Book Review: Final Table, by Pati Nagle (4 coffee beans)
I received a free copy of Final Table, by Pati Nagle, through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.
The title “Final Table” made me think this book was going to be a British drawing room drama, but that’s wrong. The premise of it, a poker game made up of five murdered players, grabbed me immediately.
A wizard owns a casino for magical people in Atlantic City. In order to drum up more business, he reanimates five men who had been gamblers in life and who were murdered for it, including Wild Bill “James” Hickok and his famous hand of aces and eights. The five men came from different times in history, but whose names would draw a crowd. They would play Texas Hold-’em poker. The winner would receive $1 million and his life back. The four losers would revert back to being dead.
Pati Nagle did a great job of painting a set of interesting characters. I take back one star out of five because the book needed one more chapter. The author documented how the losing four players came to lose and what happened to them. We’re left with the winner, but there is no follow-up to see where he went and what he did with his winner’s prizes. He’s not even congratulated by the owner of the casino who orchestrated the game.
I enjoyed this book, but I have to call it unfinished.
Final Table, by Pati Nagle
