Headlock

the long version

"Odessa Rose is the kind of guy who gives the term "hair-trigger temper" a whole new meaning. His violent nature has, more than once, produced blood. Dess was a college wrestling star who blew it all just shy of graduation when he lost a match and beat another wrestler to a pulp. Since his inglorious dismissal from college, he's been parking cars for a living in downtown New York.". "It's there that his cousin Gary finds him and lures him away to Las Vegas. Gary has some uncontrollable impulses of his own: hugely overweight, he's a compulsive gambler, playing fast and loose with thousands of dollars. But now there's an enforcer tailing him, a sunglasses-wearing thug who has no trouble breaking hands, arms, and legs. Gary needs protection in Vegas. Who better than his strong, volatile cousin Dess?". "What do you do when you're at a crossroads in life? When you want to be a different person than the one who's made all the wrong choices? When your strength has become your greatest weakness?"--BOOK JACKET.