Never Love a Gambler is a showcase for the exceptional talents of Keith Ridgway. The Times (London) praised his stories as flawlessly structured yarns told in lovingly crafted prose. Ridgway's characters negotiate their way through love, madness, lust, anger, religious obsession, crime, and absence in stories told with innovative mastery brightened by fiercely vivid dialogues. Never Love a Gambler is a mental rust-remover: refreshing, bracing, and often violently funny.