The rogues, tricksters, mentally-ill, gamblers, alcoholics and ne'er-do-wells in Risk Pool are nothing less than adorable. Russo writes beautiful prose that pulls at every one of the reader's emotions. Here, he creates a cast of loafers with a dry humor that will have you laughing out loud at times. I've read six of Russo's novels and while this one wasn't my favorite, it's nonetheless a masterpiece. It starts to run out of gas in the last quarter of the book but by the end it's... kinda worth it.