Customer Reviews

24/7

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

24/7 is the story of a card counting gambler named Marina and sexy dealer, Miguel. Marina is a young woman who believes that she is unworthy of being loved, and is on a quest to find Mr. Right in the gambling center of the universe, Las Vegas. This rollercoaster ride is filled with white hot sex and gripping suspense. It is filled with interesting characters whose lives intertwine to provide a first hand look into the life of a casino, complete with prostitutes and other seedy individuals. Not only is it a page turner, but I found myself wanting more, long after it was over. Marina and Miguel make a sizzling couple and their sizzling car accident scene as well as their elevator ride will leave you breathless. If you have ever wondered what true Las Vegas is like, you'll find it all in this novel. From beginning to end, you're in for the ride of your life!

Martina Martino has gambling in her blood and a career that allows her to indulge in the game. She's smart and careful as to how she goes about her gambling sideline and is acutely aware of how their system and hers works. Win just enough to stay ahead overall but not enough to draw unwarranted attention from casino staff. Spread the damage around each trip to Las Vegas so that her winnings don't draw too much attention at one establishment. Cash in less that the reporting requirements for the IRS as well as what the casino staff might decide on their own to report. In short, every move is thought out and always, always, keep track of the cards as she card counts at the blackjack tables.

The plan works and works well for her until she meets Miguel Rodriguez at one of the casinos. He is a card dealer and almost instantly there is chemistry been them. Not just as dealer and player, but as man and woman, and before long, she loses track of the cards. In a way, that encounter marks the beginning of her losing track of herself as he pulls her into his world where things are not at all what they seem. Miguel's charm and sex appeal hides his major problems and by being with him, the problems have becomes hers as well. Now she is gambling, not just with money, but with her very life as the violence escalates.

This is an enjoyable first novel that clearly reveals the author's love affair with the city of Las Vegas. The characters are richly detailed as are the settings, the gambling scenes, and everything else throughout the novel. The characters come alive for the reader over the course of this 441-page novel proving everyone has secrets-some more dangerous than others.

Book Facts:

24/7
By Susan DiPlacido
Zumaya Publications
www.zumayapublications.com
2005
ISBN# 1-55410-217-0
Large Trade Paperback
441 Pages


Kevin R. Tipple © 2005

The prose style measures up every bit the novel's title: 24/7, going without stop. Susan DiPlacido's rendering of Las Vegas and the people who truly keep the place alive -- the dealers, bartenders, prostitutes, marks, and gamblers -- is completely three dimensional, utterly engaging, and always interesting. Whether you're a Vegas veteran or have only visited there through film and novels, 24/7, is a story that puts a new spin on this aging city.

Susan DiPlacido's writing is taut, vibrant, earthy, and moves at a gallop. Her descriptions of gambling at the blackjack or craps tables are lucid and vivid, and crisp with detail. Her characters are real people the reader quickly comes to identify with, dislike, dread, and root for.

It's a great read from the very first page!

--Matthew St. Amand - www.matthewstamand.com

The gambling aspect of this quickly-paced novel especially intrigued me, probably because I know little about how blackjack, craps, baccarat, and other such games are played in casinos. I've lately become interested in televised poker championships, and DiPlacido does an excellent job of portraying the excitement and atmosphere of this type of high stakes game. While the glitz is there, DiPlacido doesn't hesitate to take the reader for a joyride into the gutter when things don't go exactly as planned, which happens frequently in this novel.

24/7 has a lot of steamy sex scenes, with some very imaginative locations and techniques employed. These are needed to flesh out the plot-that of a woman finally finding her perfect man, but unwilling to believe that she is worthy. It speaks to the self-doubt that we all feel at some time in our life. The book is fairly long, but a quick read. It speeded up nicely near the end. DiPlacido is almost like a female Chuck Palahniuk in her writing style, and it is this as much as the story itself that kept my attention. I recommend this book.

This novel will wrestle you to the ground and not let go until you've turned the last page. DiPlacido has created a plot that will keep you riveted as you drive forward to learn what will happen between these two sexy and fascinating characters. Or perhaps I should say three, as the seductive setting of Las Vegas is as much a character in this novel as Marina and Miguel.

But it's not just a knock-out plot and steamy sex that make 24/7 such a great read. DiPlacido has created rich, layered and psychologically complex characters. Marina, especially, carries so much emotional baggage she can't trust her own feelings, let alone someone else's. You'll be racing toward the end to find out if she's able to get past that and believe in Miguel's sincerity. These people will come alive for you. Fantastic!

There's great music here, folks. Buy this book, read it, lend it to your friends. They'll love you for it.

Wow! I feel like I've been to Vegas and back three times. And lost my wallet, shirt, and heart along the way. DiPlacido has a winning recipe here. Without sending it out to a lab, I think I've determined the main ingredients: Part chick lit with a dash of Elmore Leonard, a hint of Mark McGwire's testosterone-based steroids, a pinch of Quentin Tarantino's violence (for extra zing), and finally some Penthouse letters to raise the temperature past the boiling point. Forget Oprah's reading list, take this one out to the pool with you so you can jump right in and cool off when you need to. Excuse me now, I need to take a cold shower.

I became a Susan DiPlacido fan when I read American Cool. I've said it before and after reading 24/7, I'll say it again: Susan DiPlacido can write the sh_t out of a story. I'm also an erotica writer and a Vegas junkie, so 24/7 is like a natural high for me!

This is the story of Marina, a card counter from Jersey, lucky in cards but unlucky in love, and her love affair with a city and a craps dealer, Miguel. It's easy to call the book an erotic romance--because there's plenty of hot, graphic sex and there's a romance--but that would be selling the title short. This is a brilliant piece of literary fiction, filled with gritty, graphic, in-your-face characters and a roller coaster of a plot. Even knowing this was a romance, I was kept continuously off balance, never knowing what was going to happen. The characters are so well-drawn that I felt I'd personally met them all, even the minor ones. There are quite a few standout scenes of sex and violence, but I don't want to spoil the action or suspense so I'll leave it at that.

And, as a Vegas junkie, I can tell you, the book is like being there. Ms DiPlacido takes the reader on the ultimate insider tour. If you know Vegas, you know this is the real thing. You'll find just about every property on the strip, several off the strip and a large part of Downtown in the book and, just like the real thing, sometimes you're up and sometimes your down but you'll experience the adrenalin rush of this book in the same way you experience it waiting for the dealer to go bust while you're holding nineteen or the elevator to hit the bottom floor before you get your act together. Oh, and I'll never think of Manolo Blahniks in quite the same way again!

Highly recommended!

After reading such fantastic reviews on this book I HAD to order it. Yes, it was fast-paced. Yes, it was gritty.
But something seemed off.

Maybe it's my automatically proof-reading brain. The language, not the foul - which there is plenty of - but the grammar "you don't gotta do that" and overuse of "yo" and "bro", etc., kept me from really feeling for the charactors - especially Miquel, who doesn't seem as deep as you would assume for a smart woman to fall madly in love with after just a few days and for her to forgive his constant transgressions and unintelligent word formations.

Or maybe it's because I've been to Vegas a few times and no, that's not what it's really like. Though, admitedly, I haven't crawled through the underbelly of the city.

Maybe had I read the review from [...] before opening the cover it would have helped. It's a good book, but be prepared, this is definitely "gritty".

The positives, it's entertaining if you get past the low IQ of the leading man. It's a quick & easy read, you definitely feel like you're in the middle of the story and there is some great laugh-out-loud humor to be found.

When you're up for lustful adventure in the city of sin, let Ms. DiPlacido be your guide. She knows the gaming tables and the back room romance so well, you're bound to feel you've been there too. And when you've digested this one, you'll want to move on to her "Trattoria" as well as her short stories in such anthologies as "The Best American Erotica 2007" and "The Mammoth Book of Best New Erotic 6."

I had never been to Las Vegas until I read 24/7 by Susan DiPlacido. A hot, spicy read, Ms. DiPlacido takes the reader to on an incredible journey to Las Vegas with description so perfect that makes the reader feel as if they are walking beside Marina Martino through every page. Martino's adventures in love make for a gripping read, and one can't help but feel they know her personally. A highly recommended book!