I'm not sure where to start with this review - there was so much about this book I liked.
I'd never heard of Titanic Thompson before - and as with all men of legend, it's hard to separate fact from fiction and tell man from myth. Over the years, stories get told and retold, grow and take on a life of their own. Certainly though, this all adds to the mystique of the man known as Titanic; a name he earned after a wager in a pool hall: ''I don't rightly know what it is [his name], but it ought to be Titanic - he sinks everybody...''
I loved Kevin Cook's writing style. I really enjoyed it, and the way the storytelling was approached was perfect for the subject and seemed to match Titanic's bold confidence and swagger step for step. It captures the spirit of the time and is littered with great turns of phrase - meaning what could have easily tumbled into a bland acount of dates, facts and figures, soon became a vivid account of a grifter's escapades, brought to life by Kevin's sterling storytelling. I'm sure poetic licence was taken quite liberally to bring scenes alive - but the book is all the better for it.
Titanic was clearly a man of great talent. He had a savant like gift for numbers matched only by charisma, charm and balls of brass - the essential tools of any good confidence man. He was ruthless, yet generous; knew people better than they knew themselves just from watching them - the way they thought, worked, moved and acted. He was bold and fearless, as well as diligent, and hardworking. And it's also clear that the man was devilishly clever...
So what lessons, if any, can you take away from such a great man? Hmmm, is great the right word - perhaps exceptional is better suited... Well, however you describe him, there are lots in fact. But perhaps the most important lessons to be taken from these pages are that of hard work, practice, persistence and perseverance. It took him years to perfect the skills needed to become such a successful con artist and achieve the 'seemingly' impossible (such as tossing hotel room keys into door locks. A trick that earned him many free nights in all the best hotels of the time) . The man himself tells us: ''If a things hard to do, most folks are too lazy to do it... That puts me one up on 'em."
By the end of the book you'll have learnt a lot about all sorts of history, cheats, games and scams, and read tales about all sorts of colourful characters that fell for the man's charms and hustles; Al Capone, Howard Hughes, Harry Houdini, Arnold Rothstein and Minnesota Fats; who said of him: ''Titanic was like a magician. He had the hands of an artist."
By the end of his life Titanic had won and lost millions, had married 5 women and murdered 5 men; though he'd tell you: ''They'd all agree they had it coming...''
I could go on and on telling you about the games he played, the rackets he ran, and the scrapes he avoided. But I don't want to spoil the fun. In the end I think it best you find them all out for yourself. Let's just say this gun-slinging, card-sharking, fast-living American became known as 'The man who will bet on anything', and in the true spirit of Titanic himself, I bet you this: once you start reading this book, you won't be able to put it down.
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