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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
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GANGSTER NATION

Tod Goldberg

Tod Goldberg's sequel to GANGSTERLAND, the critically acclaimed 2014 Hammett Prize Finalist with foreign rights sold in seven countries and an outright purchase to CBS, continues the often deadly adventures of a Chicago hit man disappeared into the guise of a rabbi in Las Vegas, trying to maintain his cover as a spiritual leader and scheme a way back to his family.
It’s been two years since the events of Gangsterland, when legendary Chicago hitman Sal Cupertine disappeared into the guise of Vegas Rabbi David Cohen. It’s September of 2001 and for David, everything is coming up gold: Temple membership is on the rise, the new private school is raking it in, and the mortuary and cemetery?where Cohen has been laundering bodies for the mob?is minting cash. But Sal wants out. He’s got money stashed in safe-deposit boxes all over the city. He’s looking at places to escape to, Mexico or maybe Argentina. He only needs to make it through the High Holidays, and he’ll have enough money to slip away, grab his wife and kid, and start fresh.

Across the country, former FBI agent Matthew Drew is now running security for an Indian Casino outside of Milwaukee, spending his off-time stalking members of The Family, looking for vengeance for the murder of his former partner. So when Sal’s cousin stumbles into the casino one night, Matthew takes the law into his own hands?again?touching off a series of events that will have Rabbi Cohen running for his life, trapped in Las Vegas, with the law, society, and the post-9/11 world closing in around him.

Gangster Nation is a thrilling follow-up to Gangsterland, an unexpected, page-turning examination of the seedy foundations of American life. With the wit and gritty glamor that defines his writing, Goldberg traces how the things we most value in our lives?home, health, even our spiritual lives?have been built on the enterprises of criminals.

Tod Goldberg is the author of the crime-tinged novels Living Dead Girl, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Fake Liar Cheat, and the popular Burn Notice TV series. His writing appears in the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Salon, Wall Street Journal, E!, and Las Vegas CityLife, among others.
Available products
Book

Published 2017-10-01 by Counterpoint

Book

Published 2017-10-01 by Counterpoint

Comments

Fantastic interview with Tod on Electric Lit: Where Crime Fiction Meets the Talmud/.madcap spiritual noir. Read more...

Tod Goldberg writes an OP-ED for the Los Angeles Times after the shootings in Las Vegas: What Happens in Vegas Always Escapes Read more...

review and interview: A Chicago hit man who becomes a rabbi in Vegas? Welcome to Tod Goldberg's 'Gangster Nation' Read more...

UK: No Exit Press ; Holland: Q

Coast Magazine picks Gangster Nation as 1 of 6 Books to Read this Month: "Fans of Elmore Leonard will quickly devour Tod Goldberg's latest novel, "Gangster Nation." [...] [T]his worthy follow-up sees Goldberg fine-tune his signature mix of dark humor, violent crime, Talmudic wisdom and suburban satire. Read more...

Terrific feature interview in THE DESERT SUN with "the Todfather": Desert author Tod Goldberg finds balance between murderous thoughts and goodness Read more...

One can't help but think of such greats as Mario Puzo, Jimmy Breslin, Elmore Leonard, and Donald E. Westlake while reading this witty, brutal, vital book. Goldberg is a master, expertly building upon the grim goings-on of Gangsterland, merrily pursuing plot points set up there to their logical, wicked ends. And, as if the impressive buildup of tension weren't sufficient, he ends the current installment on a cliff hanger of truly epic proportions, setting up what appears to be the forthcoming and final installment of the Gangster trilogy. This reviewer is already getting itchy, waiting for that welcome denouement.

Tod Goldberg interview with Terry Ambrose Read more...

Great Mysteries & Thrillers (blog) loves Gangster Nation: "Goldberg has written a funny, unique and sometimes poignant novel of mistake, regret, and faith. GANGSTER NATION is violent, unpredictable, and wonderful. Read it if you know what is good for you."

...a bold and daring adventure that hits hard early on and never lets up.

Gangsterlandby Tod Goldberg (Counterpoint, 2014), about a hit man for the Chicago mob who went into the witness protection program, has been optioned by Caryn Mandabach Productions. (Publishers Marketplace) https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/page-to-screen/article/74409-book-to-film-deals-week-of-august-7-2017.html It's official, Film/TV rights sold to Caryn Mandabach, award-winning television producer of ground-breaking hits like the gangster family epic Peaky Blinders, Nurse Jackie and That 70s Show. She intends to turn our hitman rabbi into the star of a Jewish Sopranos series. Read more...

Gangster Nation is 1 of 6 Crime Must Reads this September, featured in LitHub: "Not only religion but family (what is the mafia if not a family?) and community are dissected in Goldberg's sharp satires, which also happen to be excellent crime novels."