"Lou Berney's Crooks stands with some of the finest crime novels ever written." — Don Winslow
#1 Internationally bestselling author "A panoramic cross-generational look at a unique family
pursuing their individual visions of the American dream” — Joseph Finder New York Times
bestselling author From award-winning author Lou Berney comes an electrifying new novel that
follows a uniquely American crime family on an unforgettable journey across four decades.
You’ve never met a family like the Mercurios. They say the American dream is going farther in
life than your parents ever did. But how does that work if your parents are criminals? For
Buddy a low-level mob wise guy and Lillian a charming pickpocket the criminal underworld
is the only life they’ve ever known. When they’re forced to flee the glittering Babylon of Las
Vegas they end up opening a club in Oklahoma City—a town that quickly feels like a gold mine
of fresh marks and easy new money. Along for the ride are their five children all of them
raised into the family business of crime—until the day comes when they each have a chance to
make their own way in the world even if they can never completely escape the family’s long
dark shadow. Jeremy the family’s Golden Boy will throw himself into the glittering
excesses of a drug-fueled Hollywood in the roaring 1980s. Tallulah the daredevil will find
herself in the deadly Wild West of post-communist Moscow. Ray the dope the dumb muscle since
he was a kid wants nothing more than to put down his gun but following orders is all he’s
ever known. Alice the genius who renounced her life of crime long ago now sees her
white-shoe law firm being blackmailed and must tap into old skills to save both the company and
her own life. And Piggy a civilian always on the outside looking in on his crime family
desperate to be part of the gang. Crooks is an epic novel about a truly unforgettable
family–forty years of peril as each Mercurio has to grapple in their own way with the
family’s powerful criminal legacy.
