In Kurt Johnson's debut novel, Las Vegas Turnaround, readers are catapulted into the underbelly of 1980s Las Vegas. It's a world where not even the bright lights of the Strip can drive out the darkness that accompanies the whirlwind of drugs, prostitution, and violence.
The latter finally gets the better of Claire, a street-smart escort who misjudges a customer once and pays for it dearly. After she's brutally raped and beaten, she wants out. She tries hard to build a calm, mainstream life, but it soon becomes clear that's an impossibility in this town.
Her meathead brother-in-law, Wood, shows up on her doorstep with a shaky story about her sister skipping town. Wood dumps his special-needs stepson on Claire and slinks back to the city, where he's been secretly running a casino scam. Claire is left in the dust, having to use her sharp wit and unfortunate familiarity with the Vegas underworld to piece together the truth: Wood is more brutal than she thought, and he may be responsible for her sister's disappearance. This novel follows the characters through the worst of Vegas, to a conclusion fit only for the likes of the city of sin.
