Running the Table

Like a Damon Runyon work, this book takes listeners into the world of the pool hustler, where nicknames like "Kid Delicious," "Bristol Bob," and "Puerto-Rican Pete" abound and where fame and celebrity are the kiss of death in terms of potential earnings. The book focuses primarily on Kid Delicious, a young pool hustler who rises to the height of his craft in the 1990s and early 2000s, but who can't make a living hustling once people start to recognize him. Butch Engle does a solid narration, delivering a kind of East Coast cigarette-voiced reading that gives the book flavor but doesn't overpower the material itself. He gives selected figures, especially Kid Delicious, distinctive voices when he reads direct quotes. R.C.G. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine