Arnie Wexler's life as a gambler began on the streets of Brooklyn, New York, flipping cards, shooting marbles, and playing pinball machines. At age fourteen he found the racetrack, a bookie, and started playing the stock market. His obsession with gambling accelerated until a fateful day in 1968 when it all came crashing down. Wexler's narrative leads us through the dungeon of a compulsive gambler's world -- chasing the big win and coming up with...

The way twelve-year-old Ked Eakins of Norton, Maine, sees it his life has been stolen from him, piece by piece; first by kyphosis, a spinal abnormality which has made him a social outcast at school and a target for the school bully, by his friends who have recently abandoned him, by his mother who left for the West Coast taking the insurance which might have saved him with her, and by his father who is a gambling addict who has lost the rent money--but...

Dan Mahowny is a quiet, unassuming assistant manager at a bank in Toronto. He is a compulsive gambler and runs up a massive debt with his bookie. Dan's bank responsibilities include approving loans. Needing to cover his debts, Dan starts approving loans to non-existent clients and adding hundreds of thousands of dollars to other accounts. As Dan's debts begin to grow into the seven figure range, his dealings become harder to hide, both from the authorities...

The lives of nine individuals fate begin to increasingly entwine in a web of addiction and gambling, culminating at one critical moment where their lives will be lost or reclaimed. Struggling writer Kate loses her family's savings at a casino; a washed-up Vegas performer tries to help Kate regain her money; Clyde owes so much money to his dangerous bookie that he asks his NBA-destined nephew to throw a game.

A series of essays written either by people struggling with alcohol or drug addiction or by those close to them discuss what it means to be addicted and the emotional toll of addiction.

Matt is an ex-cop with a gambling problem and a mountain of debt. A mysterious man offers to clear his debts in exchange for the assassination of the city's most notorious gangsters. The only man at Matt's back is married to his ex-wife. Even worse, Matt's heavy drinking and excessive gambling continually ruin his attempts to be a decent father. Now, Matt must learn to politics of the underworld and grapple with his role as a hired muscle. He soon...

"Laymon writes eloquently and honestly about the physical manifestations of violence, grief, trauma, and abuse on his own body. He writes of his own eating disorder and gambling addiction as well as similar issues that run throughout his family. Through self-exploration, storytelling, and honest conversation with family and friends, Heavy seeks to bring what has been hidden into the light and to reckon with all of its myriad sources, from the most...