Red Dice

Alan Beckwith is a man who has reached the absolute basement of the American dream. Strangled by debt and facing eviction, he enters into a pact that makes Faust look like a cautious investor. He approaches North, a bootlegger with the soul of a vulture, and proposes a macabre transaction: North pays Alan’s immediate debts and provides a small stipend, in exchange for a $100,000 life insurance policy with North as the sole beneficiary. The catch? Alan’s life has an expiration date. A roll of the dice—specifically a two and a four—decrees that Alan must be dead by December 24. To keep the authorities off the scent of this cold-blooded arrangement, North forces Alan into a sham marriage with Beverly, the sister of a marked man. What follows is a claustrophobic descent into a world where love is a complication, loyalty is a death sentence, and the only way out is to hijack the very hand that feeds you.