Lou Berney has won various crime fiction awards for his novels The Long and Faraway Gone, November Road, Dark Ride and Double Barrel Bluff. Those books have nothing in common except the author, his imagination, and his skill in telling an engrossing story. Now, he gives us Crooks, a novel about a family of criminals, with the emphasis on family.

Buddy Mercurio was from a family of crooks. “It’s in his blood.” He’s twenty-two and a rising star in the Las Vegas mob when he meets Lillian Ott. Yes, she’s a looker, but he’s most impressed with her coolness when he witnesses her lift a woman’s wallet, take a few bills, and replace it. He realizes “It’s in her blood, too”, and it isn’t long before the two of them are together. After they marry, Lillian is busy turning out kids, Raymond, Jr., Jeremy, Alice, an adopted daughter named Tallulah, and the afterthought, Piggy (Paul). When it gets too hot for Buddy in Las Vegas, they flee to Oklahoma City, Lillian’s hometown. She had escaped from there, and hoped never to return.

What does a crook do in Oklahoma City? He opens a disco. When things go south, he plans to run. But, Lillian has similar plans, and the kids are caught in the middle.

Berney’s Crooks is about a family raised to be conmen and criminals, all except Piggy. He doesn’t even share the same memories as his older siblings. He remembers his father as a salesman and his mother baking. The older siblings, who have different memories, go their separate ways, but keep the taste for the family business. It’s in their blood.

Buddy and Lillian’s early years are covered in 1961. Oklahoma City from 1976 to 1978 see the young Mercurios and their parents’ struggle. Then, Berney Introduces each of the children as adults. Jeremy is in LA from 1984-85. He’s a charming, wannabe actor. How did Tallulah, “A runty adopted Choctaw girl from Oklahoma City end up in Moscow, Russia in 1994? By 1996, Ray’s been working for the owner of El Marrakech, a lounge on the Strip in Las Vegas. At thirty-three, he’s worked there since he was eighteen. By 2006, Alice, the smart, ambitious one, has forged her own path. Then, there’s Piggy, always hoping for a family reunion with the family he thinks he remembers.

Yes, Berney’s novel is about a family of Crooks. It’s in their blood. But, it’s really about a family, raised by the same crooked parents, whose memories and feelings are different. This is not the family nor the life choices readers will expect. Knowing my own sisters, and the memories we don’t share, I appreciated the differences reflected by each sibling. My favorite is Ray, the one who followed in his parents’ footsteps by going to Las Vegas. But, does he? And, it’s hard not to feel for Piggy who can’t shake his childhood nickname. He’s bewildered by his older brothers and sisters, and yearns for the family he doesn’t really know.

Once again, Lou Berney introduces us to fascinating characters and digs into their history. Crooks is another remarkable story from a master of the unexpected.

Lou Berney’s website is https://www.louberney.com/

Crooks by Lou Berney. William Morrow, 2025. 384p.

FTC Full Disclosure – I received a galley from the publisher through NetGalley, with no promise of a positive review.