In Steve Fisher’s NO HOUSE LIMIT — a 50-year-old novel now enjoying a second life thanks to Hard Case Crime — independent casino owner Joe Martin finds his beloved Rainbow’s End under assault. Aiming to bring it down is a professional gambler who goes by the name of Bello, who’s being paid $75,000 by “the Syndicate” to play craps until he takes Martin for everything he owns, including “the cloth off the table.”
It’s a dicey three days for Bello, who throws bones like nobody’s business, and Martin, who’s determined to keep an all-hours vigil even if it kills him. Now, if you’re thinking that a craps game isn’t enough meat to fill a novel, you’d be absolutely correct.
That’s why LIMIT is rife with subplots — girl troubles, hired guns, a lovelorn lounge singer — all of which work their way into a semi-soapy froth reminiscent of Arthur Hailey’s episodic works like HOTEL or AIRPORT.
Joe is not very likable — he slaps women around, comes on strong, is more than a bit lecherous — but at least he’s who he says he is, and is principled enough not to kowtow to anyone, and that includes the mob. That’s why you’ll respect him by the end, when secrets have revealed themselves, enough to almost drive him insane. Reality makes him do crazy things, but even then, he’s a man of his word.
Fisher offers tons of insider bits along the lines of the narration in Martin Scorsese’s CASINO, kicking off most every chapter. Even though the games haven’t changed, LIMIT captures a Vegas of a different era — to see how different, turn to pg. 71: “A Negro cannot get into any Las Vegas casino or club … ” — which is all part of the draw. The early, mythic Sin City is far more interesting than the amusement park it has become today, and Fisher’s novel is a reliable escape to that time. —Rod Lott
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Amazing.
I just read this book this weekend. Talk about timing.
I enjoyed it exactly the same way you did (as a period piece) … though I would really have liked a less rushed ending and maybe a few more plot resolutions.
Still it was a wonderful walk back to the days of pulpy airport and truckstop paperbacks.
(and am I the only one who thinks that the depiction of Bello on the cover is based on the character of Bella from the Star Trek episode “A Piece of the Action”?)
I don’t usually like soap opera type books, but I still enjoyed this.