The Low Desert, Tod Goldberg
The Low Desert, Tod Goldberg
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

The Low Desert
Gangster Stories

Author: Tod Goldberg

Narrator: Johnny Heller

Unabridged: 7 hr 32 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/16/2021

Synopsis

Raymond Carver meets Elmore Leonard in this extraordinary collection of contemporary crime writing set in the critically acclaimed Gangsterland universe, a series called "gloriously original" by the New York Times Book Review.

With gimlet-eyed cool and razor-sharp wit, these spare, stylish stories from a master of modern crime fiction assemble a world of gangsters and con men, of do-gooders breaking bad and those caught in the crossfire. The uncle of an FBI agent spends his life as sheriff in different cities, living too close to the violent acts of men; a cocktail waitress moves through several desert towns trying to escape the unexplainable loss of an adopted daughter; a drug dealer with a penchant for karaoke meets a talkative lawyer and a silent clown in a Palm Springs bar.

Witty, brutal, and fast-paced, these stories expand upon the saga of Chicago hitman-turned-Vegas-rabbi Sal Cupertine—first introduced in Gangsterland and continued in Gangster Nation—while revealing how the line between good and bad is often a mirage.

About Tod Goldberg

Tod Goldberg is the author of more than a dozen books, including Gangsterland, a finalist for the Hammett Prize; Gangster Nation; The House of Secrets, coauthored with Brad Meltzer; and Living Dead Girl, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Review of Books, Las Vegas Weekly, and The Best American Essays, among other publications. He lives in Indio, California, where he directs the low-residency MFA in creative writing and writing for the performing arts at the University of California, Riverside.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Truman32 on March 12, 2021

I’ve always wondered just exactly who these unknown writers are that co-author (ghostwrite) novels with bestselling authors. I assumed they were either slow-witted relatives of the bestselling author (maybe a heavy drinker) in need of a job that were being hooked up in the family business, or captiv......more

Goodreads review by Howard on April 23, 2023

4.5 Stars for The Low Desert: Gangster Stories (audiobook) by Tod Goldberg read by Johnny Heller. This is a set of short stories set in the sun baked desert of the southwest. The gritty stories are about criminals and a couple of the people trying to tracking them down. Some of the characters pop up......more

Goodreads review by Vonda on January 25, 2021

Short stories that are tough, gritty and hardcore. Stories of gangsters, cons, gamblers, murderers et. al. Each story does well as a well rounded standalone. If you like stories about the underground life in Vegas, California, Arizona this is a good read for you of true gangster stories.......more

Goodreads review by Anna on November 28, 2021

The majority of the stories in this collection are unique, engaging with distinctive characters and they just make you crave more after they're over. I found only a few of the last ones more slow paced and not as interesting.......more

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