For some reason, this novel, Beautiful Children, was painfully birthed. After an eleven year history of rewrites and edits, Charles Bock, the son of Las Vegas pawn brokers, finally delivered the goods on America’s Sin City this past month. I had a hard time getting a copy at my local bookstore, but the search was worth it. It’s quite a read.

Every person who has ever been to Las Vegas has probably had some latent sense of the other side of the city – the Vegas that people live, work, get born and die in. It’s hard to keep in mind when you’re sitting at a show with all the glitz and glamour or strolling in front of the grand casinos with the over-the-top water features and unlimited lights.

But in Beautiful Children, that’s the city your mind has to grapple with. It’s not necessarily a place you’d like to visit, but this amazing story is richly told, the characters are carefully drawn and Bock’s reviews therefore have been consistently strong.

The book’s website is here and includes photos, sound, a movie – check it out. (Careful, it’s a little weird.)

You can read the first chapter here on the New York Times website. And then you’ll want to buy it: here’s Amazon. You need something good to read now anyway. Enjoy. (I bet you’ll say to yourself at some point, “I’m kinda glad what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”)