I restarted this book so many times and just could not get into it. Red/Black is about wife and mother Sarah Hughes packing up her family and moving to Germany for her husband’s job where she falls deeper into her gambling addiction. I don’t like gambling so this was difficult for me because this character is defined by the fact she’s a gambler.

Although it has a contemporary focus based on mental health and gambling, it won’t date..Red Black This book is not my usual genre but having once started reading it its a real page turner . Beautifully written it keeps you guessing until the end.

I so wanted to like this book as the subject matter really interested me. However, after an initial straight-into-the-story prologue, we then dive into nine chapters of back story, which whilst relevant to a degree, only serves to slow the pace of the novel. Sarah then dabbles with on/off online betting for a number of chapters, but before she became fully addicted (as I'm sure she must) I simply lost interest and could not read to the end. Sarah's husband is totally self-absorbed and at the point I stopped reading ( 44% on my Kindle) it made me wonder why the hell she was with him at all, let alone went along with his proposed change of career at the beginning of the novel and then their subsequent move to Celle.

As to the prose itself, it 'told' rather than 'showed' and this was evident throughout. The dialogue was clunky and unrealistic, and overall it could have benefitted from a tight edit in a bid to inject a little more jeopardy and pace. I'm really sorry, but this just wasn't for me. But I'm sure others will enjoy it as much as I did not.

A triple whammy, AA, GA and NA and that's just the doctors wife.

This could oh so easily fallen of the rails. Addiction, is at best a minefield to write about. Every person is different, as is each addiction. It does well to incorporate the drugs and alcohol along side the gambling. Yes people have multiple addictions.

Back to the story. For a debut novel, this is excellent. The characters and the plot are very strong. The casino's are well represented but only due to the narrative of what's going through the characters mind for bet placements.

Army, a move to Germany, infidelity and a marriage breakdown.

I could give you more, but this is one story you are going to have to read for yourself.

Just remind yourself this one thing, "...the house always wins..."


Status: Completed

Rating: 4.4/5.0

Great and extremely tense sorry. Td really well with great relatable characters and I would highly recommend this xx

Wow!!! I read this in one whole sitting!! This Book was great. It had an excellent pace, a strong plot and the characters had good depth and were interesting! It is an amazing read and I highly recommend it!