Last Call

This book was my introduction to Tim Powers, and since first reading it some years ago I have happily devoured everything of his I can find. A very intense "magical realist" novel, with deeply flawed but believable characters dropped into situations which, despite their magical and surreal nature, grow to be alarmingly believable. You will never look at Las Vegas again, trust me. Chilling, surreal and beautiful, one of my favorite novels of all time.

Last Call isn't the kind of book that would usually jump out at me when browsing in my local bookstore. I don't have much interest in gambling and the noir genres associated with it, and I would probably set this book down after reading the dust jacket. But a good friend of mine, who has the uncanny ability to know exactly what would be to my taste in fiction, lent me the book assuring me that I would love it. And once again, she knows my taste better than I do. This book is a masterful tale that weaves elements from crime noir, fantasy, the Tarot and TS Eliot into a magical realist stew that is suspenseful and highly entertaining. Think Umberto Eco without the pretention and the obscure Latin phrases and you get an idea of what this book is. Scott Crane is a marked man. Saved from a fate worse than death as a child he is rasied by an old superstitious gambler named Ozzie. Ozzie has irrational fears. He never plays cards on water and is always using the billowy patterns of smoke to sense the "feel" of the cards. He also takes unusual percautions to protect his anonymity and instill this in his fosterson. Scott and his sister think Ozzie crazy until one day when Scott dares to play in a mysterious poker game on Lake Mead that uses a real Tarot deck. Subsequent to that Scott finds himself locked in a deadly struggle with The Fisher King, who has the power of immortality through assuming new bodies from his gambling victims. It all comes to a head during one unholy Holy week in which Scott and his sister must outthink the King and many other potential rivals to the "Throne" of Las Vegas. Powers writing is excellent in this novel. He is a master at mapping complex and interweaving plots and injecting them with the right amount of symbolism. Knowing a bit about the Tarot and the medieval Grail legends can help one to enjoy the rich symbolic texture of the novel, but Powers' gifts make the meanings clear even without a background in this material. He also has a gift for vivid characterization, even of the more peripheral characters. One character is destined to play the Fool card in the drama and manifests as a homeless man who lives in special "boxes" all throughout Vegas. Another peripheral character is a homicidal hit man with a pathological need to be friends with his victims first. These characters all have the veneer of reality over them but resonate deeply with the archetypes that Powers is using as the generating symbols of the novel. This book is a fast read, but a thoroughly enjoyable one. It is rich, darkly comic in places and always suspenseful. Though considered by some to be a fantasy writer, or a science fiction writer, these categories are too small for a writer of Powers ambition. If you enjoy the novels of Eco and Kundera and are looking for something with a similar atmosphere but less burdened with "meaning" this is a wonderful book for you. It's engrossing, but not too heavy and wonderfully written. Chris Forbes - RIP Bob Z

"Last Call" is a book about loss, death, redemption, tarot cards and the Fisher King. It plays out in a vast and mythical Las Vegas that only marginally resembles the one that sits in the Nevada desert. Scott Crane is a man who loses. As a child, he lost an eye. As a young man, he lost his soul in a card game. As an adult, is wife dies and he loses his will to survive. Until he is drawn to Las Vegas, where the last Fisher King died, and learns his is one of four Jacks vying for the right to assume the King's place.It sounds wacky and ridiculous and I'm sure it would fall flat in any hands but those of Tim Powers. But Powers is a master of Urban Magic, at finding mystery in the oridinary and in drawing conclusions from history that might only be inferred by a madman. But once he has cast his eye on a subject and explained it to us, it all makes sense. We wonder why we never saw it before.In typical fashion, Powers has selected Eliot's "The Waste Land" as a sort of working illustration of the story, writing elements that make you stop and think "Oh, ho! Eliot was in on it, too!". Powers uses the poem to good effect, as he has with the Romantic poets in "The Stress of Her Regard" and other works.I don't get excited about many books or many authors, but this is one of the best. Powers is an amazing talent, always satisfying, always fresh and always jaw-droppingly unique.

I'm really a T.S. Eliot [fan], and I knew I was going to like this book when the discarded bodies of the evil Fisher King murmured lines from the Wasteland to each other. Powers takes the real world that we live in, and paints a ghost world behind it, full of the things that we both hope and fear are true. The smoke in a casino eddies to show the flow of fate. Ghosts are real, and they want you, but you shouldn't go with them. The center of the book is the cyclical battle to become the spiritual Fisher King-- he who (together with his queen) can interact directly with the archetypes. Every twenty years, all the possible candidates (Jacks) converge on Las Vegas to see who will hold the crown. The contest rules are a mish-mash of superstition, gambling, violence, mythic lore, and poetry. The year that the book begins, the Jack who presents the most serious threat to the ruling King is the son he tried to destroy while still a child. Scott Crane is a one-eyed gambler and reluctant heir to the throne who is thrown back into the ring by the death of his wife Susan and the knowledge that seizing the throne is the only possible way to reclaim the rights to his body-- something he gambled away while still a teenager.I read this book obsessively, and I can't imagine reading it any other way. It deserves and command close attention.

"Last Call" tells the story of a professional poker player who lost more than usual while playing a game with Tarot cards on Lake Powell. What he lost and how he might get it back are the major questions he must answer before next game is held. "Last Call" is another of Powers wonderful novels which blend interesting bits of history with wonderful fantasy. If you enjoy "Last Call", be sure to read "The Stress of her Regard" and any other Powers' book you can find. I haven't read a bad one yet. BTW: If you like Tim Powers' fiction, you might want to try something by James P. Blaylock. In particular, "The Digging Levithan", "Homunculus", or "The Last Coin", all of which are great stories.