Breaking even

In this engrossing coming-of-age novel set in the 1950s, eighteen-year-old Val leaves his tiny West Texas town to search for the father he thought had died a hero's death years earlier. This quest gives Val a convenient excuse for getting out, as he is being forced into a loveless marriage and meaningless existence in a town where his life has been made more difficult because his mother is Mexican.

The young man's search draws him into a mysterious world: violent and unpredictable, yet also glamorous and seductive. It is his Anglo father's world of high-stakes professional gambling. With their ultimate confrontation taking place in Reno, Nevada, Val finally realizes that all that glitters in his father's free-wheeling lifestyle is more grit than gold and that true style comes only with the acceptance of personal responsibility.

Yet Val's father, Cooper, will leave him with a priceless gift. Val develops a new-found pride in his Mexican heritage, as well as the courage to follow his dream.