Dutching the Book - Softcover

Inhaltsangabe

An American classic of four lifelong friends, treachery, gambling, romance and a NYC fireman’s quest to become the best horseplayer to ever play the game. The story, which spans three decades, is a tribute to the people who really lived it. Late 1930’s Brooklyn, the Great Depression and winter had almost gone. Ben had something really good and he knew it: an elegantly simple scheme to beat the racetrack and be in a position where he could win and never lose. Whenever Ben had a plan, he had partners known as the Syndicate, three high school friends that stayed friends forever: Sandy, a lawyer and charismatic ladies’ man; Willie, the nine-fingered gas station owner who would give his life for Ben and almost did; and Bull, a pugilistic fireman, who was married three times, to the same woman. It had been a time of adventure and exploration and the summer that he fell in love with Kitty under the glow of Coney Island’s Luna Park. Ben’s scheme was so good that the track closed him down, and cost Willie his finger. His plans crushed and a promise to Kitty, Ben never went back to the track again. Early 1960’s, A NYC fireman pinned under a pile of flaming debris in a burning building, gasped for breath through his cracked mask but got only heat. It was over. Damn. Goodbye Kitty. Suddenly, he rose from the rubble, lifted by a higher force; it was Bull. That was his last fire—but not his last close call. Ben took on a staggering gambling debt owed by Willie and jeopardized everything to satisfy a decades-old obligation that could never be fully satisfied. The only way to repay this debt was to go back to what he knew best. Decades ago, he had given up gambling for Kitty, but now it was her or the track. But the track was the only thing that could save her. Out of work, he had other choices, just not good ones. The bookies wanted more from Ben than Willie’s debt, something he wasn’t willing to give, and they threatened his family. Now he owed them payback well beyond money and he was determined to deliver both--he beat them at their own game once, could he do it again? The stakes were much too high--but there was no choice. The Syndicate grew tighter and made Ben’s problem, their problem, until desperation drove one of them to betray the others. But Ben schemed and repaid the bookies in a way they would never forget. Ben’s prowess as a horseplayer grew and his breakthrough betting schemes pushed the racetrack to continually redefine their rules. His reputation circulated through the racetracks; he was on the path to becoming one of the best horseplayers in the game. Las Vegas, early 2000’s, with Kitty at his side, Ben attained his lifetime goal, becoming the country’s #1 horse handicapper. The feel-good, shivers-inducing ending rewards readers for having gone on this journey with Ben and the Syndicate. DUTCHING THE BOOK is based on real people, events and betting schemes that redefined horse racing.

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