But it would be unfair to the reader to reveal what happens when a gang of
professional crooks gets wind of the scheme and moves to muscle in on this
bettors' dream of a long-odds situation. Worked out with all the meticulous
detail, terror, and suspense of a nightmare, the tale is, on one level,
comparable to a Graham Greene thriller; on another, it explores a group of
people, their relationships fears, and loves. For as Leslie A. Fiedler says
in his introduction, John Hawkes.. . makes terror rather than love the
center of his work, knowing all the while, of course, that there can be no
terror without the hope for love and love's defeat . . . .