It’s about that time where we review the featured book for October 2015. We chose Gangsterland as the featured book for our book club, we also gave away a digital copy of the book to a lucky subscriber. If you haven’t already, be sure to sign up to the reader’s group to be in with a chance of winning November’s featured book; which will be revealed within a matter of hours.
Gangsterland is based on one of Tod Goldberg’s short stories, Mitzvah. Mitzvah was written for Las Vegas Noir, an anthology of short stories about Las Vegas. After writing the characters in Mitzvah, Tod knew he had to turn it into a fully-fledged novel, and that’s how Gangsterland was born. Tod talks about the origins of the book in detail in our interview with him.
The story follows a Chicago hitman for the mob (named Sal Cupertine), who’s left in hot water after murdering two FBI agents. Sal must now go undercover to avoid bringing heat to the rest of the mob, and with the help of a couple of his mob connections he finds himself in Las Vegas where he must now live as a Rabbi.
The story also follows the investigation of one of the FBI agents (Jeff Hopper) that was in the vicinity during the murder. Jeff Hopper is out-casted by the FBI after the murder because fellow agents believe he’s responsible for the outcome of the incident. I can’t get too much into his story arc, but Jeff Hopper is just as rough around the edges as Sal Cupertine himself, yet the two characters contrast each other so well.
As for the writing of the story, there’s an abundance of dark humour in Gangsterland, and it’s so subtly enjoyable that it will have you secretly rooting for the overly violent bad guy. When you can empathize with a murderous hitman to the point you don’t want to see him brought to justice, you know the author has done a fantastic job writing the character.
My only gripe with Gangsterland is that there are often times when Sal Cupertine is aware of some of Jeff Hoppers moves back in Chicago. Sure, he could easily have read about it in a newspaper or article, but we never get to actually see how Sal finds out about these happenings, and what his reaction is to learning about it. These parts feel like missed opportunities, but it’s certainly not enough to take away from the story.
If you’re into mob stories, then there’s no denying that Gangsterland will be right up your alley. I was hooked from start to finish, and I completed the book in just over seven days (which is rare for me). However, for some, the violent undertones might be tough to swallow. Gangsterland is a book of preference, you have to love the genre to love the book.
What our reader’s group thought of Gangsterland
Every month we’ll allow members of our readers’ group to have their say on what they thought of the featured book. Here’s some quotes submitted from our readers.
C. Bates
Gangsterland is one of the funniest books I’ve read this year.
Brooke Rogers
Not my usual genre but it was a fun read. I’m interested in reading the next one.
Pete Johnston
Brutal but funny. Tod Golberg’s Gangsterland is both epic and deeply personal.
