A business crime novel inspired by Macau’s “King of Gambling,” Alvin Chau.
He starts out hauling crates of soda for a cha chaan teng and climbs, step by step, into the brightest lights of South Bay City.
He runs errands, learns to read the room, fights for a place in the VIP rooms, wins over big clients, battles the underworld, leverages the power of wealthy families, and opens his own tables.
He fears poverty, losing, and being looked down on, so he understands the people at the gambling table better than anyone.
Before long, everyone calls him Mr. Zhou.
But when the gambling tables move from VIP rooms onto phones, it’s no longer just big bosses who lose. Drivers, workers, parents, and shop clerks lose their food money and tuition fees, too.
He thinks he can control the game, but in the end, his brothers, former lover, mother, witnesses, and stack after stack of account books all push him toward judgment day.
The day his eighteen-year sentence is handed down, he finally understands:
The lights of the gambling city were never there to show the way. They shine on the tables.
This book was inspired by real events from Macau’s gambling scene. All characters and plot elements are fictional.
Nice! Faster!