Slot Machine Fever Dreams

Obsession Collection

By: Chris Bohjalian

Narrated by: Grace Experience

It’s called Sin City for a reason. Dark secrets emerge when a young bartender meets a stranger on a hot streak in this gritty short story from New York Times bestselling author Chris Bohjalian.

Dove, a recovering alcoholic covered in Emily Dickinson tattoos, serves up drinks and small talk at a casino in Vegas. Russell is a man on a roll. He claims to be a chain-restaurant manager, yet his tells point to different skills. The two leave together at the end of the night, but when all pretense is stripped away, they find themselves in a fight for their lives.

Slot Machine Fever Dreams is part of Obsession, a collection of compulsively readable short stories about people pushed to their extremes. So addictive you won’t be able to put them down—read or listen to each story in a single sitting.

©2023 Quaker Village Books, LLC. (P)2023 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

A few twists packed into a short story

I love Chris Bohjalian's work, but mostly for his fully fleshed out characters and twisty plot lines. Slot Machine Fever Dreams is far too short for such character-building, and instead Bohjalian relies on packing a few unexpected twists into a story that has only a little humanity. Grace Experience does a marvelous job narrating a less than perfect story.

Fun!

This was a nice break. The story caught my interest right away. Keep them coming!

short story in a series

Just a tale of a girl and boy who meet at bar. The girl has many tattoos. The boy does not find them attractive. Read to find out more!

Short story that never really goes anywhere

If the journey is more important than the destination to you, then this is worth a listen for fans of the author. I have read a few of his novels and loved them; he's not quite as adept in the short story format, IMO.

It was very awkward... for example, the protagonist of the story never said, "I did this, I did that..." She refers to herself as "you." (As in me, the reader.) So, she'd say "You do this, you do that... 'I need to use the phone,' you say. Or: "You reach into your purse." Et cetera. So, it's not only in present tense, which is not my favorite, it's also in this other experimental tense. Really, really odd and makes it hard to connect with the story. (Note: it's not the same thing as the Caroline Kepnes YOU series, wherein Joe is saying "you" in regard to other people in the story.)

Uhhh

“Well, he needed killing.”
This was a weird story that seemed all over the place. I must not be the target audience.
An Amazon Original, part of the Kindle Unlimited catalog.

Unexpected Twists and Dark

It was interesting enough that I wanted to finish it to see what happens. Things escalate real quickly and then change and change again. Definitely dark as any plot involving Sin City probably is. I was surprised at how the story turns out after odd turns in events.

I really enjoyed the book. This is a dark comedy

I found this book to be funny and clever . Well written. I enjoyed the performances. Short to the point not drawn out or overly done.

I love the casino so that's my interest. I love a good crime drama with a tinge of comedy.

I like the characters they could do a series or even a longer book.

Watch Out!

That was different. Chris Bohjalian combined a lot of information into this one hour and eleven minute story.

Eh, wasn’t for me

There really wasn’t anything for me in this story. It felt very much like I was listening to a story written from a male author.

We’ll read

We’ll read; story not my favorite. Good it’s short. Not sure if it’s. purpose. Bye.