Customer Reviews

Good Money After Bad

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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Whether you're a Chicago Cubs fan or just have a fondness for the City of Big Shoulders, whether you're a gambling addict or have always had a hankering to participate in medical experiments, this book has something to make every reader smile -- and might just make you laugh out loud. I found it funny and poignant, and these days, that's a refreshing combination. I figured: if I've already given copies to several friends, I should let some more folks know how good it is.

With his appropriately named protagonist Chance Skinner, who of course always seems to have a Lucky Strike dangling from his lips, Donald G. Evans provides a fascinating insider's glimpse into the dizzily seductive and oftentimes ugly world of sports gambling.

Using Wrigley Field, the home ballpark of baseball's Chicago Cubs, a team well-known for misfortune and losing, Evans sets a tone of doom that builds throughout his winning debut.

Like holding a pair of aces and jacks in your hand, you won't want to put this one down. Evans doesn't disappoint all the way to the end when he gives the reader a thrilling and surprsing payoff.

Put your money down on this one. "Good Money After Bad" is certainly a good bet.

Gamblers never win, in the long run, but it's the thrill of the race they are after, not necessarily the finish line. Don Evans has written a great book that shows the reader some of the inner workings of the rat race of the Chicago neighborhood gambling world. But it is also a book about trust, about who to trust, who can you trust and why and how do they deserve your respect. I enjoyed how the author walked you through the city and made it come alive on the page; not an easy task. Buy it, read it. ...Cuz I said so.

Incredible book! A very realistic, fully textured story about compulsive sports gambling. The impact this addiction has on different people, the secret second life of the gambler, the exhilaration and desperation, it's all an amazing read. Throw in a charming, mysterious black market organ broker who sold one of his own eyes, and it gets even better. The vintage clothing alone makes the story a winner.

Donald G. Evans clearly knows what he's talking about in every detail. He has crafted a believable, wonderful story of both dread and hope.

I'm not a gambler, at least not a gambler the likes of the hero in this book, but Mr. Evans makes the characters and the situations come to life. I felt the desperation of Chance and his gambling buddies. The description of the baseball games were eerily similar to the way I listen to a game that my wife is watching. The various plot lines converge on a riveting climax. The book is funny, sad, witty and clever. Buy it.

The first few pages of "Good Money After Bad" made me think that it would be an exercise in adjectives, flowery descriptions and word painting of places in Chicago. Very quickly though, the novel started to move faster and grip my attention. No more flowery descriptions, quick ideas being projected in my head showed me a world I was not aware of... that of sports gambling. I personally do not care for spectator sports and I was afraid that sports gambling would make no sense to me, however, the story is 99 percent about gambling as an addiction and only 1% sports. Unexpectedly, the nightmarish world of a black market for human organs entered the picture and it added a very sinister angle to the story, which read as a thriller from there on.
My only complaint is that I could not put it down even when my eyes were too tired to keep reading comfortably... this is a great story and I look forward to reading more novels by the same author.

Don Evans takes us into unfamiliar territory as we visit the inner workings of the mind of a gambler. His main character, Chance, doesn't so much have a gambling problem: Gambling, and the processes around it, provide the entire context for his day-to-day life.

As we follow Chance we begin to see how he is forced to operate. The story is fascinating and unique. You like him, but you know that he's made his own bed. And in the middle of the story, you have some reluctant sympathy when he says out loud he's going to quit as soon as he breaks even.

The novel is very much a Chicago story. The North Side is a major character. I didn't totally buy the love interest story line early in the book, but the 'resolution' there makes the journey worthwhile. Chance seems like more of a struggle-to-score-the-one-night-stand, quirky kind of guy; I didn't see a woman this good choosing him.

The story starts a little slow: I kept asking myself why I cared about this guy. The investment is worth it. As I read, I started to understand that the author was showing me around the town and trying to give me some basis in the day-to-day life of a compulsive gambler. About half-way through the book, the story gets humming, and the character molding makes sense, and the resolution is satisfying and surprising.

My advice? If you like realistic fiction, that's a little dangerous, with some great dark humor, read Good Money After Bad. But be sure to take a shower afterward.

I have lived in Chicago all my life. I have always felt that my experiences in Chicago would make for a good book. Chicago has not had it's fair share of great books. I never wrote that book. Maybe someday I will. If you don't want to wait, and want to read about the real Chicago, then I recommend this book. The author brings to life some great Chicago characters, centering around the theme of gambling, sports, and the main character's search for a life beyond the madness and merrygoround of his sports betting. Life in Chicago is more than shopping on the magnificent mile. Read about it here.

You don't have to be from Chicago, a sports fan, or a gambler to find yourself wrapped up in this story. The characters are great company and the story line keeps you on your toes. I was sad to finish this book. Read it!

A page-turner. You don't have to be a gambler or a down-and-outer to enjoy this book, but the character development, plot twists and colorful prose makes you feel as if you're a part of our protagonist, Chance Skinner's, turbulent world and Don Evans makes us truly pull for Chance to make it out of this chaos in one piece. While taking us through this hard-luck, thrill-ride of a story, Evans proves he is an author we will be hearing much more from very soon. With so many legislators resorting to gambling as a quick-fix to fiscal shortfalls, Good Money After Bad should be passed out in the general assembly before the next casino is opened in your jurisdiction. Evans writes with a conscience as well as wit. This story may very well become the next great Hollywood screenplay.