pPeter Alson is having an early mid-life crisis he's a 33-year-old Harvard grad who has suddenly run out of prospects. He can't seem to finish that novel he and his girlfriend, Anna, have decided to call it quits again and worse, he's flat broke. So when he meets Michael, another Ivy Leaguer who's making a killing as a bookie, he does what any enterprising guy would do he enters a life of crime, joining a bookmaking operation headed up by characters like Monkey and Steak Knife, where his real education begins. If you combined Basketball Diaries and A Fan's Notes with a dash of Damon Runyon, the result would be something like this-hilarious and heartbreaking-a book that has rightfully taken its place among the classics of down-and-out literature. p