Lou Berney will be appearing at The Poisoned Pen on Wednesday, September 10 at 7:00 PM MST to discuss his latest novel, Crooks, with guest host Meg Gardiner. There will be signed copies of Crooks available in the Webstore. https://bit.ly/463bRo4. You can watch the event on the bookstore’s Facebook page or YouTube channel if you can’t make it to the bookstore.
We’re fortunate that Oline Cogdill shares her review with us, as it was published in the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Thank you, Oline.
Book review: New ‘Crooks’ is both an epic crime tale & an intimate family story
‘Crooks’ by Lou Berney; William Morrow; 384 pages; $30
Several crooks inhabit Lou Berney’s outstanding “Crooks,” and most of them are members of the Mercurio family, including the parents and their five children.
Spanning more than 50 years, “Crooks” works as both an epic crime tale and an intimate family story as Berney concentrates on his characters to guide the clever plot.
“Crooks” begins in 1961 when Buddy Mercurio is a 22-year-old, low-level member of the Chicago mafia who lives in Las Vegas, “the city a convertible speeding down the highway, a soft whisper in your ear.” He loves the crime life, the power and money that he skims off the top from his bosses’ take: “It’s in his blood.”
Then, he meets swindler Lillian, who’s barely out of her teens. He spots her in the middle of a pickpocketing scheme, and instantly falls in love, seeing that crime is “in her blood,” too. Before long, they have five children — Jeremy, Tallulah, Ray, Alice and Piggy — and, oddly enough, the couple takes to domestic life as they do crime. Buddy gets deeper into mob business, but his “side hustle” grows, coming to the attention of his bosses who order him killed. Buddy learns that his life, and possibly the lives of his family, are in danger, so all seven Mercurios flee in the middle of the night to Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma City? That’s where Lillian has inherited a house that’s a bit ramshackle and in a not-so-good neighborhood. But the mob would never think of looking for them there. Buddy has long thought that he and his family have led “charmed lives” and this proves true for him and his children. At first, Buddy takes “regular” jobs that pay ordinary salaries. But crime is in his blood, and soon he is back in the game and skimming money.
Berney’s spare writing, akin to the late Elmore Leonard, quickly gets to the heart and soul of each character.
Berney deftly shows that a legacy of criminal tendencies filters through each Mercurio. “We’re Mercurios,” becomes a mantra for the entire family, meaning that none of them plays by the rules, or rather each makes up their own rules and moral code. Little scams grow into big ones, then even larger ones. “Crooks” shows each Mercurio through the decades as they mature into adulthood and how their background affects each. None can quite resist the draw of crime, even those who insist they are law-abiding.
But crime never takes priority over family as Berney illustrates how each truly loves the other, giving “We’re Mercurios” a different meaning.
Berney’s style and flair for character and plot have earned him numerous awards. “Crooks” ranks at the top of his novels.