I read this and can't say that I recommend it. There are some good moments, especially when Bock is writing about teenage street life, but the prose is uneven and it's not structurally inviting. It's definitely a first book and I wouldn't be surprised if Bock eventually knocks out a great novel, but this one isn't it. Having lived in Vegas for two years, though, I will say that it manages to capture elements of that city which are often overshadowed by The Strip.

I found myself wondering, in fact, why there have been so few Las Vegas novels and why the best of them until now, John O’Brien’s “Leaving Las Vegas,” was so narrow and depressed.