The Mortal Nuts

by Pete Hautman

Book Overview

Seventy-three-year-old ex-poker player Axel Speeter has one more winner-take-all hand to play with a pair of crooks who are after the $260,000 he keeps squirreled away in his room at the Motel 6. A "New York Times Book Review" Notable Book for 1996.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 068481000X
• ISBN13: 9780684810003
• Release Date: June 1996
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 287 Pages
• Weight: 1.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.7"

Customer Reviews

One of my favorite books

This is the first book I read by this author, and it is great! I have since read most of his other works and they are also very good. Rag Man, Ring Game, Drawing Dead, Short Money, Doohickey are all worth reading, but The Mortal Nuts, for me, is the best. He has written some books more for children that I have not been interested in. This is just a great read!

Read this book!

Absolutely the best combination of comedy and mystery that I have seen in a novel. The characters are like none you will ever read about anywhere else. A+ for Pete Hautman!

Minnesota State Fair high jinks

Senior citizens hold sway in this funny, funny novel. Seventy-three-year-old Axel Speeter runs a taco concession stand at the Minnesota State Fair. Tommy Fabian, who stands 62"in cowboy boots and stetson hat, has a license to print money at Tiny Tot Donuts. Axel's former poker-playing buddy and expert mechanic Sam O'Gara also makes an appearance (He's Joe Crow's dad. Joe is Pete Hautman's reluctant detective in most of his books). The set-up is this: Axel doesn't trust banks; he's got $260,000 stashed in coffee cans at the Motel 6 where he lives. Sam has hired his girlfriend Sophie Roman's daughter Carmen to work at his confession stand. She detests the place; she's also dating a skinhead named James Dean, who wants to relieve Axel of his money, but not before he tries to mug Tommy Fabian. If you've ever watched midget wrestling you have a pretty good idea of what a one-sided proposition that was. Tommy refers to James Dean as that "bald monkey". The Minnesota State Fair is definitely the star vehicle here. Hautman has O'Gara pinch hit for Tommy at one point doing which time he says, "Gotta get myself a joint like this, sell deep-fried lutefisk on a stick or some goddamn thing." Sam also owns a pair of vicious dogs named Chester and Festus who're almost as funny as Sam. Some critics compare Pete Hautman to Carl Hiaasen. I'll admit I've only read one of Hiaasen's books and I may be prejudiced because of all the Minnesota references, but I'd say Hautman is Charlie Chaplin to Hiaasen's Pinky Lee.

These Nuts are First - Rate

Pete Hautman's two leading characters, Axel & Sam, are wonderful. Nuts, to be sure, but so are the rest of the folks in this book. The descriptions of life in the carnival food service business are so rich as to make you want to try out the vocation yourself.This is a quick, witty read that really IS hard to put down. Highly recommended.