Jason Pettus's Reviews > Capone, the Cobbs, and Me

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)

So first, let me get my biases out of the way, and admit that this is not the kind of book I usually voluntarily choose to read -- a piece of historical fiction set within the dual 1920s worlds of baseball and organized crime, you're simply going to find it difficult to enjoy this novel if this setting doesn't naturally appeal to you to begin with. But that said, Burwell certainly does an excellent job at what he's going for here, with a nicely real and well-researched sense of history, and a fine-tuned aping of the actual slang that was used back then among the drug-taking jazz musicians and muscled-up heavies of this milieu. Much of it set in Chicago, a fine tie-in for local readers here, this short book doesn't wear out its welcome, like it would've if the hepcat-quoting dialogue had gone on longer, and it comes specifically recommended to those who enjoy the Early Modernist era and especially historical actioners set within that time period.

Out of 10: 8.4