In her emotional memoir, Haley Baxter, writing as Kelly Delaney, recounts her life with a gambling-addicted husband. Written in her husband’s voice, the story is heavily fictionalized.

In 1980s Australia, young Luke’s lifestyle revolved around gambling. He believed that wagering more than he could afford was the key to financial success. Working as a bank teller, he found opportunities to implement financial scams to fuel his gambling habits, skimming money from customers’ deposits and eventually running swindles involving multilayered bank fraud, loans, and credit cards.

Luke met Kelly, 17, and married her a year later. She was unaware of his financial misdeeds. On their honeymoon, Luke spent much of his time in the casino, and Kelly soon endured his gaslighting and emotional abuse, rarely confronting Luke. When she complained about living with his mother, Luke retorted, “live with it…got it?”

Realizing Luke was heavily gambling, Kelly appeared at a betting venue with their four children in tow. Shocked, he vowed to stop gambling but failed to follow through. Their financial world crumbled, and Luke blamed Kelly, thinking, “If I hadn’t had to worry about Kelly’s shitty mood…” While eventually becoming debt-free, Luke appears at book’s end rolling dice in a game with his children, foreshadowing his continued addiction.

Baxter’s writing is heartfelt and fast-paced, engaging from the beginning as she weaves an engrossing history. Her emotions are palpable. However, the author’s reasons for writing in her husband’s voice are unclear. While Luke’s behavior is reprehensible, Baxter’s imagining his thoughts and feelings casts him in a particularly negative light, perhaps leaving readers questioning her motives. Additionally, the conclusion feels abrupt and unsatisfying, as it fails to reveal information about Kelly’s future – or offer any insight into the nature of gambling addiction and what readers can learn from her story.

Despite these problems, the memoir should resonate with anyone who has witnessed or suffered from a gambling addiction, offering comfort in a shared experience.

Also available as an ebook.