No Limit

I found No Limit to be disturbingly real. Hautman does a great job of showing a how a young man changes from earning money by mowing lawns to professional gambling. "This the part where you maybe think I'm going to tell you that I lost all my money. It could have happened that way. Sometimes I wish it had." That quote haunted me throughout my reading of the book. I could not put it down. I cheered when Doyle lost. I grieved when he won. A mature reader will recognize what gambling cost Doyle, an immature reader will not. The characters are realistic, the effort to alert Doyle to the consequences of his actions are superbly done. I felt I knew Doyle. I have live near gambling establishments of one sort or another most of my life and have seen first hand what can happen. This was a real story. I am looking forward to the sequel. Thanks Pete for a great book!

The book I read was called Stone Cold, By Pete Hautman. I liked this book and I think it would be a great book for anyone who likes poker. The book is about a teenager named Denn Doyle who is about sixteen years old, who plays poker and finds out that he loves it. He is just and ordinary kid who does lawn work and loves money. One day he is doing lawn work when a kid he knows asks him if he wanted to come over later and play poker and Denn says why not. When he starts playing he relizes he is good and he loves how much money he gets and how quick he gets it. Soon he quits doing lawn work and gets addicted to poker. Soon nothing else is important to him and his friends and family start to drift away from him. This book didn't have pictures but the author was so good that the pictures you imagine are better. This book also had a good cover. Anyone who likes poker would have taken this book if they saw the cover. The cover has a kid on the front with a stack of poker chips and cards in front of him. I liked this book because when the author wrote is was like you were in the book.

This was a great book that just shows you how gambling can ruin your life even if you're good at it and win. It can especially ruin your life if you lose. I think it touhgt a good lesson to my son that gambling is bad. I would greatly recommend it.Definitely 5 Stars!!!

Sixteen-year old Dennis Doyle is learning about an important tool of independence - money. Like many young people, his first job is mowing lawns. He's good at his job, and keeps track of his profits down to the last cent. He learns that money can give him some control in his life, which is something he's been looking for since his dad left him and his mom.We get to know Denn Doyle so well very early in "Stone Cold", especially since the book is in first person through Denn's perspective. Pete Hautman does such a good job portraying the stage of life Denn is in - somewhere between child and adult, and we can't help but laugh with Denn, and really like him.Denn's newfound interest in money and the control it gives him leads him down a path we readers know he shouldn't go down, but can't help but wonder if we would take the same path if in his shoes. It starts with a simple card game, but Denn wins, and he's hooked. He plays more and more, dreams about and studies poker, and we readers experience Denn's addiction, his obsession, and what it does to his life, and his youth. Before we know what's happened, Denn Doyle has left childhood far behind, and we get quite a hint at what adulthood has in store for him."Stone Cold" is such a moving depiction of adolescence and addiction, and though I must admit it saddened me, it also had me laughing out loud more often than most books I've read. It's a good one - for both young adults and adults.

Everybody's good at something...and Denn has finally found out what he is good at...it's not soccer, playing the piano, or calculus...it's playing poker. Denn is so good he is winning thousands of dollars, buying expensive gift for his girlfriend and even cars, but his relationships with his friends, parents and his girl are becoming distant---cold. Denn is certainly raking in the cash, but is he trading money for the important things in life? A surprise ending will have you wishing Denn all the luck in the world...because he'll need it!This book starts rolling and never stops despite the pages stopping you'll be left with the thoughts and images forever.Do yourself a favor and read this book and watch a masterpiece of charactization unfold.