Book Review: The Prop by Pete Hautman


Just finished reading this book that was recommended to me by Howard at the Gambler's Book store in Las Vegas. (A great source for books on gambling http://www.gamblersbook.com/)

'The Prop' isn't a poker book per se, but the main character, Peeky Kane, is a prop at an Arizona casino.(A prop is a player that gets paid to play)

'The Prop' is a fictional story that is a crime thriller.

If you're looking for a book that centers around poker 100% of the time, this wouldn't be the best choice. Poker is a big part of the backdrop but a casino robbery is the main storyline.

The story takes place in Tucson, Arizona. I went to school at the University of Arizona so the author calls out a number of places that I recognized. The background work he did on the book was excellent. The story, at times, is a bit far fetched but it kept me interested enough to finish it up. He knows his poker so the when the main character does talk poker it rings true.

At first, I thought the fact that the main character was a woman was going to bother me but I didn't mind at all. The book is about 300 pages but easy to read because each chapter is short. You can easily put it down for a few days and come back to it later and have no problems following the plot.

Overall, if you're looking for a fun book, with an interesting story line, 'The Prop' is worth a read.

Later,
Joe