Dice Angel
by Brian Rouff
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Book Reviews of Dice Angel
Book Review: Dice Angel
Summary: 5 Stars
This was a delightful read. I adored the cosmic/comic justice regarding Jimmy's situation and I think this would make a wonderful "Vegas" movie.
Steve Martin (think L.A. Story) or Nicholas Cage (think Honeymoon in Vegas) would make a realistic Jimmy, and Meryl Streep would be the Dice Angel.
Mystic Mona
Book Review: Dice Angel by Brian Rouff
Summary: 5 Stars
Yesterday I picked up Dice Angel and couldn't put it down. I was hooked on the mystery and intrigue woven around the Las Vegas characters realistically brought to life by writer Brian Rouff. Tomorrow I'll be buying his next novel,Money Shot. Book Review: Real Life Vegas
Summary: 5 Stars
The characters were well developed from the beginning and created a picture of the "real vegas", not the one all tourists see on the Strip.
Having been visting the city for 15 years, the references brought me back to the desert right away and reminded me that not every tale from Vegas is all roses, although this one has a great finish!
Loved the Foundation Room @ Mandalay Bay passages as that is by far my favorite spot in the city
A great read and quite funny as well!
Book Review: An intriguing read from start to finish!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Dice Angel is a book that really captures life in Las Vegas. The characters are all people we know as residents, and the story is one that we can all identify with. The vivid descriptions will give even an outsider a realistic interpretation of what living in Vegas is really like. Mr. Rouff has done an excellent job in weaving a thrilling fictional plot into the realism of everyday life in sin-city, using gambling, drinking, and many other vices often found here to a great advantage. Whether or not you live in Las Vegas, I highly recommend adding Dice Angel to your library. It captures the American Dream, as well as the Las Vegas Dream perfectly.Book Review: Good but vulgar first effort
Summary: 3 Stars
I never would have bought this book on my own. The author sent me a copy after reading my review of Ben Mezrich's Bringing Down the House. I wish someone would send me a book related to MIT. I don't like gambling, and I haven't been to Vegas since I was 16 in Circus Circus with my parents. Having said all that, I liked this book and just might buy Brian Rouff's second novel. 3 stars for being a quick, interesting read. But it's not high literature.The author got me interested in the characters quickly. Poor bad-luck Jimmy Delaney, nasty ex-wife Joy, Wally the cop-friend -- I wanted to find out what happened to them. Jenny Delaney is a sweet little girl, and late in the book we hear about Tiny Tim (er, I mean Rachel), a symbol of pathos even though she isn't characterized at all -- not so much as a "God bless us every one." Some characters are hard to like, though. I've always found people who use profanity to be like people who choose halitosis over brushing their teeth: distasteful and distracting to discourse. However, the profanity doesn't seem gratuitous. It fits with the tone of the story. You might call characters like this "real." I call them vulgar. Jimmy, Wally, and several other characters have this flaw.
Another thing that makes Jimmy vulgar is his attitude toward women. A couple of his best quotes: "A little on the mousy side, but take off those big glasses and she's definitely doable." (p. 47) (Jimmy sizes up every woman he meets -- and the author shows us his dirty little mind every time.) "When you drive a 'Vette, you get the kind of women who are attracted to guys who drive 'Vettes." (p. 89) (To Jimmy's credit, he gave up driving Corvettes.)
The plot is summarized by plenty of other reviewers, but no one has touched on themes. Wondering if Jimmy would change and grow as he worked out his problems is what kept me reading to the end. On page 2 Jimmy says, "Honest people are in short supply here in Vegas, or anywhere else for that matter." Strangely enough, I see thematic similiarites between this story and M. Night Shyamalan's film, Signs. Both, to some degree, are stories about faith. The faith of Rev. Graham Hess is restored by a Higher Power, and Jimmy's faith is restored by ... his muse the Dice Angel and himself. Still, the ending of Dice Angel is satisfying. Simplistic, but satisfying. And the final sentence in the book is excellent! (In sharp contrast to the first: "The ringing phone ripped through my sleep like a buzz saw.")
I also see that not one review so far has used the words "New Age." Christians beware -- this book assumes a thoroughly pagan worldview. Faith in luck (whereas Hess in Signs starts with a grudge against God that blocks his faith, Delaney here starts with a grudge against Lady Luck), faith in whatever gods might exist (whether Mormon, Catholic, Zodiac), and "trust" in "the universe." Don't look for redemption in this story. Not in the Christian sense. Jimmy might be described as being redeemed, but it's a self-made redemption.