★ 07/21/2014
Complex characters with understandable motivations distinguish this highly unusual crime novel from Goldberg (Living Dead Girl). When a sample of some particularly fine heroin causes Sal Cupertine, a hit man for the Chicago Family, to abandon his usual careful methods and execute three undercover FBI agents in a downtown hotel, Sal is certain that the Mafia will make him disappear. What he doesn’t expect is that, months later, after multiple plastic surgeries and much study of Judaic holy texts, he will reemerge into the light of day in Las Vegas as Rabbi David Cohen. Back in Chicago, FBI agent Jeff Hopper is determined to track Sal down and make him pay for killing his team of agents. All Sal really wants to do is get to his wife, Jennifer, and their toddler son, William, and then disappear. Goldberg injects Talmudic wisdom and a hint of Springsteen into the workings of organized crime and FBI investigative techniques and makes it all work splendidly. Agent: Jennie Dunham, Dunham Literary. (Sept.)
In his plotting, dialogue and empathy for the bad guys, Goldberg aspires to the heights of Elmore Leonard. For those who miss the master, Gangsterland is a high–grade substitute.” —The New York Times
"[A] cleverly spun novel that forced me to abandon my wiseguy moratorium. Goldberg has an amusing flair for contemporary hard–boil, and he knows his crime and crime–fighting procedures." —Las Vegas Weekly
"As sharp as a straight razor. But a lot more fun. Count me a huge fan." —Lee Child, the New York Times bestselling author of Personal: A Jack Reacher Novel
"Gangsterland is rich with complex and meaty characters, but its greatest strength is that it never pulls a punch, never holds back, and never apologizes for life's absurdities. If this novel were a person, you could ask it for a bookie." —Brad Meltzer, bestselling author of The Fifth Assassin
"Tod Goldberg is a one–of–a–kind writer, and this is his best novel to date. Harrowing, funny, wise, and heretical, Gangsterland is everything a thriller should be." —T. Jefferson Parker, author of Full Measure
"Let's get this part out of the way: Gangsterland is a thriller, and provides a crackling good read for any fan of the genre. But the truth is, to call this book merely a thriller is inaccurate. It's also a whip–smart comedy, a sublime morality play, and a gleefully blasphemous investigation of what and why we worship. There's something for everyone here. Just make sure you set aside a good chunk of time, because once you start reading you won't want to stop." —Ron Currie, Jr., author of God is Dead
"Clearly influenced by the great Elmore Leonard, Goldberg puts his own dry comic spin on the material…Clever plotting, a colorful cast of characters, and priceless situations make this comedic crime novel an instant classic." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Goldberg injects Talmudic wisdom and a hint of Springsteen into the workings of organized crime and FBI investigative techniques and makes it all work splendidly.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"The Mafia plus the Torah makes for a darkly funny and suspenseful morality tale . . . [Goldberg] can spin a good yarn." —The Millions
"Sal's transformation—and intermittent edification—into Rabbi Cohen is brilliantly rendered, and Goldberg's careening plot, cast of memorably dubious characters, and mordant portrait of Las Vegas make this one of the year's best hard–boiled crime novels." —Booklist (starred review)
"Goldberg's new book is clever bordering on wise, like Get Shorty on antacid." —David Kipen, Los Angeles Magazine
“Gangsterland is Tod Goldberg at the height of his hilarious and incisive and hell–bent powers as a writer of who we are and what we thought we wanted and how we tried to stay alive in America—if we were insanely funny and contemplative hit men. No one does Vegas, the desert, money, and mayhem like Goldberg. I stayed up six nights in a row reading, unable to put this book down because I couldn't wait to see how he'd play each card." —Susan Straight, author of Between Heaven and Here
"Infinitely readable, infinitely funny, and infinitely better than anything else you'll read this year!" —Craig Johnson, author of the Walt Longmire Mysteries and the basis for A&E's hit series Longmire
"This ribbing of contemporary Jewish life—or taste-challenged American affluence in general—runs through the book, though it's mostly gentle. The book's real bite comes from its exposure of corrupt religious authority, and the story is at its best when it's mocking our unquestioning acceptance of whatever morsels of wisdom our leaders decide to feed us. (For all we know, they could moonlight as hit men. Or writers.) . . . A modern story, written for readers who like their imaginary characters to live in the real world." —Los Angeles Book Review
"Just when you thought the mafia novel was dead, Tod Goldberg breathes new life into it. Gangsterland, the best mafia novel in years, is a dark, funny, and smart page–turning crime story. It's also a moving, thoughtful meditation on ethics, religion, family, and a culture that eats itself. I loved this book." —Sara Gran, author of Claire DeWitt and the Bohemian Highway
"With his eye for human detail and trademark wit, as dry as a desert breeze, Tod Goldberg charts Sal Cupertine's unlikely transition from stone–cold mob hitman to Las Vegas rabbi. This tale of witness relocation–by–mob—part Elmore Leonard, part Theatre of the Absurd—is a compelling examination of salvation, which comes in various guises and moves in elusive ways. A wholly unique tale from a wholly unique voice." —Gregg Hurwitz, the New York Times bestselling author of Don't Look Back
"Tod Goldberg has long been one of the most interesting writers around, and Gangsterland is his biggest and best book so far." —Thomas Perry
★ 2014-08-14
Targeted by both the feds and his bosses in the Chicago mob after messing up on the job, a prolific hit man hides out in Las Vegas as, of all things, a rabbi. Sal Cupertine has been offing people for more than 15 years without being seen or leaving a spot of evidence. But on a bad day in 1998, he kills three FBI agents—"Donnie Brascos"—in a hotel room to avoid capture. The mob wants Sal's head for ruining an unspoken arrangement with the feds that lets it buy heroin from the Mexicans. Sal's older cousin in the "The Family" secretly transports him to Vegas, where, his face surgically altered, the hit man is trained to become Rabbi David Cohen. Meanwhile, Jeff Hopper, an underachieving FBI agent whose lack of planning is blamed for the deaths of his colleagues, is in pursuit. Suspended for refusing to go along with his superiors' acceptance of a burned corpse as Sal's, Hopper has his big moment dressing down mob enforcer Fat Monte, who proves wiser and more sensitive than he looks. Clearly influenced by the great Elmore Leonard, Goldberg puts his own dry comic spin on the material, with perhaps a bit more self-reflection on Sal/David's part than Leonard would allow. While anyone with an Italian last name is grist for a crime columnist in late-'90s Vegas, the Kosher Nostra is quietly making its own big scores, running illicit schemes out of a local synagogue. With a memory that earned him the nickname Rain Man, Sal is great at spouting quotes from the Torah—even as he eyes his next victim—but has a tendency to mix those words up with Bruce Springsteen lyrics. Clever plotting, a colorful cast of characters and priceless situations make this comedic crime novel an instant classic.
