I enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would! I usually read fantasy and crime fiction apart from the books I win on LibraryThing and I am so glad that I signed up because I wouldn't have found this otherwise. The characters are extremely well drawn and were easy to picture and hear in my mind. I run a mental health peer support group and there were huge similarities with the way such a disparate collection of people come together for enjoyment. Our group has people of every age, background and diagnosis just like the group in the book. The book remains intriguing all the way through as to what on earth is going on with plumbing! It is also a good and enjoyable way to learn about all the different sorts of poker! with a short summary at the beginning of every chapter This can be useful even if you don't play for understanding what is going on in films etc.! The line spacing makes it an easy read although there are some minor errors in the text which could be improved with a bit more attention by a human being rather than a computer. ( )

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

Structured around a weekly poker night at a local dive nightclub, this tells the story of a group of men and their lives. All of the group have their own reasons for playing poker, all of them come from different backgrounds, some learning how to play in psychiatric hospitals, others in prison.

I enjoyed this, the humour is warm and the characters entertaining. The end of the book felt redemptive. The only issue was the occasional need for a proof reader. ( )