Monday’s Edition is a self-published gambling-and-adventure novel by Paul Lawrence, centered on Martin Adams, an East Texas IT contractor who discovers an apparently infallible edge in professional football betting and takes it to the casinos of Nevada. It is best understood as a high-concept wish-fulfillment thriller: part sports-betting primer, part Las Vegas caper, and part fantasy about outsmarting an entire gambling industry.

Martin Adams is a 55-year-old single computer technician living in a small East Texas town. He works on contract for four banks and has two defining interests: information technology and betting on college and professional football, a habit that began in the early 1980s. Over the years, he has bet with local bookies, visited Las Vegas repeatedly, used sportsbooks, and tried casino games, though his results have been ordinary—some winning seasons, some losing.

The novel’s central premise arrives on the opening day of an NFL season, when Martin discovers a secret advantage that enables him to win every professional football game he bets on. The advantage is so potent that he cannot continue using local bookies, who would quickly limit or cut him off. Instead, he returns to Las Vegas and Reno, where he can place much larger wagers and pursue the possibility of becoming a multimillionaire within a single football.