Customer Reviews

UNDER THE NEON SKY...A Las Vegas Doorman's Story

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3 star:		(5)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

Under the Neon Sky: A Las Vegas doorman's Story by Jay Rankin is a fascinatingly horrifying book wirtten by the man who was for six years the doorman for MGM Grand Casino Hotel in Las Vegas. Rankin, who had earlier careers as both a police officer and as a professional counselor, took the job because he heard it was a highly coveted position for which hundreds applied because the doorman of a large hotel casino in Sin City makes a lot of money. He tells graphically many true events and happenings that he was exposed to through the years, the temptations, the horrors of behavior he witnessed in employees, visitors, and casino management. The book is a sad exposure of the underbelly of the most glamorous cities in the world, where no rules apply and people leave their reality behind when they enter the city. For employees it is a hellish life which gives great monetary tips and perks but is not worth the personal toll physically, mentally, emotionally, and on their marriages and other relationships, even the relationship with themselves. The book is really well written, very interesting. I highly recommend it!

you can't be outside the industry,and truthfully relate to Mr Rankins book. With almost 30 yrs in the business, every page is true to form. The days when the mob ran the casinos to Las Vegas becoming a corporate mongel. We in the industry are now just a number,where any day can be our last. There are a thousand people waiting for our jobs,and by the stroke of a pen,mangement will let you go and hire the next schmuck.The days of getting dressed up for an evening of shows and dinner have been replaced by the college kid who scantly walks thru the main entrance to hit nude pools.To all of us that have been trained to provide the best possible customer service,and be treated by these corporate mogels with little or no repect I say just suck it up and watch your P's and Q's.

As a resident of LV, it's very common to know someone who works at a casino. However getting the inside story of what goes on behind the scenes at a LV casino as a doorman, it was a page turner! Residents and visitors only get to see the surface of these casino jobs, the glitter, fast paced excitement of life on the "strip," but this book tells all. Not the very least surprising to encounter sex, lies, drugs, divorce, corruption and death in a book about LV, I couldn't put it down.

I found this book a real page turner. It is the compelling story of a man's descent into hell. Life in the fast lane of Las Vegas is a life fueled by gambling, loss, drugs, with the only saving grace to be that of friendship. Jay survives in this world due to his natural abililites to perform, his intelligence, his extraordinary stamina. This story gives an accurate picture of Las Vegas life, something I only experienced once as a very young child. How I judge a book is often by what I learn from a book, and I learned that one man can survive in an hostile environment, against all odds. It is a story of challenge and desparation and is an analogy for the American way of life, one where the individual strives to succeed. I spent a day reading this book, from morning until night, on a cold and rainy day here in Melbourne and it affected me enormously. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the underlife, what happens, and one man's story. A very powerful book.

I had the extreme pleasure of reading Under the Neon Sky by Jay Rankin, which I highly recommend. This book doesn't read like a non-fiction book but reads like a work of fiction with fragments of Las Vegas history sprinkled in along the way. I love Vegas and this book allowed me to see the Vegas that no tourist gets to see--the bright lights, loud noises walking hand and hand with sin and temptation--a world unknown to most.

As Mr. Rankin "craved the energy of the city," I mirrored that excitement as I turned every page feeling the heat of the Vegas lights on my face while I read each word. It was a well-written piece of work and I look forward to reading another book by Mr. Rankin. My only regret was that eventually like Mr. Rankin's life in Vegas, this energy filled book had to come to an end...

Under The Neon Sky: A Las Vegas Doorman's Story by Jay Rankin gives us a candid look into working in one of the largest hotels in Las Vegas - the MGM. What goes on behind the scenes? People work very hard to make Las Vegas a tourist attraction, focusing on the fun that one can have in Vegas. The bright and shining neon lights. The shows and performances. Not to mention that fun to be had at Casinos. But in today's society so many people are focused on their own paths, not paying attention to their surroundings, that it is easy to miss the things that are happening right in front of you.

Mr. Rankin shares his experiences with the reader and allows us to feel what being that environment is like. So many events and emotions are told, not all positive, and it really opened my eyes to Las Vegas. It amazes me about the behavior some people exhibit in public places. Getting a job that tons of people strive to get isn't always the best way to go. The pay received per night may be worth it, but Jay's story reminds us that sometimes your personal life and emotional state may suffer the consequences.

If you are interested in visiting Las Vegas, I would suggest you read Under The Neon Sky: A Las Vegas Doorman's Story as a way to prepare yourself for the adventure you will be embarking on.

I am sure others have written about the nature of this book. While it portends to tell a behind the scenes look at what it would be like to be a doorman at a major Las Vegas hotel (which it does to some extent), it by far a more detailed account of the author's psyche and how he reacted to the characters around him and the ultimate dissolution of his own marriage. I enjoyed the book but would have preferred more stories of his experiences on the "front lines" of being a doorman and less about the characters he worked with and the depravity he witnessed in his friends, his wife and co-workers. Perhaps he will write another book about his actual experiences.

I bought this book on a whim, and I wasn't sure if it was a lot of false promises. The fact that it was self-published worried me, because there's a lot of self-published junk out there. However, the description was too enticing and I went for it.

I'm glad I did, because this book is a poignant look inside a world from which I'm very far removed. I bought it hoping to hear about the bizarre and dangerous people and situations that permeate the city--and I got that--but I also got a deeply personal and unashamed look at what the city can do to people who, deliberately or not, get caught up in its seedy side. Jay's Vegas story is at once fascinating and tragic, with a surprising and dramatic conclusion.

If you take the time to really invest yourself in the book and remember that this is a real person who, despite living a fast life in a lucrative job, was destroyed physically and emotionally by Vegas and its denizens, you will be moved. The story is well-written enough to please my fickle editor brain, and virtually nothing is left untold.

If you want to visit a slice of a life that few have experienced, check this book out. It's worth every penny and every minute it takes to read it.

of information and entertainment. If you like history, sociology, and psychiatry, then you will love this book.

This book reads like a dramatic novel, but it is amazingly true. Rankin has the incredible ability to strategically place words on a page like a pieces on a chess board. I could not put the book down. I loved this story.
Michael