Cold Deck: a novel [Hardcover]

Jude is a Las Vegas casino dealer who barely survived the deadly MGM fire in 1980. More than two decades later, he’s still dealing, a tired, middle-aged man, divorced, struggling with debt, and trying to be a good father to his children. Then he loses his job and his car is totaled in an accident. When an attractive woman friend offers to help him get another job, Jude is happy to go along. Gradually, he realizes that his new job is part of an elaborate scheme to cheat a casino and that his own fate and that of his children depend on his finding the courage and ingenuity to extricate himself.

Cold Deckis the exciting story of an ordinary man who finds himself in extraordinary circumstances. Moving from Las Vegas’s mean streets to the insider’s world of casino workers, this is a story of survival set against the greed, fears, and glitz of Sin City.  

A gripping novel of crime and redemption in Las Vegas 

“Cold Deck, H. Lee Barnes’ novel driven by a savvy even hell-bent narrator, immediately draws you into the underworld of Las Vegas gambling and won’t let you go until the treachery and intrigue run flat out.” --Darrell Spencer, author ofOne Mile Past Dangerous Curve 

“The world of the Vegas casinos--particularly the less glitzy side--creates a wonderful palette for the novel, and Barnes stamps almost every page of the book with the feel of it. The author, unlike his likeably unlucky main character, is holding a winning hand here.” --Keith Lee Morris, author ofThe Greyhound GodandThe Dart League King 

Gritty details and the realistic depiction of casino life demonstrate Barnes' easy familiarity with the terrain of Sin City. -Booklist

Barnes has crafted a worthy thriller to go along with his sterling short fiction and stellar war memoir. The Veteran(Vietnam Veterans of America), July l"