Aces Wild
A Heist
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
What happens in Vegas when an all-asexual online friend group attempts to break into a high-stakes gambling club? Shenanigans ensue.
For fans of Alice Oseman and Casey McQuiston, a hilarious and heartfelt story that will captivate readers looking for found family and a heist.
"A fast-paced, thrilling diversion."—Kirkus Reviews
Some people join chess club, some people play football. Jack Shannon runs a secret blackjack ring in his private school’s basement. What else is the son of a Las Vegas casino mogul supposed to do?
Everything starts falling apart when Jack’s mom is arrested for their family’s ties to organized crime. His sister Beth thinks this is the Shannon family’s chance to finally go straight, but Jack knows that something’s not right. His mom was sold out, and he knows by who. Peter Carlevaro: rival casino owner and jilted lover. Gross.
Jack hatches a plan to find out what Carlevaro’s holding over his mom’s head, but he can’t do it alone. He recruits his closest friends—the asexual support group he met through fandom forums. Now all he has to do is infiltrate a high-stakes gambling club and dodge dark family secrets, while hopelessly navigating what it means to be in love while asexual. Easy, right?
A wild romp told in a can't-look-away-from voice, Aces Wild is packed with internet friend hijinks and ace representation galore!
Named to the TAYSHAS Reading List
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Blackjack whiz Jack Shannon, 17 and white, must travel home to Las Vegas when the FBI arrests his casino CEO mother for fraud. The FBI has sought his mother's downfall for years, citing her association with criminal organizations, and Jack is sure that his mom's childhood friend and current rival, crime boss Peter Carlevaro, provided the evidence for her arrest. Seeking help, Jack recruits his four best friends, fellow members of an online asexual-teen support group: calm and composed Gabe, who is Latinx, aromantic, and gender-nonconforming; genial Greek American painter Georgia; enigmatic, Black-cued hacker Lucky; and Jack's crush, quick-witted, nonbinary Vietnamese and German American Remy. Meeting in person for the first time, the group works together to find Carlevaro's "little black book" of secrets, which could provide the criminal evidence needed to take him down. Jack's narration is by turns humorous and heartfelt, and his feelings for Remy are both sweet and fraught as he struggles to understand how to be in love while ace. Though the heist itself never quite reaches the exciting heights the book's premise promises, DeWitt skillfully employs a breezy narrative and tender emotional beats, centering found family and self-acceptance, to craft a rousing debut. Ages 14–up.
