Pocket Kings
A Novel
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
A "highly entertaining" story of a frustrated novelist who finds fame, fortune—and trouble—in the world of online poker (The New York Times Book Review).
When Frank Dixon, a writer who has seen his career crash and burn, decides to dabble in online poker, he discovers he has a knack for winning. In this newfound realm, populated by alluring characters—each of them elusive, mysterious, and glamorous—he becomes a smash success: popular, rich, and loved. Going by the name Chip Zero, he sees his fortunes and romantic liaisons thrive in cyberspace while he remains blind to the fact that his real life is sinking.
His online success, however, does not come without complications, as he comes to realize that his "virtual" friends and lovers are, in fact, made of flesh and blood—and one rival player is not at all happy that Mr. Zero has taken all his money.
"Brazen, often hilarious . . . an illuminating and fully realized story about identity and reputation in the digital age." —The Washington Post
"[A] recklessly funny, sparky satire of our obsession with the virtual world." —Vanity Fair
"Laugh-out-loud . . . There is a certain Everyman quality to Frank . . . whose self-deprecating humor helps carry him through his midlife angst and denial of addiction; you want to wish him well." —Booklist
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The anti-hero of Heller's third novel (after Funnymen) is Frank Dixon, a resentful schlub who's failed at everything he's puts his mind to: athletics, painting, and, most recently, writing. Stuck in a midlife crisis, Frank finds Internet poker and discovers that he has some talent after all. He immerses himself in a virtual community where he makes friends and potential lovers, all while winning money unstoppably. As he alienates people in the real world from his wife to his literary agent he delves further into his online relationships and begins to lose himself to his addiction. As "Chip Zero," he builds a fortune, but his success breeds resentment, and one player in particular plots revenge to get his money back. The obnoxious narrator, his endless failures, and the instant messaging all grow tiresome, but Heller should be commended for creating a thoroughly repellent character whose story is captivating, even compulsive, reading. While the book has the gritty, unpleasant feel of a novel by Chuck Palahniuk or Sam Lipsyte another futile diatribe against the barrenness of 21st-century American (male) life it's a well-crafted and entertaining satire on the world of modern publishing, as well as the perverse artificiality of the Internet. The prose equivalent of nails on a chalkboard, Heller still manages to make the reader laugh and rage at more or less the same time.
