Paradise, Nevada

March 1, 2021
This debut takes readers into the heart of Las Vegas, showing a city that is more than glitz and excess. In this ensemble piece, readers follow myriad characters: Ray, a mathematician seeking fame and fortune by using algorithms to win at poker; Mary Ann, a New York transplant wanting to escape her old life; Tom, a card shark who came to Vegas from Italy and never left; and Lindsay, a Mormon journalist eager to break the news of a scandal. Each of their stories surrounds the fictional Positano Hotel, a gargantuan resort and the location of a fateful explosion on May 1, 2015. In the time leading up to the detonation, an interconnected web of secondary characters interacts with the main cast, and Diofebi shows each of their perspectives in an ever-morphing narrative point of view. This is a heady read, filled with surprising turns of phrase and unexpected relationships. The deep analysis of game theory--Diofebi left professional poker for writing--will appeal to fans of Michael Kardos' Bluff (2018). Readers of complex literary fiction will appreciate the sharp and nuanced writing.

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Starred review from March 15, 2021
A great American novel set in the city of busted dreams. If you're seeking a setting for a big, bold, searching American novel, you could do a lot worse than Las Vegas. This sprawling, delightful debut book captures the artificial worlds within worlds in the casinos, the unnavigable streets just outside the strip, the big dreams, and the bad beats. It has a labor dispute, a big explosion, and an immigration saga. Most of all it has four vivid strivers at its core: Ray, a math whiz and online poker stud who loses his confidence and his nerve and tries to take on live, flesh-and-blood competition; Mary Ann, a model-turned-cocktail waitress who finds herself involved in a covert sabotage scheme against the house; Tom, who, like the author, comes from Rome and who finds himself enjoying what seems like a long spot of good luck; and Lindsay, a Latter-day Saint journalist with literary ambitions. Each character brings his or her own supporting players, many of whom aren't what they seem. The central quartet is constantly in each other's periphery, pushing the plot toward ever more dangerous places. The author, who spent several years as a professional poker player (both online and live), knows these people and their habitats, and he brings them to life in colorful, page-turning detail; even if you've been to Vegas, he makes you feel as if you're seeing it with fresh eyes. Even when he gets a little too cute--for instance, footnoting Ray's inside-poker jargon--there's something around the corner to make it all worthwhile. This is a tremendously funny book, but it earns its laughs through human frailty. It makes fun of the powerful and the ridiculous, but even then there's nothing easy. Everyone here is haphazardly seeking something better and different within themselves, and they look to find it in this virtual microcosm of America. An intimate epic set in a virtual but deeply human world.

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