Discount Price: $6.99
Price fluctuation possible.
How soon does it ship: Normal ship time within one day
Shipping? Absolutely FREE if you qualify for Super Saver Shipping.
Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.52
EAN num: 9780843959635
ISBN number: 0843959630
Label: Hard Case Crime
Manufacturer: Hard Case Crime
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 224
Printing Date: 2008-07
Publishing house: Hard Case Crime
Sale Popularity Level: 146338
Studio: Hard Case Crime
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers -
Steve Fisher was a prolific writer in the 40's through the 60's and is best known for his I WAKE UP SCREAMING which was twice made into films. Here, he shows a deft style and a very first rate flair for characterization as he details a marathon craps game between an independent casino owner and a well known and skillful gambler (modeled after the real life Nick The Greek) who's been hired by the syndicate to break the owner so that they can acquire the establishment.Along the way, we're introduced to the pianist/singer who's the principle entertainer and who becomes dangerously enamored of the gambler's current woman. Add to that mix the head of the casino's security who's efficiency makes him a target, and you have an enjoyable multi-layered story. This is 50's style writing, but don't expect a lot of pulpy action because it's not here. But you grow to care for not only these three characters, but for minor ones who typify those who float in and out of the gambling mecca.Fisher injects enough information about gambling and craps in particular so that one unfamiliar with the game can still enjoy the story. You also get a feeling for the background of Vegas as it was at the time. I quite recommend this for an enjoyable read.
Rated by buyers 
-
Vegas in the late fifties, the setting for this novel, was a different place. Mega corporations weren't involved back then and it certainly wasn't a place for families. Instead, Vegas was a city run by the "syndicate" with all that implies and the occasional independent. The occasional independent like, Joe Martin, owner of the "Rainbow's End Hotel and Casino" who doesn't bow down to anyone, including the syndicate, even though he does run his business by syndicate rules.
Now somebody, or a group of people, has decided they want him shut down. It could be the syndicate or it could be others. Who it is doesn't really matter because for Joe and his staff they are under siege. To shut him down, a number of things have been put into play with some very obvious and others much more subtle. The most obvious one was when Bello made his very first appearance and picked up a pair of dice. Bello is a professional gambler and somebody who, if he rolls the dice right and really gets going, could bankrupt the casino. His plan is to win 10 million dollars and if he does it, the casino is finished and Joe Martin will be making his own long walk out in the desert. The subsequent 74 hours will be critical, but, Bello isn't the only one playing a game.
Through the main plot line and several secondary story lines, prolific author Steve Fisher weaves a tale of Vegas from fifty years ago. A tale that is stiff, flat and dated while also filled with numerous lectures on various aspects of Vegas and gambling. Those lectures, instead of raising the suspense level, bring the story to a dead stop.
A story that already has little action to it and instead relies on the suspense angle as well as character development to entice readers. Unfortunately, both fail to work for readers with experice in mysteries or noir. Stereotypes abound in this book with every character a caricature of what one expects in a genuine character. Then there is the issue of the extensive dialogue that doesn't ring true at least for current time ears with it coming across as unnaturally stiff and formal while saying very little. Characters in this novel talk around issues and never really say with clarity what they mean. Then there is the fact that the entire novel and therefore nearly all the various outcomes are utterly predictable with no twists much like the stereotypical cover art.
This flat read was the July section for the Hard Case Crime Book Club. Unlike many of their releases, this read is painfully dated, flat, completely predictable and thoroughly disappointing for readers with a background in the genre. What may have read well fifty years ago doesn't work at all now.
Kevin R. Tipple (copyright)2008
Rated by buyers 
-
Steve Fisher writes a fantastic novel. No House Limit is a marvellous, suspenseful, exciting, almost addictive piece of fiction. From the prologue, we get a glimpse behind the scenes at Joe Martin's independant casiono. The waitresses, the entertainment, the powerful owner, and the syndicate. Bello is called in to break Joe Martin and winner takes all. With his empire at stake, Martin must be at his best!
Fishers' writing is packed with characterization, plots, and oozes passion for his craft. Simply outstanding.
Wow! Hard Case Crime has yet another winner in the series. Steve Fisher was a popular author who penned screenplays, and original novels in a long career.
Rated by buyers -
Among the twenty-plus movies that Fox has put out as part of its film noir series, one of my favorites has been I Wake Up Screaming, a gem with Victor Mature, Betty Grable, Elisha Cook and - in a scene-stealing performance - Laird Cregar. The movie was based on a novel by an almost-forgotten writer named Steve Fisher. Hard Case Crime, which has been reissuing a lot of out-of-print works from decades past, has given readers a chance to be introduced to Fisher with his 1958 novel, No House Limit.
No House Limit is a tale of early Las Vegas, that is, the period when the city was really taking off with all new (often mob-financed) casinos. This was not a place for family vacations; all there was to do was gamble and occasionally see a show or go swimming. Joe Martin owns the Rainbow's End, a big casino that is independent from the syndicate; fortunately, Martin is savvy enough to prosper, but the syndicate has decided it's time to take him down.
This doesn't involve anything as crude as murder; instead, the syndicate has staked the best craps player around, the infamous Bello, to win $10,000,000 from the Rainbow's End, ruining Martin in the process. Bello comes in early on a Sunday morning, and Martin - knowing what's coming - needs to monitor the gambler's play and okay the high bets that will be laid down. To some extent, the subsequent few days will be a test of endurance as much as skill, as a marathon gambling session will occur with very little in the way of breaks.
Complicating matters are little distractions that the syndicate has prepared to keep Martin and his security chief Sprig on their toes, a lounge singer who has caught the eye of Bello's girlfriend, and a beautiful schoolteacher who has enamored Martin.
Fisher's prose has a nice lean quality to it that draws the reader in quickly and wastes few words. In addition, he begins most chapters with a little description of the workings of Vegas, establishing the city as a cruel town of superficial pleasures and desperate people. It's good stuff; actually, it's great stuff, the type of tough, short crime novel that you rarely see nowadays. Steve Fisher wrote a lot of books (and films) in his day, but with most of them forgotten, No House Limit is one of the rare chances to read him.
Find other books like this one:
