THE MARK

In this novel, some young criminals look to shake down a vulnerable target for his considerable wealth, a conspiracy that results in more than they bargained for.

Trevor isn’t really the leader of his tribe of young gangsters, but the members call themselves “Trevor’s Crew” nonetheless. Cassie is the computer genius with a nebulous but terribly important database at her disposal. Fat Boy Charlie is a logistical whiz, and Handsome George is precisely that—and elegant and charming as well. They are under the supervision of the Old Man, an avuncular veteran of underworld life. The crew manages a regular poker game for true high rollers, featuring an astonishingly large buy-in ($1 million) and all the drugs, booze, and women the 16 players can handle. To make this an even more lucrative affair, they invite Shelby Coleman, a “gawky and college-boy fresh” kid with a considerable trust fund and a bad gambling habit, the “ripest peach that ever came their way.” His billionaire father is dead, and the only thing that stands between him and that colossal inheritance is the stepmother he loathes. She was formerly a manicurist and his father’s mistress. Trevor and his associates aim to force Shelby deep into debt and then leverage his position to bilk his stepmother of her largesse. In this ambitious novel, Green weaves a complex plot with admirable skill—the intricacy of the story never devolves into convolution. But the work sometimes feels familiar and dated, like an homage to a hard-boiled crime drama of another era. While the author displays an impressive penchant for plot construction and vivid prose—the crew’s poker game is a “Disneyland for the hedonistic”—many of the characters are recognizable types from a variety of novels, TV series, and films.

An intriguing but uneven crime tale.