Book review: Fold

I don't have any interest in poker or really know much about it but it can provide an interesting metaphor for men's relationships (I love Dealer's Choice) so I gave Tom Campbell's Fold a go when it was a kindle special offer. It follows a year of a monthly poker game between five men ("friends" would be pushing it as they all seem to actively dislike each other) and the tensions between them, gradually trying to build up a picture of the different reasons each of them keeps coming back to the game. Although technically the narrative takes the point of view of all five players at different times, it predominantly focuses on Nick, the bitter loser in the group, and his attempts to take down Doug, the aggressive alpha-male winner, starting by undermining Doug's intelligence and building up to the point of drugging him and trying to seduce his wife.

It's a pretty quick read and the story is interestingly told with some nice character progression but the fact that all the characters are so deeply unsympathetic meant it wasn't a novel I was always that keen to get back into once I'd put it down.