- This new novel from Iain Ryan is the third in his series on the crime-riddled Gold Coast in the 1980's.
- The first one in the series, The Strip, was magnificent. The second one, The Dream, was ordinary.
- This one, The Casino, is even worse unfortunately. Ryan's habit of littering his stories with so many characters, most incidental, means readers cannot help but be totally confused, and ultimately bored.
- Of course he can write. His short clipped sentences move things along quickly. We're immersed in police corruption and criminal ugliness, but there are too many standard cliches. And there is minimal immersion in the main players and their lives. I was crying out for enrichment but it never came.
- I was tempted to bail a number of times but persisted, just to see how things would come together and resolve. Clarity does eventually come in the final 50 pages or so, but the resolution is unsatisfactory, unrealistic and rather silly.
- Read The Strip though. It's well worth it.
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