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Book Cover for: Crooks: A Novel about Crime and Family, Lou Berney

Crooks: A Novel about Crime and Family

Lou Berney

Reader Score

85%

85% of readers

recommend this book

Critic Reviews

Great

Based on 4 reviews on

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"Lou Berney's Crooks stands with some of the finest crime novels ever written." -- Don Winslow, #1 Internationally bestselling author

"A panoramic, cross-generational look at a unique family pursuing their individual visions of the American dream" -- Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author

From award-winning author Lou Berney comes an electrifying new novel that follows a uniquely American crime family on an unforgettable journey across four decades.

You've never met a family like the Mercurios.

They say the American dream is going farther in life than your parents ever did. But how does that work if your parents are criminals?

For Buddy, a low-level mob wise guy, and Lillian, a charming pickpocket, the criminal underworld is the only life they've ever known. When they're forced to flee the glittering Babylon of Las Vegas, they end up opening a club in Oklahoma City--a town that quickly feels like a gold mine of fresh marks and easy new money. Along for the ride are their five children, all of them raised into the family business of crime--until the day comes when they each have a chance to make their own way in the world, even if they can never completely escape the family's long, dark shadow.

Jeremy, the family's Golden Boy, will throw himself into the glittering excesses of a drug-fueled Hollywood in the roaring 1980s.

Tallulah, the daredevil, will find herself in the deadly Wild West of post-communist Moscow.

Ray, the dope, the dumb muscle since he was a kid, wants nothing more than to put down his gun, but following orders is all he's ever known.

Alice, the genius who renounced her life of crime long ago, now sees her white-shoe law firm being blackmailed and must tap into old skills to save both the company and her own life.

And Piggy, a civilian always on the outside looking in on his crime family, desperate to be part of the gang.

Crooks is an epic novel about a truly unforgettable family-forty years of peril as each Mercurio has to grapple, in their own way, with the family's powerful criminal legacy.

Book Details

  • Publisher: William Morrow & Company
  • Publish Date: Sep 9th, 2025
  • Pages: 384
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 9.18in - 6.48in - 1.13in - 1.09lb
  • EAN: 9780063445574
  • Categories: CrimeThrillers - CrimeFamily Life - Siblings

About the Author

Berney, Lou: -

Lou Berney is the multiple award-winning author of November Road, The Long and Faraway Gone, Double Barrel Bluff, Dark Ride, as well as Gutshot Straight and Whiplash River. His short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Ploughshares, and the Pushcart Prize anthology. He lives in Oklahoma City.

Critics’ reviews

Praise for this book

"A truly stunning masterpiece of crime fiction. Lou Berney's Crooks stands with some of the finest crime novels ever written which is no surprise since it comes from one of the greatest literary crime novelists in the world. A fascinating family crime cocktail with elements of Goodfellas, Boogie Nights, and The Godfather all brilliantly mixed together in one unforgettable novel." -- Don Winslow, #1 Internationally bestselling author

"Lou Berney is always good, but this book is dazzling: a panoramic, cross-generational look at a unique family pursuing their individual visions of the American dream. I wanted to spend more time with every one of these characters, and not just to make sure they weren't looting my bank account. Vivid, ingenious, compassionate -- a tour de force." -- Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author of The Oligarch's Daughter

"Crooks is a smart and funny crime novel with a big, big heart. The characters are so easy to love, and Lou Berney's writing is alive with wit and warmth and joy. He's such a gifted stylist and a terrific storyteller. I've read all of his books and this is my new favorite. I would recommend Crooks to just about anyone. Don't miss it!" -- Jason Rekulak, New York Times bestselling author of Hidden Pictures

"The incomparable Lou Berney does it again. Spellbinding, gritty, wickedly clever, and utterly addictive, Crooks is superior crime fiction with a global reach." -- NYT and #1 International Bestselling author, Karin Slaughter

"I love this book. I love these messy rogues and their incompetent capers, I love the richly disparate settings and pitch-perfect eras, I love the ebb-and-flow pacing and the lightning bolts of humor, but most of all I simply love Lou Berney's sentence-by-sentence writing, offering profound reading enjoyment on every page." -- Chris Pavone, New York Times bestselling author of Two Nights in Lisbon

"Darkly funny, wildly stylish, and full of heart, Lou Berney's CROOKS is a tour de force, a decades-spanning epic of the most charming, eccentric family you could hope to meet. Every setting dazzles, every sentence crackles, and every character steals the scene. What a fantastic, voice-driven triumph. I am in awe!" -- Angie Kim, New York Times bestselling author of Happiness Falls and Miracle Creek

"Crooks is a propulsive, big-hearted crime saga that somehow manages to be both wildly entertaining and deeply moving. In Crooks, Lou Berney reimagines the American dream through the eyes of a crime family chasing success one con at a time. It's a tender, shrewd, and often darkly funny portrait of a family bound by love, lies, and larceny. With his signature warmth and precision, Berney explores what it means to belong--to a country, a family, and a legacy you didn't choose." -- Jean Kwok, NYT best-selling author of The Leftover Woman

"Berney continues to expand the genre of Midwest noir with style, humor, and a deep understanding of human frailty and flaw." -- Kirkus Reviews

"A remarkable, memorable novel from a master of crime fiction." -- Booklist

"With darkly funny dialogue and quick pacing, it's both unputdownable and something you're not ready to see come to a conclusion." -- The Oklahoma Gazette

"Berney is a gifted storyteller, and in his hands, Crooks and its wayward criminals demand your attention and appreciation -- although maybe not your forgiveness." -- Minnesota Star Tribune

"Works as both an epic crime tale and an intimate family story ... Berney's style and flair for character and plot have earned him numerous awards. Crooks ranks at the top of his novels." -- South Florida Sun Sentinel

"Dark Ride is Lou Berney at his best. This story...is both thrilling and heartbreaking but ultimately life affirming." -- S.A. Cosby, New York Times bestselling author of Razorblade Tears and Blacktop Wasteland

"Stellar... Few readers will finish this unmoved." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Dark Ride

"Dark Ride effortlessly grabs you and does not let you go until the final page. I didn't want this book to end and it stayed with me long after I finished reading it. Lou Berney is a magnificent writer with talent to burn." -- Don Winslow, New York Times bestselling author of The Cartel and City on Fire

"...a heart-wrenching and twisting path, populated by a richly drawn cast of weird and lovable characters and dangerous scenarios. Dark Ride is moving, deeply involving, funny, breathless, and I loved every single page of Hardly's harrowing journey from stoner to sleuth." -- Lisa Unger, New York Times bestselling author of Last Girl Ghosted and Confessions on the 7:45

"Dark Ride is a brilliant book from a master storyteller." -- T.J. Newman, New York Times bestselling author of Falling

"A suspense novel shot through with heart and soul, it has the feel of an instant classic." -- Steph Cha, bestselling author of Our House Will Pay, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize

"Dark Ride is a wild, funny, intense, charming, brilliantly written thriller that I couldn't have loved more. From page one to the stunning end, I was under its spell." -- Lisa Lutz, New York Times bestselling author of The Spellman Files the Passenger

"Dark Ride is quite simply dynamite. Lou Berney lights the fuse on the first page and from there, the suspense builds to an utterly explosive climax." -- William Kent Krueger, New York Times bestselling author of The River We Remember

"Lou Berney is such a talent, and he's at the top of his game here. Dark Ride will grab your heart in chapter one and not let go until the final, searing page." -- Alafair Burke, New York Times bestselling author of Find Me

"Put your to-be-read pile to the side. A new book from Lou Berney should go to the top of your agenda." -- Lori Rader-Day, award-winning author of The Death of Us

"When people say they want to read a really good novel, the kind you just can't put down, this is the kind of book they mean. Exceptional." -- Stephen King on November Road