What Really Happens in Vegas
True Stories of the People Who Make Vegas, Vegas
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4.0 • 57 Ratings
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas—until now. James Patterson shows the real Vegas in a dazzling journey through “lively tales of those who labor and dream in Sin City" (Kirkus).
“Wild and wonderful…The magic of Sin City doesn’t just happen. Patterson and Seal tell its secrets in beautifully presented snippets that often overlap not just surprisingly, but charmingly too.” —Telegraph (UK)
Las Vegas is on Luxury Standard Time: every clock in the airport is a Rolex. No dream is too big, no wish is too small—the VIP hosts in Vegas fulfill guests’ every (legal) desire. Jackpots hit when least expected. The Nevada Gaming Control Board has days to find a man who unknowingly won over $200,000 at the slots. “I love love”: the inventor of the Elvis impersonator wedding and the drive-thru wedding has performed hundreds of marriages—and believes in them all. Glamorous yogis take a helicopter across the desert to the Valley of Fire, where they perform sun salutations to the glory of Las Vegas. A gambling VIP “whale” loses $1 million at the casinos, yet still leaves saying, "Had a great time. I'll be back."
In What Really Happens in Vegas, full of surprises for both newcomers and Las Vegas regulars, James Patterson and Vanity Fair contributing editor Mark Seal transport readers from the thrill of adrenaline-fueled vice to the glitter of A-list celebrity and entertainment.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this splashy group portrait, Patterson (Obsessed) and Seal (Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli), a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, spotlight the "unseen toiling armies of personnel" who make Sin City run. Among the profile subjects are Raymond Torres, who served 18 years in prison before becoming one of Las Vegas's most trusted chauffeurs to the stars, and "high-end sex worker" Dixie, whose clients are high rollers often seeking "companionship disguised as sex." Elsewhere, Patterson and Seal recount how interior designer Roger Thomas helped elevate Vegas from scruffy gambling outpost to dazzling fantasyland when he designed the Bellagio for casino owner Steve Wynn in 1998, and chronicle "Wedding Queen of the West" Charolette Richards's journey from lonely wife and mother who arrived in Las Vegas in 1959 to pioneer of the drive-through wedding and the Elvis Presley Pink Cadillac ceremony. Focusing primarily on Horatio Alger–like rags-to-riches stories, the authors downplay the city's dark side but keep things uptempo, vivid, and fun. Vegas fans are in for an entertaining ride.
Customer Reviews
Great Read
Really interesting read that really makes you think about what really matters and happens in Vegas
Not worth the time to read
Too wordy & confusing. Can’t read more than a couple of paragraphs before I want to stop. So I didn’t finish this book & I won’t finish it. Love Patterson books but this is a big NO
one long ad
Reads like one long advertisement for Las Vegas, glorifying spending & excess. Gauche, at the very least.