The two of you grew up as great athletes in Indiana. You are a college basketball star at Indiana University but your best friend's college football career at the University of Michigan has been ruined by injuries and now he's severely addicted to gambling. He is in big trouble with brutal mobsters. He owes them thousands of dollars - and they're angry. They want to hurt him, or worse. So they've come to you with a proposal. And this is your choice: Your life or his death. Such is the story of Danny Bridges and Nick Vincent, best friends since they were little boys in a Chicago suburb just across the state line in Indiana. Nick's life is a mess now and their friendship is about to be tested like never before. In "The Ties That Bind'' author Tom Brew explores the mind of an addicted compulsive gambler like no one has done before. He goes deep as to how the disease has affected Nick, and even deeper as to how it affects everyone around him. And as the drama plays out as mobsters attempt to get Nick to have Danny throw a basketball game in a point-shaving scandal, you won't be able to put it down. It's fast-paced action, a sports story with a mob presence -- and all sorts of twists and turns. You don't want to miss it.