In a small mountain town in Georgia, Harold Jeffers—best known among the drunks and delinquents as “Moogie the Shark”—makes a living loaning money to “deadbeat borrowers” who “wouldn’t be let in the back door of a bank.” Being the brains behind the operation, Moogie employs carefully selected muscle: young men with no past or future, willing to force borrowers to pay up by any means necessary. Moogie and his team abide by some simple rules (“If you follow them, you’ll be fine. If you don’t, well, I’m sure your parents will miss you, especially since they’ll never know where you went and why you didn’t say goodbye”): look out for one another and stay silent about what goes on, now and forever. When Bud Boyer, Moogie’s newest protégé, falls hard and fast for the police chief’s daughter, those rules are tested beyond any limit the team is prepared for. Rothman writes with bracing intention and conviction. His knowledge of the subject matter—the novel is half crime thriller, half legal drama—is thorough, and it is clear from the way each chapter seamlessly blends into the next that he knows exactly where each character, plot point, and storyline will eventually end up. The characters are both objectionable and lovable; with names like Moogie, Malone, Bud, and Biggers, they may initially sound like types from any generic mob drama, but they prove to be complex and captivating, and readers will likely find themselves rooting for them every step of the way as they pursue their questionable goals. The author has crafted a swift and seductive tale that will delight any fan of mobster stories.