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Review by David Richards
Tom Reasons lives for two things: "Risk and reward, baby. Risk and reward."
So every Friday night, he takes $400 of his $447 weekly paycheck and bets it on one baseball game. If he wins, he lives it up like a pirate enjoying his booty. If he loses, he has "a week of hot dogs and instant noodles to look forward to."
And so it goes in "Balling the Jack," Frank Baldwin's exhilarating, laugh-out-loud funny novel about a 23-year-old paralegal's desperate attempt to hold onto his irresponsible youth just a little while longer as he ekes out a living in Manhattan's Lower East Side.
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'Balling the Jack' is slang for risking everything on one attempt or effort, and Tom does that when he wagers $40,000 on a dart game |
Along the way we meet a number of amusing characters -- Tom's teammates (a collection of college drinking buddies who have no idea how much Tom has riding on their upcoming match), his instantly lovable ex-girlfriend, Lisa, his can't-say-no-to-my-girlfriend roommate Mike, Duggan (the meanest SOB dart player in New York), and a host of bookies, barkeeps and assorted lowlifes.
But best of all is Tom Reasons. You probably knew a guy like Tom in college -- a likable, friendly, guy's guy who's always ready for another round and a night on the town. If nothing else, he may be the only guy in the world who can make barroom dart competitions interesting. Last night I walked into my local pub and decided I'm not going there anymore because they don't have a dart board.
In fact, I now find myself peppering my sentences with dart-speak, and to borrow one term, Baldwin has certainly scored a "double bull" in this debut novel. This is a fun, quick read that reminded me of Nicholas Hornby's "High Fidelity," one of the better novels I've read in the last few years. According to his publisher, Baldwin is currently working on the screenplay for "Balling the Jack." I'm sure it will make a terrific movie, but I hope he hurries up and gets to work on his next novel. I can't wait to see where he takes us next.
David Richards is a writer who is desperately trying to hang onto his irresponsible youth in New York City.
©1997, ProMotion, inc.
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