Book Nook Join Book Nook

World Gone by

Dennis Lehane

New York Times bestselling author Dennis Lehane's World Gone By continues the epic story of Joe Coughlin from The Given Day and Live by Night through World War II, as he struggles to navigate the criminal underworld between Cuba and Florida.

"Suspenseful, devious, well-constructed and as filled with ethical questions as it is with gangsters." --New York Times

Ten years have passed since Joe Coughlin's enemies killed his wife and destroyed his empire, and much has changed. Prohibition is dead, the world is at war again, and Joe's son, Tomás, is growing up. Now the former crime kingpin works as a consigliore to the Bartolo crime family, traveling between Tampa and Cuba, his wife's homeland.

A master who moves in and out of the black, white, and Cuban underworlds, Joe effortlessly mixes with Tampa's social elite, U.S. Naval intelligence, the Lansky-Luciano mob, and the mob-financed government of Fulgencio Batista. He has everything--money, power, a beautiful mistress, and anonymity.

But success cannot protect him from the dark truth of his past--and ultimately, the wages of a lifetime of sin will finally be paid in full.

Dennis Lehane vividly recreates the rise of the mob during a world at war, from a masterfully choreographed Ash Wednesday gun battle in the streets of Ybor City to a chilling, heartbreaking climax in a Cuban sugar cane field. Told with verve and skill, World Gone By is a stunning work of historical fiction from one of "the most interesting and accomplished American novelists" (Washington Post).

GenresFictionHistorical20th CenturyWorld War IIPost-World War IILiterary

320 pages

English edition · First published 2021 by HarperCollins Publishers · ISBN 9780063084889

Readers also shelved

Be the first to rate this book

Tap or drag across the stars

Keep track of what you read

Book Nook is a free reading tracker with a 3D bookshelf, a reading timer, challenges with friends and a Reading Wrapped at the end of the year. Add World Gone by to your shelf in one tap.

Join Book Nook Get the app