Kirkus Reviews has only rave things to say about James McManus' new collection of linked stories, The Education of a Poker Player. In a new *starred* review, Kirkus offers a thorough account of the new book and its merits: "McManus’ writing is deceptively artless: mundane details related in Vince’s slowly maturing voice track the unexceptional life of a middle-class Irish-American Catholic family in a Chicago suburb, with the obligatory JFK portrait on the wall and the obliging production of numerous offspring. Yet the author gradually forms these common facets of simple people into a sharp, intimate portrait of an intelligent, inquiring mind embracing, then questioning, and inevitably pulling away from the beliefs and strictures of home life." The review continues, "McManus, a novelist and nonfiction writer, has played poker for high stakes in Las Vegas, and in Positively Fifth Street (2003), he wrote a classic about the game with riveting descriptions of poker hands. He achieves that again here in two sessions that have Vince facing very different opponents and challenges." "With this plainspoken, highly readable coming-of-age story, McManus adds another winning hand to a growing body of work on the hearts and souls lost to the game of poker." Click here to read the rave new Kirkus review. The Education of a Poker Player is available for pre-order at the BOA Bookstore. Order it here to get it before the release date!