Gangsters Don't Die
A Novel
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4.3 • 11 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Reading the West Book Awards Nominee
The “gloriously original” (The New York Times) and critically acclaimed crime series starring a Chicago hitman hiding out as a rabbi in the desert suburbs of Las Vegas comes to its thrilling conclusion
Mafia hit-man-turned-rabbi Sal Cupertine is ready to get out of the life. But it’s not going to be easy. His once-brilliant plan to pass himself off as Rabbi David Cohen is unraveling. Enemies on both sides of the law are hot on his trail. His wife and son are unreachable in witness protection and are probably in danger. In order to find his family, get out of the desert alive, and salvage his long-sought-after happy ending, Sal is going to have to confront some very bad people from his past.
Native American kingpin Peaches Pocotillo has wrested control of Chicago’s mob family while expanding his criminal empire in the west, and now seeks to settle an old score with Sal. These two antiheroes have a history that stretches back decades, and the blood feud between Peaches and Sal will lead them to a violent showdown deep in the heart of the low desert.
As complications cast old revelations in a new light, including one that stretches back to the long-ago death of Sal’s infamous gangster father Dark Billy Cupertine, Sal must team up with some unlikely allies—and confront the reality of who he has become—in this stunning conclusion to the popular and critically acclaimed Gangsterland trilogy.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Goldberg concludes his Gangsterland trilogy in style, following up 2017's Gangster Nation with a mesmerizing comic noir that's fully accessible to series newcomers. After killing several FBI agents in 1998 Chicago, mobster Sal Cupertine hid in the back of a meat truck and reemerged in Las Vegas, where he assumed the identity of Rabbi David Cohen. In time, Sal grew into the role, providing genuine succor to his congregation and finding some satisfaction in doing so. But by 2002, the walls are closing in on him. Hospitalized after being assaulted—an attack that's undone the plastic surgery he's used to conceal his true identity—Sal is targeted by Matthew Drew, a former FBI agent who's been framed for murders in Portland, Ore., and Peaches Pocotillo, a Native American gang lord who's looking to take over Sal's operations. Drawing his foes out to the desert, Sal prepares for a final showdown that will either end his life or free him for good. Goldberg keeps readers guessing whether Sal will again outsmart his foes and injects humor throughout ("The problem with being on the FBI's Most Wanted list, Matthew Drew realized, was the lack of dining options") to keep the proceedings from growing too grim. This is a stellar end to one of the most inventive crime series in recent memory.
