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The Prime Roll
Lano Branka's run of good luck appears to be running out when a union boss turns up dead and Branka makes the mistake of crossing a bookie who just happens to be a member of the mob, in a thriller set against the backdrop of high-stakes gambling in Atlantic City
304 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
12 people want to read
About the author
Eugene Izzi
35 books7 followersEugene Izzi was born on March 23, 1953 in Hegewisch, a neighborhood in southwest Chicago.
His first novel, The Take, was published in 1987. He went on to publish 18 books. His thrillers often featured organized crime and street characters he remembered from his childhood.
After the publication of Tribal Secrets, he had a dispute with his publisher, and could not publish any books under his name for three years. During this time he published three novels under the pseudonym Nick Gaitano.
On December 7, 1996 he was found hanging outside his Michigan Avenue office. His death was declared a suicide, but many found his death suspicious.
His first novel, The Take, was published in 1987. He went on to publish 18 books. His thrillers often featured organized crime and street characters he remembered from his childhood.
After the publication of Tribal Secrets, he had a dispute with his publisher, and could not publish any books under his name for three years. During this time he published three novels under the pseudonym Nick Gaitano.
On December 7, 1996 he was found hanging outside his Michigan Avenue office. His death was declared a suicide, but many found his death suspicious.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 8, 2010
I wasn't impressed with Eugene Izzi's first novel, The Take, and I thought his fifth, King of the Hustlers, was only O.K. But The Prime Roll, his sixth, is a genuinely good crime novel with a fine sense of place and a tight, clockwork plot. Like the other two novels by Izzi I read, the characters are mostly unlikable and the writing is at best utilitarian, but unlike them, I'd actually recommend The Prime Roll as a decent, quick read for people who like crime fiction.
Lano Branka thinks he may be on "the prime roll," a mythical state of grace that every professional gambler experiences at least once in his or her life. The only problem is that he's bragging a little bit too much about all the money that bookie and made man "Tough" Tony Tomase owes him. When he goes too far, only his "uncle" and all-around protector Art Pella, who's also a made man in the Chicago mafia, ships him off to Atlantic City before Tomase and his goons can whack him.
As soon as he steps off the plane in A.C., Lano is back in hot water. The Biari family, who have been charged with protecting him, attempt to set him up as the patsy for a murder they've committed. And Brian O'Shea, the owner of a casino called "The Shamrock," is running a promotion that could win Lano one million dollars cash.
Izzi throws a lot of balls in the air in the first 50 pages, and he does a good job of catching them all by the end. He ties up everything a little too neatly, and plotting seems more important to him than intricate characterizations, but for what it is, this novel's not bad.
Lano Branka thinks he may be on "the prime roll," a mythical state of grace that every professional gambler experiences at least once in his or her life. The only problem is that he's bragging a little bit too much about all the money that bookie and made man "Tough" Tony Tomase owes him. When he goes too far, only his "uncle" and all-around protector Art Pella, who's also a made man in the Chicago mafia, ships him off to Atlantic City before Tomase and his goons can whack him.
As soon as he steps off the plane in A.C., Lano is back in hot water. The Biari family, who have been charged with protecting him, attempt to set him up as the patsy for a murder they've committed. And Brian O'Shea, the owner of a casino called "The Shamrock," is running a promotion that could win Lano one million dollars cash.
Izzi throws a lot of balls in the air in the first 50 pages, and he does a good job of catching them all by the end. He ties up everything a little too neatly, and plotting seems more important to him than intricate characterizations, but for what it is, this novel's not bad.
January 4, 2021
The Prime Roll is a compulsive gambler’s once-in-a-lifetime streak. In Eugene Izzi’s novel, Chicago-based gambler Lano Branka heads to Atlantic City for his shot at the big time. Once Lano’s in New Jersey, he a) finds himself in the middle of a mob war, b) encounters the estranged mother of his son, and c) also meets a beautiful woman named Conway Mallory who is a compulsive gambler, deeply in debt to the casinos.
The elements are all there, but author Eugene Izzi swings and misses. The Prime Roll is the icing without the cake - it’s all (fairly-good) action and (awkwardly-described) sex without any of the other elements that make a novel worth reading - character development, strong settings, and nice prose. In regard to the prose, Izzi could write some remarkably clunky lines, such as the time that Lano compares his girlfriend’s locks to angel hair pasta and she is so moved that she has to go into the women’s restroom and cry (p. 16).
A more-consistent issue is that Izzi spends the entire book telling and not showing. Instead of demonstrating the characters’ strengths and weaknesses through their actions and dialogue, Izzi simply tells you what you should think of each of them. It’s weak writing and I tired of it in a hurry.
I’d like to call this a “B” version of Mario Puzo’s The Godfather. But Puzo could write. Sometimes Izzi does well, such as in a scene at a Chicago-area racetrack where a gangster is sent to kill Lano. But mostly, The Prime Roll is ho hum. I was glad to get to the end and I have crossed Izzi’s novels off of my “to-read list.” If you want to read a great mafia novel, skip this one and go straight for Puzo.
The elements are all there, but author Eugene Izzi swings and misses. The Prime Roll is the icing without the cake - it’s all (fairly-good) action and (awkwardly-described) sex without any of the other elements that make a novel worth reading - character development, strong settings, and nice prose. In regard to the prose, Izzi could write some remarkably clunky lines, such as the time that Lano compares his girlfriend’s locks to angel hair pasta and she is so moved that she has to go into the women’s restroom and cry (p. 16).
A more-consistent issue is that Izzi spends the entire book telling and not showing. Instead of demonstrating the characters’ strengths and weaknesses through their actions and dialogue, Izzi simply tells you what you should think of each of them. It’s weak writing and I tired of it in a hurry.
I’d like to call this a “B” version of Mario Puzo’s The Godfather. But Puzo could write. Sometimes Izzi does well, such as in a scene at a Chicago-area racetrack where a gangster is sent to kill Lano. But mostly, The Prime Roll is ho hum. I was glad to get to the end and I have crossed Izzi’s novels off of my “to-read list.” If you want to read a great mafia novel, skip this one and go straight for Puzo.
December 20, 2020
This is the 9th Izzi novel I've read.
He's never bad as Jim Thompson or Donald Goines at the lowest of their ebb, but he never takes off the way those two often do.
The wrap-up always seems like an actor or producer or family member with influence over an actor or producer tainted what was going to be a brutal up to the knees bloodbath. But no. It got made palatable. TV movie-ish. Tag that See's Candies over-produced ballad to the end credits.
9 more to go.
He's never bad as Jim Thompson or Donald Goines at the lowest of their ebb, but he never takes off the way those two often do.
The wrap-up always seems like an actor or producer or family member with influence over an actor or producer tainted what was going to be a brutal up to the knees bloodbath. But no. It got made palatable. TV movie-ish. Tag that See's Candies over-produced ballad to the end credits.
9 more to go.
February 11, 2015
There was a time when Izzi was the most exciting crime novelist on the racks. Unfortunately, he's better known for his suicide in 1996. Prime Roll isn't his best, as he hit his peak with Invasions and Prowlers, but still worth a read.
July 31, 2012
Tried several times but could not finish
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews