All-In, a book by Pete Hautman, is a gripping and suspenseful novel. You will be sitting at the edge of your seat while Denn battles through poker games against older and way more experienced players. This is a book about determination and not giving up. It is a book about finding weaknesses and ways to outmaneuver your opponents. These details show how great of a book this is. All-In, a book about exciting poker games, is a sure pick if you are choosing a novel.

The author of All-In, Pete Hautman, has great voice and an interesting style of writing. He is very clever, and his style keeps you reading on and on, and asking more questions. A good thing about the way he writes is that he doesn’t come out and tell you all the information in the book. He sort of leaves it to you to figure out the main parts. Also, his “point of view” style is intriguing and informative. For each chapter, you view the story from one of the main character’s perspectives: Cattie, Jimbo, or Denn. Since it is not just narrated by one person, you can get a full grasp on the story.

In this book, Denn is making the big bucks at the ripe and illegal age of 17. However, Cattie is dealing in one of his games and sets him up for a big time loss by giving other players way better hands than him. As soon as that happens, his luck takes a turn for the worse. He goes virtually broke, wastes all his money on blackjack, and is reduced to playing small buy-in games against 80-year-old men and women at dingy old bars. Eventually though, Cattie stops giving him the cold shoulder and gives him the entry money for a million dollar, winner-take-all tournament, which is really his only hope. Can Denn shake off his poker troubles and rise to the top? Or will his luck fail him again and send him home with empty pockets? Definitely pick up this book and see how you like it.

I had many likes to this book. First, it keeps you at the edge of your seat with suspenseful and fast-paced poker matches, like when Denn is up to his neck in it against the old man Artie. Secondly, it has snappy and funny dialogue. For example, when Jimbo is narrating the story he makes clever rhymes such as “Fade the action, Jackson” and “He was roadkill, Bill” or even “Numero Uno, Bruno”. Finally, the book is realistic. He doesn't win every single time. If he did, it would not be fun to read. In this book, he has to overcome ups and downs to be the best he can be. However, I did have one dislike, which was the ending. I won't give anything away just yet, but I'll just say it left me guessing a little too much. All in all though, it was a very good book, and I give 4.5 out of 5 stars. Even if poker is not your favorite subject to read about, I really think you would like it.

In conclusion, All-In is a very good book and I strongly recommend it to kids of all ages. The suspense has you hear racing at inhuman speeds, and after each chapter, you will let out a breath you didn't realize you were holding. While Denn stays calm in the face of pressure, you will probably be sweating profusely and wondering how on earth he is staying so cool and collective. You will probably also see that to succeed, you need determination, grit, and hardworking traits. So therefore, I urge you to read this book, and I guarantee you will enjoy at least one aspect of it, if you're heart can bear the stress.