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.
A Strand Critics Award Finalist!
A Southwest Book of the Year!
A Reading the West Award finalist in Fiction!
A Publishers Weekly Top 10 New Mysteries & Thrillers!
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of The Week!
A USA Today Top 20 Book of Winter!
A USA Today Best Book of the Week!
A CrimeReads Most Anticipated Book of 2021!
A CrimeReads Best Book of the Month!
A CrimeReads Best Noir Book of the Year!
A TIME Best Book of the Month!
A The WEEK Author of the Week Selection!
A New York Public Library Book of The Day!
A Bookmarks Magazine 4 Star Selection!
A Bookmarks Magazine Best Book of the Year!
A Goodreads 42 Superb New Short Story Collections of 2021
“The fast-paced fictional crime stories in Tod Goldberg’s latest collection feature a cast of characters navigating mysterious, tragic and occasionally funny situations. One piece follows a waitress on the hunt for her missing daughter, another captures what happens when a drug dealer meets a lawyer and a clown at a bar. These 12 stories, set in the same universe as Goldberg’s 2014 novel, Gangsterland, are anchored in southern California’s Inland Empire, and coalesce into a stirring portrait of the region.” — TIME
“Twelve spare, stylish contemporary crime stories that exemplify the craft.” — USA TODAY
“Forget Chinatown, Jake: Tod Goldberg’s The Low Desert finds noir in L.A.’s far outskirts…The Low Desert has plenty of tight, flinty, noir-y sentences…But his style, in the best stories here, is distinguished by a gallows humor featuring men who are just smart enough to work a grift but not bright enough to escape the ensuing trouble.” — Los Angeles Times
“Most of the stories in The Low Desert succeed by blending the thought-provoking nature of literary storytelling with the brisk action of pulp noir. Oh yes, people are killed in these stories, and not by slow-burning angst. They are shot, or drowned, or their heads get chopped off. But don’t misunderstand: Amid the carnage, Goldberg deftly inserts three-dimensional people with real-life issues. There’s something for everyone here, including Goldberg’s trademark biting humor…This imagined desert underworld, home to racketeers and regret, buried bodies and criminal clowns, is an engrossing place to spend time. The thoughtful treatment of Las Vegas is particularly appreciated. One hopes Goldberg continues to explore these places he knows so well.” — NPR
“By turn surreal, tragic, and darkly funny, the 12 stories in this exquisite collection from Goldberg hold up a mirror to the unique landscape of Southern California’s Inland Empire . . . With a cast of low-rent mobsters, drifters, and hardscrabble working stiffs, Goldberg does a brilliant job of revealing the underbelly of the area, past and present. These spare slices of literary noir are the work of a master storyteller.” —Publishers Weekly (starred & boxed review)
“These are stories Elmore Leonard would love—not just because the razor-sharp Goldberg wastes no words in cutting to the heart of his stories, but also because he highlights the humanity and inner lives of even his most bent characters . . . A thoroughly enjoyable collection by a bona fide original.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Like Mario Puzo, Goldberg understands that the way to write about organized crime is to write about the people who live in that world. Yes, they are criminals, but most of them aren’t villains. A sterling collection that showcases the author’s gifts as a storyteller.” —Booklist
“Comparing a work of literary fiction with a television show used to be an insult, but no longer. To liken Tod Goldberg’s The Low Desert: Gangster Stories to Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, which share the book’s concerns, terrain and wry ruthlessness, is high praise indeed. Goldberg’s (Gangsterland; Gangster Nation) sense of humor and lavish attention to character distinguish The Low Desert from more traditional fiction about the folly of criminals, those who are conscientious or naive enough to try to thwart them, and those operating somewhere in between.” — Shelf Awareness
“****A fantastic collection of genre-bending literary noir, by turns tragic, humorous, and mysterious, rich in psychology, character, and sense of place. These stories are small masterpieces.” — Bookmarks Magazine
“No one has ever had more fun writing about gangsters than he’s had, and as the book progresses, you’re more and more ready to see where his imagination is going to go this time.” — Razorcake
“[Goldberg] writes about the desert’s harsh, desolate beauty or the artifice of its communities and people so evocatively the landscape is a silent character in his work.” — Orange County Register
“This is a dark, often violent collection, but it’s also a brilliant, compelling collection. I wouldn’t be telling you about it if it wasn’t incredible. Goldberg expands on the stories of characters from his Gangsterland novels to create taut, funny, unforgettable tales about family, crimes, and human connection. And don’t worry, you don’t have to have read the novels to read these stories. You just have to be ready to have your mind blown. This is perfect for fans of Donald Ray Pollock, William Boyle, and Harry Crews.” — Book Riot
“The Low Desert, a collection of terrific stories, mostly set around Palm Springs or Las Vegas (the terrain of his novel Gangsterland), that raises other fundamental questions. Such as: Are we the sum of our worst motives and thoughts, our worst days? And: Is the protagonist actually going to survive?…These stories play genres with an expert’s hand, and a sometimes surprising sad music.” — Alta
“Tod Goldberg is the literary offspring of Elmore Leonard and Charles Portis, which means he’s smart, deep, and profoundly funny.” — CrimeReads
“Each story in The Low Desert is razor-sharp on its own, but taken altogether, they make for a collection as searing as the hostile locale of the title. Mr. Goldberg plays with form to tell a new sort of gangster story, an examination of the lives organized crime touches and almost inevitably destroys. It’s one of the best collections of crime stories I’ve ever read and without a doubt the best collection of gangster stories I’ve ever enjoyed.” — Criminal Element
“Goldberg also captures the environments of his tales in vivid and palpable detail. Readers can almost feel the heat, smell the stink of the Salton Sea, inhale the desert dust, and feel the grit between one’s fingers while reading these stories…The Low Desert expertly captures the environment of hard lands, hard people, and the breaking of spirits.” — Mystery & Suspense Magazine
“Goldberg’s work is rich in psychology and a profound sense of place. It balances humor and violence and conjures an essential, three-dimensional vision of the California and Nevada desert — its inhabitants, its humanity, as well as its underbelly — that I’m starting to sense will become canonical. His latest book, The Low Desert, is a remarkable collection of short stories.” — Los Angeles Review of Books
“Goldberg’s collection of crime stories has plenty of dark humor, but narrator Johnny Heller never plays it for laughs. Heller stays true to the characters, who may say funny things but are not funny people. The production excels when Heller enters the minds and mouths of the tough guys and gals. (Many appear in earlier Goldberg novels.) Check out Heller as Peaches Pocotillo, the ex-con set up to take the fall in “Gangway,” or as Rabbi David Cohen, the Mafia hit man turned rabbi in “Mazel.” Author Tod Goldberg is a master of verbal confrontations, and Heller runs with them. The production is excellent.” — Audiofile
“One of ten must-read mysteries of the year. A master of modern crime fiction.” — The Repository
“Across the sprawling land of the United States of America lies an underbelly of fictional gangster short stories, narrated with the notorious wit of Tod Goldberg. And it powerfully blurs the boundaries between good and evil. What makes a good criminal? How can you spot a bad citizen? Under the umbrella of Tod Goldberg’s critically acclaimed Gangsterland, we meet a sheriff skirting corruption, an itchy-feet cocktail waitress hurting with loss, and a plethora of low-grade thugs, drifters and drug pushers.” — Hunter & Bligh
“Nothing is ever truly cinched up when dealing with shady company — even when it’s the last story of a fantastic collection. And since he’s taken us places that we didn’t initially even bargain for, Goldberg has shown us The Low Desert not just as a mystifying location, but another state of mind.” — Econoclash
“Tod Goldberg is a terrific writer, and The Low Desert is a smart, surprising page turner.” —Don Winslow
“Engaging and supremely satisfying from the first page to the last.” —Lawrence Block
“There is something inherently violent about living in the California desert, about the imposition of human will—swimming pools and lush green lawns, air-conditioned palaces, and rolling golf courses—on an inhospitable, rust red, hard-as-stone landscape that otherwise seems indifferent to your suffering—be it from the punishing heat or the grifters and gangsters who’ve been drawn to the desert for generations. Tod Goldberg understands this and has written a collection of stories that are keenly observed, wryly funny, and heart-wrenching in equal measure. If wisdom can be gleaned from taking a sharp look at the human impulse toward violence, then Tod Goldberg is one of this nation’s sagest storytellers.” —Attica Locke, author of Heaven, My Home
“The wild west is alive in The Low Desert, a collection of stories as brutal and compelling as the landscape itself.” —Brad Meltzer
“Tod Goldberg’s stories are full of humor, pathos, and sharp knife-twists of plot and insight. Featuring best laid plans that have gone horribly awry, and heartbreakingly authentic characters broken by violence, longing, and hope, The Low Desert packs a heady, emotional wallop. More of this, please.” —Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and The Little Sleep
“THE LOW DESERT blew me away. It’s an astonishingly rich collection of stories—harrowing and hopeful, gritty and funny, elegaic and electrifying, and always, always, deeply human. Tod Goldberg has written a book that’s impossible to put down and impossible to forget.” — Lou Berney, Edgar Award-winning author of November Road and The Long and Faraway Gone
“The Low Desert is a powerhouse. Each story is finely crafted and flawlessly executed–gripping, surprising, and satisfying. Goldberg finds humanity in what others overlook, beauty in what many ignore. He seamlessly marries violence and grace to understand both the root and the aftermath of crime. And in doing so he tells a damn fine tale over and again.” –Ivy Pochoda, award-winning author of THESE WOMEN and WONDER VALLEY
“I’m a huge fan of Tod Goldberg, and these stories showcase all that I love best about his work—the wicked sense of humor, the razor sharp attention to detail and character, and the riveting momentum of a born storyteller. The Low Desert is a master class in how to write great Noir.” —Dan Chaon, author of Ill Will