“In flat, anhedonic prose reminiscent of the fiction of Tao Lin, Mr. Iacovelli charts the narrator’s shambling descent toward an act of unfathomable violence (. . .) pushing us to contemplate the motives of something we’d rather not think about, and to recognize the human impulses behind it, is one of literature’s most valuable roles.” —The Wall Street Journal

“Seismic stone cold stunner debut.” —Megan Nolan, author of Ordinary Human Failings

"If you don't know what this book is about, don't look it up, just read it—it's one of the most horrifyingly effective twists I've read in years. But even if you do, The King of Video Poker is a masterful character study, a thorough examination of the anhedonia and banality at the root of freelance American violence. Paolo Iacovelli is compassionate, menacing, and bleakly (BLEAKLY) funny—a writer you can bet on." —Tony Tulathimutte, author of Private Citizens: A Novel

“The story made me want to kill myself, but I mean that in the best way it could possibly be meant.” —Nico Walker, author of Cherry

"A profound deep dive into the human condition and unnervingly emblematic of 21st Century  America, Paolo Iacovelli’s stunning debut novel explores the existential despair of a gambling man. The eventual loss of all whom he loves, along with his seemingly enviable life sends him on an impossible quest to fill the void that leads to a horrific, decidedly unexpected and yet inevitable, conclusion." —Binnie Kirshenbaum, author of Rabbits for Food

"Taut and full of menace, The King of Video Poker captures our particular American sickness with disturbing precision and dark momentum. Paolo Iacovelli has written a very promising debut." —Sam Lipsyte, author of Venus Drive and No One Left to Come Looking for You

“In The King of Video Poker, Paolo Iacovelli’s nameless narrator does for today’s Las Vegas strip—in other words, America—what Dostoevsky’s Raskolnikov did for Tsarist Saint Petersburg or Fassbinder’s Franz Biberkopf for interbellum Berlin. Unlikeable narrators are difficult to pull off and often reveal more about their environment than themselves, but Iacovelli keeps us turning the pages into a neon emptiness that is as damning as it is dark." —Alexander Boldizar, author of The Man Who Saw Seconds

"A mesmerizing account of one man's descent into nihilism, Paolo Iacovelli's The King of Video Poker is unlike any novel I've read before. Iacovelli is a master of conveying the peculiarities of America, its contradictions, its desperation, and even its eerie beauty. I read this brilliant novel years ago and I still think about it all the time." —Lauren Grodstein, author of We Must Not Think of Ourselves

"The King of Video Poker delivers a new era of NY literati. Paolo Iacovelli's debut is a bold undertaking and brilliantly executed." —Kelly Cutrone, Founder of People's Revolution, and New York Times best-selling author 

"Iacovelli imbues the narrator’s rants with an uncompromising precision; to him, Burberry perfume smells like 'rotten fruit tossed in a blender with noxious chemicals.' It’s hard to look away from this disturbing character study" —Publishers Weekly