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Cards with the Devil
Picking up a single castaway playing card unknowingly sends Thomas, a small-time bootlegger from 1920s Chicago, on a decades-long transaction
with the Devil.
While being "gifted" a lifetime of eternal youth, more and more cards of the same deck are discovered, and circumstances, relationships and decisions revealed. In exchange for youthful vigor, Thomas learns he
ultimately owes the Devil a game of poker.
Is this eternal youth a blessing, or a curse?
The debut novel by Mike Eserkaln
with the Devil.
While being "gifted" a lifetime of eternal youth, more and more cards of the same deck are discovered, and circumstances, relationships and decisions revealed. In exchange for youthful vigor, Thomas learns he
ultimately owes the Devil a game of poker.
Is this eternal youth a blessing, or a curse?
The debut novel by Mike Eserkaln
254 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 6, 2016
15 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 2, 2019
The premise of this book struck me as interesting at first, even if it does seem somewhat contrived on the surface, sort of like a parody of a million other stories you might have heard before, but the more I dug in, the more this book wrapped itself around me.
I found myself trying to think of a comparable experience, and while I'm sure there are countless similar works, this had the eerie vibe of a dark little Stephen King short story, similar to "Riding the Bullet" or "The Jaunt" (not in content, but emotional resonance). In fact, it felt like a lot like Joe Hill's "Heart-Shaped Box" or "NOS4A2" without the ultra-violent endings. In it, the Devil appears in the opening chapter, but haunts Thomas over the years of his life as he changes his name and befriends a similarly Devil-contracted man, Erik, given infinite money for a later-to-be-played game of chess. Their traumas intersect, and as time passes on, a sort of madness sets in. Thomas's life becomes bleaker, culminating in desperate decisions and hallucinations of happiness. There are painfully tragic scenes, such as the burying of a man beneath a highway, and a luck-induced night of gambling that turns darkly south.
While some scenes jumped time without fully resolving subplots and conflicts along the way--inherent in the authorial device to frame the novel as Thomas's personal journal--I found these issues very much forgivable and effective in leaving lingering beats of tension. Some stories come back to Thomas, others do not. But each has an impact on his character growth in both small and big ways.
Full disclosure, I sort of know the author--I've seen him perform at Comedy City, and in fact, he and his comedy troupe performed at my backyard wedding reception--but I can honestly say this book was nothing like what I expected. Don't skip over it because it's self-published or has fewer reviews than other horror best-sellers. This is definitely a high quality book that, at times, will take your breath away, and at other times, you'll have a hard time putting it down.
I found myself trying to think of a comparable experience, and while I'm sure there are countless similar works, this had the eerie vibe of a dark little Stephen King short story, similar to "Riding the Bullet" or "The Jaunt" (not in content, but emotional resonance). In fact, it felt like a lot like Joe Hill's "Heart-Shaped Box" or "NOS4A2" without the ultra-violent endings. In it, the Devil appears in the opening chapter, but haunts Thomas over the years of his life as he changes his name and befriends a similarly Devil-contracted man, Erik, given infinite money for a later-to-be-played game of chess. Their traumas intersect, and as time passes on, a sort of madness sets in. Thomas's life becomes bleaker, culminating in desperate decisions and hallucinations of happiness. There are painfully tragic scenes, such as the burying of a man beneath a highway, and a luck-induced night of gambling that turns darkly south.
While some scenes jumped time without fully resolving subplots and conflicts along the way--inherent in the authorial device to frame the novel as Thomas's personal journal--I found these issues very much forgivable and effective in leaving lingering beats of tension. Some stories come back to Thomas, others do not. But each has an impact on his character growth in both small and big ways.
Full disclosure, I sort of know the author--I've seen him perform at Comedy City, and in fact, he and his comedy troupe performed at my backyard wedding reception--but I can honestly say this book was nothing like what I expected. Don't skip over it because it's self-published or has fewer reviews than other horror best-sellers. This is definitely a high quality book that, at times, will take your breath away, and at other times, you'll have a hard time putting it down.
February 5, 2020
Amazing
Never expected the ending. This book is great and I encourage everyone to read it. It's trickery it's hope it's a great book.
Never expected the ending. This book is great and I encourage everyone to read it. It's trickery it's hope it's a great book.
March 13, 2017
Happy to have had the opportunity to read a work by a local author!! My wish for this story is for greater character and scene development. I understand the nature of the character, but at the end of each chapter I was left wanting more...more about the scene he was in, how he got there, who is there with him, how do their lives intersect etc.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews