Money Shot
Brian Rouff
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2004 Hardway Press
ISBN: 0971714827

A Las Vegas ad executive must sink a basketball in one shot to win the Bigg Fizz bottle top jackpot.

Trouble is Alan “Nick” Nichols hasn't played since high school, & midlife discontents are rumbling in this happily-married father of a college age daughter. Add to that he's burnt-out after 12 years of making up jingles & snazzy campaigns as an associate for a prestigious advertising agency.

When Jason McBride, his young assistant, begs a lift to work, he finds a discarded bottle cap on the floor of Nick's auto. Upon further inspection, he shows Nick that it's the winner of the Bigg Fizz Million Dollar Challenge ... if he can sink a shot in one, at halftime during the NCAA regional finals in Phoenix ... just three weeks away.

Nick must now do some serious practise, & realizes he needs a coach. Before he finds one, he has to ask his boss for time off. That's when the first tremor in Nick's nice, safe life crackles across his consciousness. Old man Dunbar isn't going to give him an inch, so Nick quits. & feels quite good about it. Except his doesn't tell his lovely wife, Pam ... immediately.

Even as his world falls apart, Nick keeps cracking jokes, & to his surprise, he isn't worried. Sure, when his wife & daughter learn about the million dollar bonanza, they start spending money left, right & center; sure he's promised 10% of the winnings to Jason for finding the bottle cap.

When he wanders into the local rec center for some board & ball time, he sees, in the empty gym, a tall, intense black woman who moves with amazing athletic grace. & Nick knows envy, as she puts away ball after ball. He proposes she coach him. Angela Jackson, a transplant from Detroit, was once a collegiate basketball finalist. After an injury sidelined her dreams of making it in the WCAA, she turned to nursing & followed a boyfriend to Las Vegas. When Clyde's job evaporated, he turned to gambling. When he racked up a tab, he took to stealing from her. Now, due to downsizing at the hospital, she's out of work, & deeply distrustful of men, & especially of older white men wanting to get game.

& when Nick reads in the local paper, which he despises, that his old firm has just declared bankruptcy, he knows he's not going to get his final pay check nor any severance packet.

Still, what Nick does get is another shot at making a difference in his life. He also has a chance to get some attitude, & return to doing something that engages & excites him.

What I like about Brian Rouff's writing is it's funny, thought-provoking & delightfully spirited. I thoroughly enjoyed the exploration of cross-cultural training, & Nick's realization that his life is going to change, whether he gets that million or not.

Money Shot is Brian Rouff's second novel, & he's good! This is an entertaining, exciting tale, with enough bumps & lumps, twists & turns, to keep you on the edge of your seat, cheering.

More from Brian Rouff: Dice Angel
(11/21/04)

Rebecca