierarchy of corruption, Ben seems to be working for the mysterious Wade, an ex-con definitely not to be messed with. When Jude feels he's had enough, Ben informs him that he's now "in" and can't escape the $2 million scam that's planned involving a "cold deck," in which a deck of cards with predictable patterns is substituted for one of the casino decks in the shoe. Jude does everything he can to extricate himself from his morally compromising situation and to protect his children, something made far more difficult when he discovers that Audie, with whom he's developed a sexual relationship, is perhaps the mastermind behind the whole scheme--and is also married to the ever-menacing Wade. Barnes' novel will be of particular interest to those familiar with slots, blackjack and the seamy side of casinos.

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March 15, 2013
Jude, a Vegas casino dealer down on his luck, barely manages alimony and child support on his low wages and sometimes worse tips. He knows dealing is where hope and despair played off each other, where a dealer is reduced to little more than a soulless machine installed behind a layout to ensure the mathematics of profit. A survivor of the awful 1980 MGM fire that claimed many lives and scarred his psyche, Jude still deals, decades later, in a resigned numbness. Then, in quick succession, he is fired, gets into a car accident, and is arrested. With his small world suddenly shrinking even more, Jude is primed to say yes when a virtual stranger offers him a job that involves cheating a casino. After a seeming eternity of being the nice guy who has let himself be beaten down by life, Jude might finally be ready to let loose and make some real money, if only his conscience will allow it. Gritty details and the realistic depiction of casino life demonstrate Barnes' easy familiarity with the terrain of Sin City.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)