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Pete Hautman won the National Book Award in 2004, and in 1996 his novel MR WAS earned him an Edgar nomination, so it's not surprising that his latest mystery, THE PROP, succeeds in being both a fast-paced, high-stakes thrill ride and one of the funniest novels I've read this year. Peeky Kane, a 44-year-old former police officer, makes her living as a prop, a professional poker player hired by the casino to fill in short-handed tables. She shows up for work every evening at a reservation casino outside Tuscon, Arizona, and though she's paid only $110 a shift and must cover her own gambling losses, Peeky manages to make a good living through a combination of skill, luck and an ability to read her opponents. She prides herself on being hyper-observant. Little escapes her notice, and she can track poker players' habits at the tables with the best of them. Peeky's life begins to unravel when she discovers that some of the dealers are using rigged decks in order to scam the casino. When her boss inadvertently directs her to sit at one of the rigged tables, Peeky ends up with a cool $7,000 in cash. She must decide whether to keep the money even though she knows it's dirty or cause a ruckus by turning in her co-workers. Peeky's only recently discovered that her daughter Jaymie is a crack addict and she's tempted to keep the money in order to fund Jaymie's stay in a residential treatment facility. Before she has a chance to decide what to do, every shred of the routine life she's lived since her husband died crashes down around her. An armed robbery at the casino leaves co-workers and fellow gamblers dead. Worse, she suspects her boyfriend Buddy was one of the robbers disguised as clowns. Still reeling from what she's witnessed, she's fired from her job for her part in the poker scam. Peeky tries to bury herself in the familiar rituals of poker, drifting from casino to casino, but her concentration's shot and she ends up losing more than she can afford. Then her house is burglarized, her bankroll of $40,000 is gone and most of her possessions destroyed. Just when it seems that there's no future for Peeky, Hector Vega, the head of the tribe that owns the casino, offers her a chance at redemption. With Hector's posse watching her back and Jaymie's worried husband at her side, she manages to call upon all of her skills to bring justice to the situation. Peeky's one of the most likable and entertaining sleuths I've run across in a long time. She's smart, funny, sarcastic and cool, but it's her heart that won me. She manages compassion in the most difficult circumstances, and her grief for her long dead husband Robert cuts a deep swath of vulnerability through the book, saving Peeky from becoming a cartoon character. I'm willing to bet the ranch that Hautman is one sophisticated, savvy poker player. I'm thinking he plays his cards with the logical precision of a Howard Lederer. He certainly writes that way. His finely-tuned casino atmosphere betrays many hours of research, and the way he keeps poker front and center throughout the story could only be the result of years of disciplined play. The characters are introduced through the lens of their poker strategies, since the way a person plays poker pretty much sums up their approach to live in general. Even the blistering heat of the Arizona desert offers a parallel to the relentless pressure of the poker table, where a small thing like the way a player fingers her chips can reveal the contents of her hand to an observant opponent. If you have any interest in poker, this book will keep you riveted as the cards swish across the felt with the soothing repetition of ritual while Peeky figures out who's behind the shenanigans at the casino. There's a lot of poker jargon in this book, but you don't need to understand every word to understand that Peeky's putting everything on the line in order to protect the people she loves. THE PROP deals out an expertly executed thrill ride that will keep you smiling at its wry humor and quirky, endearing characters. Pop it in your beach bag, but be careful. It's easy to lose track of time when you're hanging with Peeky, and you might just end up with a bad sunburn if you aren't careful.
Reviewed by Carroll Johnson, May 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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