What do you think?
Plow: In the Hollows
Patrick, a married man in his early thirties with a white-collar job as his identity and alcohol as his salve, works himself to the bone, breaks down, and goes to Vegas with his friends - fellow hedonists under thin corporate veneers - to recoup his debts through blackjack. The weekend unfolds in a liquored and fevered blur, with stakes ratcheting up not only in blackjack, but in Patrick's inward-facing journey.
296 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 7, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 28, 2026
Plow, or In the Hollows is a wild, philosophical novel disguised as a debauched boys’ trip to Las Vegas. Beneath the alcohol, gambling, bad decisions, and masculine posturing is a sharp look at corporate life, ambition, and the strange bargain of sacrificing the present for a future that may never come.
The prose is dense, feverish, and deliberately exhausting, which fits both Vegas and the men unraveling inside it. Darkly funny and often excessive, Plow ultimately asks what happens when you escape the machine but still carry its values with you.
The prose is dense, feverish, and deliberately exhausting, which fits both Vegas and the men unraveling inside it. Darkly funny and often excessive, Plow ultimately asks what happens when you escape the machine but still carry its values with you.
September 16, 2026
Plow: In the Hollows Saz Keukan
I came to Plow sideways. I'd read an interview with Saz Keukan and liked what I found there, got in touch, and when the offer of a review copy came I said yes before I'd read a word. Which matters, because on paper I am not this book's reader. Middle-aged men on a drink-drugs-poker spree in Vegas is not a premise I would have chosen for myself.
I read it in under forty-eight hours.
The shortest way I can describe it: Virginia Woolf as a middle-aged 21st-century guy who has a nervous breakdown from absolute burnout and goes on a Vegas bender. That isn't a joke at the book's expense. It is genuinely stream-of-consciousness, with a choral narrating voice where the group of friends speaks as one undifferentiated mass, and it owes far more to The Waves than to anything on the Vegas shelf.
A warning: it starts slow. Plenty happens, but the style takes acclimatising to, and there's a prologue that is necessary and delays the start. There were stretches where I lost the thread entirely. I am telling you about it so you don't quit before the book rewards you; it does reward you.
Halfway through, it goes somewhere else. A descent chapter turns symbolic, with a circles-of-hell architecture laid out and followed through, while never letting go of the grit of a casino floor at its seediest hour. Holding both of those at once is the most impressive thing here, and it is earned; it would not have worked a hundred pages earlier. After that the philosophy keeps climbing without the floor ever dropping away, including a long conversation between Patrick and his twin sister. Both are wrecked in different ways, both in and out of recovery. The scene goes at the God question directly and does not answer it.
The ending refuses the easy exits. No redemption, no damnation, nothing tidied. It felt exactly right to me.
Who will love this: readers who want an experience rather than a plot they can summarise afterwards. If you feel lost or disoriented, that is on purpose. If the philosophy goes over your head in places, it went over mine too. Let it wash over you and plow through. The book says: "You win a hand. Plow your winnings into the next." The odds turn.
I came to Plow sideways. I'd read an interview with Saz Keukan and liked what I found there, got in touch, and when the offer of a review copy came I said yes before I'd read a word. Which matters, because on paper I am not this book's reader. Middle-aged men on a drink-drugs-poker spree in Vegas is not a premise I would have chosen for myself.
I read it in under forty-eight hours.
The shortest way I can describe it: Virginia Woolf as a middle-aged 21st-century guy who has a nervous breakdown from absolute burnout and goes on a Vegas bender. That isn't a joke at the book's expense. It is genuinely stream-of-consciousness, with a choral narrating voice where the group of friends speaks as one undifferentiated mass, and it owes far more to The Waves than to anything on the Vegas shelf.
A warning: it starts slow. Plenty happens, but the style takes acclimatising to, and there's a prologue that is necessary and delays the start. There were stretches where I lost the thread entirely. I am telling you about it so you don't quit before the book rewards you; it does reward you.
Halfway through, it goes somewhere else. A descent chapter turns symbolic, with a circles-of-hell architecture laid out and followed through, while never letting go of the grit of a casino floor at its seediest hour. Holding both of those at once is the most impressive thing here, and it is earned; it would not have worked a hundred pages earlier. After that the philosophy keeps climbing without the floor ever dropping away, including a long conversation between Patrick and his twin sister. Both are wrecked in different ways, both in and out of recovery. The scene goes at the God question directly and does not answer it.
The ending refuses the easy exits. No redemption, no damnation, nothing tidied. It felt exactly right to me.
Who will love this: readers who want an experience rather than a plot they can summarise afterwards. If you feel lost or disoriented, that is on purpose. If the philosophy goes over your head in places, it went over mine too. Let it wash over you and plow through. The book says: "You win a hand. Plow your winnings into the next." The odds turn.
April 30, 2026
This is a masterful look at how easily a corporate identity can hollow a person. Bravo to Keukan on a debut novel that explores themes of addiction, ruminations, and the souless climb up the corporate ladder.
The story follows Patrick, a man in his 30s whose entire sense of self is tied to his job until he finally hits a breaking point. Everything unfolds during a guys trip to Vegas, fueled by high-stakes blackjack and a liquored blur.
What truly sets this book apart is the writing and dialogue. It’s a style unlike anything I’ve read before (no quotation marks, limited use of commas), moving with a rhythmic, frantic energy that feels almost claustrophobic. Despite the dark subject matter, the banter between the guy friends is incredibly sharp, witty, and lightning fast. It’s a quick, punchy, and stylistically fresh read that you could easily finish in a single sitting.
The story follows Patrick, a man in his 30s whose entire sense of self is tied to his job until he finally hits a breaking point. Everything unfolds during a guys trip to Vegas, fueled by high-stakes blackjack and a liquored blur.
What truly sets this book apart is the writing and dialogue. It’s a style unlike anything I’ve read before (no quotation marks, limited use of commas), moving with a rhythmic, frantic energy that feels almost claustrophobic. Despite the dark subject matter, the banter between the guy friends is incredibly sharp, witty, and lightning fast. It’s a quick, punchy, and stylistically fresh read that you could easily finish in a single sitting.
May 13, 2026
Plow is a vivid, page-turning exploration into the thin and sometimes non-existent line between striving for everything and having nothing. My incredible commuting companion for the last 2 weeks, it transported me to Las Vegas with Patrick and his compatriots. And, as if my brain were assisted by the town's fabled extra oxygen, I could see the cards flashing across a blackjack table. I could hear the crowds and other sounds buzzing through the casino. I could feel my heart rate increase as the stakes increased. And I could smell and taste the alcohol and feel its effects as the characters consumed it and it consumed them. This was a powerful reflection on what we take for granted and need to appreciate most in life.
April 20, 2026
Incredible story of reflection, addiction, and relationships with loved ones, all tied into the pressure of blackjack. Not only gambling with the dealer, but yourself.
July 9, 2026
A wild hedonistic romp through Vegas takes a hard left turn through introspection.
Fun & fraught...
Fun & fraught...
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews