not her best - Rated 
I'm a huge fan of Annie Proulx - the style, the stories, the ability to put the weirdest things together and you just think, wow, I never knew that could happen - funny names and extravagant deaths, the harshness of life, nature will kill you and if it doesn't, we all have enough hangups to kill ourselves with - and yet the human spirit shines through. This is life. It makes me want to live. I get incoherent when I rave about this writer, clearly! So this one is good, engaging, with a strong sense of place and character, but is let down but some very odd aspects of structure. It seems to be slightly out of order, slightly repetitive, slightly lumpy, and less masterful. I 've decided that it needed a good deal more editing. That said, it's a bit of an insight into how her books go together - the random bits pieced together to produce a world that's strange but seamless (except in this case). Get it anyway, though. Even substandard Proulx is better than anything else.
This book took me to Texas - Rated
Proulx's genius is her amazing ability to transport you into the landscapes of the places she writes about and the lives of those who live there.
Having been sucked into the geography and people of Newfoundland I picked up That Old Ace In The Hole for obvious reasons. And it lived up to my expectations.
Not that I expected another Shipping News because I do not believe that could ever be equalled. However, That Old Ace In The Hole is excellently written with rich characters and stunning attention to detail.
The crux of the story is that of a young man - Bob Dollar - moving to the Texas panhandle with a new job. Through encounters with the locals and some morally questionable situations, Bob begins to look at himself and his own desires in life.
That Old Ace In The Hole is a heart-warming story that will whisk you off to the Texas panhandle and engage you in its people and landscape.
Don't expect The Shipping News, but do expect to want to move to a small backwater town in Texas.
Making a silk purse from a sow's ear - Rated
You can't describe why this book's enjoyable. A lonely hero in a forgotten part of America doing a job everyone hates him for...where's the fun in that? It's in the author's love for the weird Panhandle people and places that make this great reading, and she just about gets away with very little action. When things happen at the end you get a bit startled by the sudden appearnce of plot, but by then you're so wrapped up in the peculiar charms of Woolybucket (where this is set) you have to see it through. Like The Shipping News , it's what Annie Proulx does best: desolate but charming.
Less a plot than a way of life. - Rated 
The plot, a man sent to do a dirty job but inclined to go native, is thin, in no way original but promising. The characterisation and humorous interweaving of the author's research make this immensely readable. The size of the book becomes an asset as the narrative becomes an enjoyable journey for the reader. And personally, I'm glad there's someone else who misses telephone booths.
That Old Ace in the Hole - Rated
Annie Proulx's latest novel offers a fascinating blend of stunningdescriptions of place and superb construction of characters as she offersa compelling insight into life for an outsider in rural Texas.
Whether the Texas that Proulx describes is 'the' Texas or not isinconsequential: as the book's protagonist, Bob Dollar, sets about findingsuitable ranching land to be converted into a much-hated factory hog-farm,the rugged and unique characters merge with the rugged and unique imageryto create a superb read.
For those who have read Proulx's earlier novel, The Shipping News, thisnovel lives up to expectation: she does to Texas in That Old Ace in theHole, through her wonderful observation of physical and human quirks, whatshe does to the wind-beaten North-East coast in The Shipping News.
Some reviews have suggested that perhaps this novel is over-researched andindiscriminately edited, and certainly in terms of sheer length, this is along book. But if you are likely to be irked by lengthy characterizationand scene creation, then this is not a book that I would recommend youread anyway.
Normally a book with a distinctly average, and often non-existent, plot isbest avoided. But when the characterization and descriptions are soincredibly vivid and so powerful, as they are here, the book should not bemissed.
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