Keith Dixon’s The Art of Losing was published just a year ago, but since I can easily foresee a reader making it their pick for Patti Abbott’s Forgotten Books project sometime in, say, 2021, I thought I’d strike first -- while the book is still readily available.
I’m still bewildered that the book never received any mention in any of the places I look for news of books in the mystery/crime genre. It’s slim, swift, criminally-minded, and as dark as they come.
Degenerate gamblers hatch a harebrained scheme to take some money from some bad, bad men; the plan fails, but too late to do anyone any good, and one of the plotters turns out to be a weak sister.
Sounds familiar, but it's not.
The characters buy into the scheme with the same confidence they would have betting their rent--it probably won't work, but it might. The bookmaker's disgust for their clientele has never been so well captured. And that weak sister? I can't think of another character in a noir who cracks the way this guy cracks--leading to the finale, which left me with the deep Catholic jitters.
I've read a lot of books in the year since I read this, but none better.
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2 comments:
Isn't it a crime that books are getting reviewed less and less and it's nearly impossible to find them because the big stores won't keep them for more than a few weeks. Horrible.
hi joe, keith dixon here -- spotted this while checking up on the relative health of 'the art of losing,' and just wanted to say thanks for your support! i'm thrilled you enjoyed the book. i think it's a good novel, and yes, i'm a bit bewildered that the book garnered so little attention. i'm grateful to have people like you trying to get it read. be well.
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