Bringing Down the House is a summer reading book like I've never experienced before. It almost seemed odd that it was on the list. The way it was written seems like it should be too exciting or fun for the list even. This book will be enjoyed by kids my age, and really anyone at all that likes a good story. The book was a 200 something page gem that I will always treasure. If I had picked just about any other book I think I would be very disappointed.


The book is about a student from MIT named Kevin Lewis. He is your average genius over at the MIT campus. Very gifted as a child and destined to go to MIT for his entire life. His father and mother are both far above average intelligence and almost had his future planned out. It was all going well until two of Kevin's friends named Martinez and Fisher came into his life with a trip to Atlantic City. Both of the characters had dropped out of MIT and seemed to be involved in shady dealings. They took Kevin to Atlantic City and showed him card counting, later on he was invited onto the team and he fit in immediately. It turned out that the team was lead by someone who was banned from pretty much every casino, a man named Micky Rosa. He taught them everything they knew and started the team. Kevin was eventually made a leader and investor of the team. Everything was going well, they had beat Vegas. Read Bringing Down the House to figure out what happens to Kevin and his card counting team.

The book was overall a very easy read. This was mainly due to the fact that there were very well developed characters and that you could really feel sympathy for them. The way it was written was from the perspective of an omniscient narrator. It flashes back and forth between the narrators journeys to find more information about Kevin, and the actual experiences of Kevin. It seems to flow perfectly. In the book the author leans much more towards Kevin's stories then his own journeys.

I thought the book was left somewhat open, the ending didn't quite close the whole story for me, I can't reveal how exactly, but it is left fairly open ended. That being my only fault, I give the book an A. I give the book my full approval and recommend it to everyone who loves reading.