Balling the Jack: A Novel - Softcover

"Betting all you have cleans the system," says young Wall Street paralegal Tom Reasons as he hands over $400 of his weekly $447 paycheck to his bookie, Toadie, in bets on baseball games. But it's the low-profile sport of darts that gets Tom into real trouble, in this raucous, raunchy thriller. When he loses $40,000 on the toss of a feathered sliver of steel, Tom has to outsmart Mafia loan sharks to stay in one piece. Along the way, Frank Baldwin manages to tap into the energy of ambitious, amoral, and frighteningly fascinating 20-somethings.

"Balling the Jack"?to risk everything on one attempt?is exactly what Tom Reasons is doing in Baldwin's exciting debut novel about life in the fast lane. Tom's work as a paralegal in a prestigious Wall Street firm is not a career but a means of earning betting money. He thrives on the adrenaline rush of risk-taking and turns a blind eye to duty. Then he risks everything on a wager that changes his existence and shows him a darker side of the "high life" that is more than he bargained for. Baldwin is gifted at exposing Tom's character. Simultaneously showing his irresponsibility and his subtle compassion, he makes it easy to like Tom, although we never really understand his motives. Readers will enjoy the fast-paced story and the thrilling, unpredictable ending. Baldwin is working on the screenplay for this work. Recommended for most contemporary fiction collections.?Stacey Reasor, ITT Technical Inst. Lib., Tampa, Fla.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.