Great Lakes Goombah Guns Down 4 G-men, Goes to Hide in Vegas where He Turns into Tony with a Torah*3.5 stars*I enjoyed this easily-readable crime novel with its dark and dryly witty plot.Rabbi David Cohen (aka Sal Cupertino, a 35-year-old shadowy hitman with a bad plastic surgery job) appears to go through a existential crisis-lite as he misses his wife and young son and considers the Torah that he's basically committed to memory (his mob nickname was "Rain Man"), but maintains his killer karma....

Normally I’m wary of any crime book labelled as funny, and effusive taglines testifying to the scale of hilarity contained within, but this was an absolute hoot from start to finish. Arising from a short story entitled Mitzvah, the book is not only a dark and sinister crime caper, set in Las Vegas, but contains some of the sharpest wiseguy humour so reminiscent of the old master Elmore Leonard. The whole set-up for the plot with a sadistic Chicago hitman having to re-invent himself as a rabbi in...

I was lucky to get an early version of this remarkable, thoroughly enjoyable book. It's funny, scary, soulful, and so much fun.

Black comedy and violent crime, a mob hitman hides out as a rabbi in Las Vegas. So, he's learning to be Jewish and studying religious texts. The pace may be too slow for action lovers, never mind the body count. The mob side of the story is better than the FBI side, which reads like flat noir.

NY Times Book Review made me do it: Sal Cupertine is a legendary hit man for the Chicago Mafia, and has to disappear when he kills three undercover FBI agents and a CI. He is stashed in a meat truck to Las Vegas, where following plastic surgery, he emerges as Rabbi David Cohen. Leading a growing congregation, he presides over funerals and counsels his congregation, quoting Torah, Talmud or Springsteen with aplomb. Of course, he cannot fully escape his life of crime and has to face a rogue, venge...

This is a strange book, certainly a crime novel but not really a thriller, more a novel of manners than of intrigue, full of moral ruminations but with a protagonist who is utterly morally corrupt.It has a great hook: the Chicago mob's top hitman gets a little carried away and kills three FBI agents, bringing down intense heat. Normally he would get whacked for the indiscretion, but he has friends in high places and instead gets "sold" to a Las Vegas crime boss who arranges for plastic surgery a...

The premise sounded more interesting than the actual book. The story just dragged on and on, no real ups and downs, just flat landscape. It lacked grip which is something one would expect from a mobster story.

Mafia hitman Sal Cupertino has a rare error of judgement and kills some FBI agents. Oops. His guys smuggle him to Vegas, and after a whole bunch of plastic surgery, Sal becomes Rabbi David Cohen. This premise is absurd AF, but it was exceptionally engaging and entertaining. Loved it and can't wait to read Gangster Nation, the next in this...series? Trilogy? However many there are, I'm there for them.

The idea of juxtaposing the mafia, a hit man, and a Reform Jewish temple in Las Vegas forms the basis for this outrageous but satisfying novel. It is filled with a variety of characters and a plot that carries the theme with aplomb. While the concept may appear to be beyond the realms of reality, the author carries it out with grace and humor. It all begins in Chicago, where Sal Cupertine is an extraordinary hit man for the mob, efficient, careful and never caught. Until one day he is assigned t...

Stop me if you’ve heard this one. A rabbi and a Mafia hitman walk into a bar. The joke is that they’re the same person.Sal Cupertine is a contract killer for the mob in Chicago, and for decades he managed to remain in the shadows. That all changes after he walks into a FBI sting operation and ends up killing several agents. Now Sal is at the top of the most wanted list, and the mob fake his death and smuggle him to Las Vegas.After plastic surgery, Sal learns that he’s expected to take on the ide...

I vacillated between really enjoying this book and being bored by events occurring within the story. If that seems a strange juxtaposition, it's no stranger than the story itself.Mr. Goldberg shows us what little difference there is between organized crime and organized religion. He achieves this by utilizing a hit man for the mob and a Jewish rabbi. In this story's case, as unlikely as it seems, it's the same man Sal Cupertine aka Rabbi David Cohen. Let me explain.Sal has made a mess up in nego...

I received this this via Goodreads Giveaways in exchange for an honest review. All my opinions are my own:).----Short review because I'm tired and have to leave for work soon. (Is the Mad Hatter hiring? Sort of kidding)Anyways:Characters 3.5 starsWriting - 3 starsPlot: 3 starsMaybe 3.25 overall?---Pleasant read, didn't fully connect with it but had fun all the same. I could see this being a good movie or mini-series (HBO or Netflix perhaps) with maybe Bryan Cranston in one of the roles or someth...

Came to this after totally loving Goldberg’s short story collection ‘The Low Desert’. ‘Gangsterland’ follows Sal Cupertine, a Chicago hitman who botches an assassination, as he is transformed into David Cohen, a Las Vegas rabbi, after months of plastic surgery. Of course, he is a rabbi involved in, among other things, body-laundering for the mob. Jeff Hopper, the FBI agent, slowly closes in on him and the suspense sort of increases. It is interesting enough, and does have its moments, but it nev...

A breezy criminal underworld page-turner with a creamy kosher middle. The thrilling inevitability of Torah and tommy guns.

This was really 3 1/2 stars. I was having a hard time choosing what to read next and found this under a pile. I had borrowed it from the library soon after it came out, but a smoker had borrowed it before me and I was unable to read it, because it smelled so bad and made me wheeze. I bought a copy and then had other things to read for book clubs and then could not find a book I wanted to read. Gangsterland broke me out of my slump ( it only took me so long to read as work interfered!). It is the...

How funny is Tod Goldberg's new novel, Gansterland? A laugh a page funny. A book about a gangster who is relocated from Chicago to Las Vegas and given a new identity as a Rabbi!!This is a really fun summer read!! I think Goldberg has hit the mark, he has used a topic that is real, the Mafia in Las Vegas, Chicago and other major cities and he has made it funny. This is definitely a fun book to read and really got me thinking about the Jewish players in the history of the mob. I will be doing some...

A Chicago mob hitman botches a job and is sent packing to Las Vegas to lay low under an assumed identity as a suburban Jewish rabbi. Sounds like a premise for either high comedy, or a treacly Hollywood-style morality tale. Thankfully, this novel is neither.What it is, is a smart, crackling thriller filled with complex personalities, a gripping storyline, and, for the record, Talmudic wisdom. It's a mark of Goldberg's mastery of the form that he dodges all clichés and expectations. He has the rea...

Dark, poignant, sad and occasionally very funny. Filled with full, believable and deeply flawed characters. So well written that many of the chapters can stand alone as set pieces.

Clever premise, quick read, decent execution. I must say I liked the premise of the book more than the actual book itself. The writing was fine, the characters funny/interesting - it read more like a movie/TV show than a novel and looking at the bio of the author I can see why. It was compelling enough to make me want to finish, but I do not think I will think about it much now that I'm done.

A legendary hit man for the Chicago Mafia named Sal Cupertine is spirited off to Las Vegas in a refrigerated meat truck after a botched job. There, after six months of radical plastic surgery and cramming with the Torah and the Talmud, he resurfaces as Rabbi David Cohen in a thriving suburban Reform congregation. Funny, right? Could be hilarious? Unfortunately, it isn’t.Oh, Gangsterland has its moments. There are times when the sheer absurdity of the premise becomes overwhelming, and my only def...