If you were drawn to Fast Eddie’s razor-thin line between swagger and self-destruction—especially in his marathon sessions with Minnesota Fats and the way he plays people as much as pool—you’ll savor Tom Ripley’s cool, calculating hustle. Like Eddie, Ripley lives by his wits, reinvents himself in every room, and learns that the biggest game isn’t on the table, it’s in how far you’ll bend your own ethics to win.

You felt the ache beneath Eddie’s swagger—the private doubts after Bert Gordon’s manipulations, the way victory and shame bleed together after that showdown with Fats. In Fat City, down-and-out boxers chase small, brutal chances in shabby gyms and bars, their inner lives as tense as any fight. It captures the same bruised psyche and quiet despair that haunted Eddie and Sarah between the games.

If Eddie’s single-minded push to beat Minnesota Fats had you locked in—the training, the setbacks, the rematch pressure—then Beth Harmon’s climb through the chess world will hit that same nerve. Tevis channels the same taut momentum: lonely practice, predatory mentors, and a final, high-stakes faceoff where every move is a test of nerve as much as talent.

If the smoky back rooms, quiet threats, and hard bargains with Bert Gordon stuck with you, Higgins’s Boston crime world will feel chillingly familiar. Like Eddie’s pool halls, these bars and parking-lot meetings hum with risk, where one bad play ends a career—or a life. The dialogue snaps, the choices are ugly, and survival means compromising one line at a time.

If Bert Gordon’s cold-blooded guidance—pushing Eddie to win at any cost—fascinated you, The Professional offers a purer, equally relentless trainer–fighter bond. You’ll feel the grind of preparation, the tactical mind games before the bout, and the way a mentor’s agenda can sharpen or warp a contender—just as Eddie learned the price of letting someone else steer his hunger.