by Lou Berney
First published 2025
Buddy Mercurio runs low-level mob operations while his wife Lillian works as a pickpocket in Las Vegas. When trouble forces them to flee Nevada, they relocate to Oklahoma City and open a club that becomes their new base for criminal enterprises. Their five children grow up learning the family trade, but each eventually faces a choice between crime and legitimate life. Jeremy chases Hollywood dreams in the cocaine-fueled 1980s. Tallulah ventures into the dangerous chaos of post-Soviet Moscow. Ray, the family enforcer, yearns to abandon violence but knows only how to follow orders. Alice escaped years ago to become a lawyer, but when her firm faces blackmail, she must resurrect her criminal skills. Piggy remains an outsider, desperately wanting acceptance from his criminal relatives. As four decades pass, each Mercurio struggles with their inherited legacy of corruption, and the family's dark history threatens to consume them all.
Genres: fiction, historical-fiction, crime, family-drama
Vibes: dark, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: found-family, legacy
Setting: Las Vegas, Oklahoma City, Moscow
Period: 1980s, 4 Decades
380 pages · Kindle Edition · William Morrow
Content warnings: violence