Editorial Content for Woke Up This Morning: The Definitive Oral History of The Sopranos
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
The subject matter may not have been for everyone, but no one can deny the impact and success of the HBO series “The Sopranos,” which really put cable television dramas on the map. Now, with the release of WOKE UP THIS MORNING, readers have the opportunity to relive some of the best moments of the program and all involved with it via rewritten transcripts from the popular podcast “Talking Sopranos,” hosted by stars Michael Imperioli (Christopher Moltisanti) and Steve Schirripa ("Bobby Bacala"). Read More
Teaser
Inspired by the incredibly successful "Talking Sopranos" podcast, "The Sopranos" stars Michael Imperioli (Christopher Moltisanti) and Steve Schirripa (Bobby Baccalieri) finally reveal all the Soprano family secrets in this surprising, funny and honest book. WOKE UP THIS MORNING is the definitive behind-the-scenes history of the groundbreaking HBO series that became a worldwide cultural phenomenon, ushered in a new Golden Age of Television, and to this day continues to be one of the most binged shows of all time. The book covers the entire history of "The Sopranos" series and answers many of the thousands of fan questions sent to the podcast, as well as dispel some widely propagated myths and reveal things no one outside the show would even know to ask.
Promo
Inspired by the incredibly successful "Talking Sopranos" podcast, "The Sopranos" stars Michael Imperioli (Christopher Moltisanti) and Steve Schirripa (Bobby Baccalieri) finally reveal all the Soprano family secrets in this surprising, funny and honest book. WOKE UP THIS MORNING is the definitive behind-the-scenes history of the groundbreaking HBO series that became a worldwide cultural phenomenon, ushered in a new Golden Age of Television, and to this day continues to be one of the most binged shows of all time. The book covers the entire history of "The Sopranos" series and answers many of the thousands of fan questions sent to the podcast, as well as dispel some widely propagated myths and reveal things no one outside the show would even know to ask.
About the Book
Expanding on their hit "Talking Sopranos" podcast with exclusive interviews for the book with the cast, crew, producers, writers, directors and creators, stars Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa deliver the definitive oral history of the landmark television series and streaming hit "The Sopranos." Packed with untold stories from behind the scenes and on the set, they’re spilling all the secrets.
Who made the phone call that got HBO to launch "The Sopranos"? What’s the significance of all those eggs? And, what the hell ever happened to the Russian? Michael Imperioli, Steve Schirripa, and the entire cast and crew of "The Sopranos" have all the answers --- and they’re revealing where all the bodies are buried.
Inspired by the incredibly successful "Talking Sopranos" podcast, "The Sopranos" stars Michael Imperioli (Christopher Moltisanti) and Steve Schirripa (Bobby Baccalieri) finally reveal all the Soprano family secrets in this surprising, funny and honest book. WOKE UP THIS MORNING is the definitive behind-the-scenes history of the groundbreaking HBO series that became a worldwide cultural phenomenon, ushered in a new Golden Age of Television, and to this day continues to be one of the most binged shows of all time.
Michael and Steve tell all the incredible stories that "The Sopranos" fans have been waiting to hear for over 20 years. The book covers the entire history of "The Sopranos" series from the original concept pitch and casting to the infamous cut to black --- and answers many of the thousands of fan questions sent to the podcast, as well as dispel some widely propagated myths and reveal things no one outside the show would even know to ask.
Audiobook available; read by Michael Imperioli, Steve Schirripa and a full cast
Editorial Content for The Wicked Widow: A Wicked City Novel
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
After reading THE WICKED CITY and THE WICKED REDHEAD, the first two books in the Wicked City series, back to back, it was torturous waiting two years for the third novel. So I am happy to announce that the recently released THE WICKED WIDOW is my new favorite from Beatriz Williams. Read More
Teaser
June 1925: Audacious Appalachian flapper Geneva “Gin” Kelly prepares to trade her high-flying ways for respectable marriage to Oliver Anson Marshall. But just as wedding bells chime, the head of the notorious East Coast rum-running racket turns up murdered at a society funeral, and their short-lived honeymoon bliss goes up in a spectacular blaze. June 1998: When Ella Dommerich’s ninetysomething society queen aunt Julie ropes her into digging up dirt on Senator (and Presidential candidate) Franklin Hardcastle, she couldn’t be less enthusiastic. But then the Hardcastle secrets lead to a web of shady dealings Ella has uncovered in her job as a financial analyst, and the bodies start to tumble out of the venerable woodwork.
Promo
June 1925: Audacious Appalachian flapper Geneva “Gin” Kelly prepares to trade her high-flying ways for respectable marriage to Oliver Anson Marshall. But just as wedding bells chime, the head of the notorious East Coast rum-running racket turns up murdered at a society funeral, and their short-lived honeymoon bliss goes up in a spectacular blaze. June 1998: When Ella Dommerich’s ninetysomething society queen aunt Julie ropes her into digging up dirt on Senator (and Presidential candidate) Franklin Hardcastle, she couldn’t be less enthusiastic. But then the Hardcastle secrets lead to a web of shady dealings Ella has uncovered in her job as a financial analyst, and the bodies start to tumble out of the venerable woodwork.
About the Book
Gin Kelly, the wicked redhead, is back! Readers will delight in the next installment of the Wicked City series by New York Times bestselling author Beatriz Williams.
June 1925. Audacious Appalachian flapper Geneva “Gin” Kelly prepares to trade her high-flying ways for respectable marriage to Oliver Anson Marshall, a steadfast Prohibition agent who happens to hail from one of New York’s most distinguished families. But just as wedding bells chime, the head of the notorious East Coast rum-running racket --- and Anson’s mortal enemy --- turns up murdered at a society funeral, and their short-lived honeymoon bliss goes up in a spectacular blaze that sends Anson back undercover...and into the jaws of a trap from which not even Gin can rescue him. As violence explodes around her, Gin must summon all her considerable moxie to trace the tentacles of this sinister organization back to their shocking source, and face down a legendary American family at a rigged game it has no intention of losing.
June 1998. When Ella Dommerich’s ninetysomething society queen aunt Julie ropes her into digging up dirt on Senator (and Presidential candidate) Franklin Hardcastle in order to settle old family scores, she couldn’t be less enthusiastic. Pregnant Ella has recently ditched her unfaithful husband and settled into cozy --- if complicated --- domesticity with her almost-too-good-to-be-true musician boyfriend, Hector. But then the Hardcastle secrets lead to a web of shady dealings Ella has uncovered in her job as a financial analyst, and the bodies start to tumble out of the venerable woodwork. With the help of her ex-husband and her mysterious connection to a certain redheaded flapper, Ella digs up more than mere dirt…only to discover herself standing alone between a legendarily ruthless family and the prize it’s sought for generations.
What ugly secrets lurk in the opulent enclaves --- and bank accounts --- of America’s richest families? And can two determined women from two different generations thwart the murderous legacy of the demon liquor?
Audiobook available, read by Julie McKay and Dara Rosenberg
Editorial Content for The Nameless Ones
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
John Connolly has quite a way with words. Perhaps this is what has made his books, especially his Charlie Parker novels, so engaging. He continues to mix thrills with a touch of the supernatural, and the result is a unique series that never ceases to surprise. Read More
Teaser
In Amsterdam, four bodies, violently butchered, are discovered in a canal house, the remains of friends and confidantes of the assassin known only as Louis. The men responsible for the murders are Serbian war criminals. They believe they can escape retribution by retreating to their homeland. They are wrong. For Louis has come to Europe to hunt them down: five killers to be found and punished before they can vanish into thin air. There is just one problem. The sixth.
Promo
In Amsterdam, four bodies, violently butchered, are discovered in a canal house, the remains of friends and confidantes of the assassin known only as Louis. The men responsible for the murders are Serbian war criminals. They believe they can escape retribution by retreating to their homeland. They are wrong. For Louis has come to Europe to hunt them down: five killers to be found and punished before they can vanish into thin air. There is just one problem. The sixth.
About the Book
From the international and instant New York Times bestselling author of THE DIRTY SOUTH, the white-knuckled Charlie Parker series returns with this heart-pounding race to hunt down the deadliest of war criminals.
In Amsterdam, four bodies, violently butchered, are discovered in a canal house, the remains of friends and confidantes of the assassin known only as Louis.
The men responsible for the murders are Serbian war criminals. They believe they can escape retribution by retreating to their homeland.
They are wrong.
For Louis has come to Europe to hunt them down: five killers to be found and punished before they can vanish into thin air.
There is just one problem.
The sixth.
With John Connolly’s trademark “dark, haunting, and beautifully told” (Booklist) prose and breathless twists and turns, THE NAMELESS ONES is an unputdownable thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Audiobook available, read by Jeff Harding
Editorial Content for Burning Boy: The Life and Work of Stephen Crane
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
There is just too much information on the late, great Stephen Crane to do justice in a review when he really deserves an exploratory thesis. Instead, I will focus on the highlights of his too-short life and the impact his writing had on readers of his work. Read More
Teaser
With BURNING BOY, celebrated novelist Paul Auster tells the extraordinary story of Stephen Crane, best known as the author of THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE, who transformed American literature through an avalanche of original short stories, novellas, poems, journalism and war reportage before his life was cut short by tuberculosis at age 28. Auster’s probing account of this singular life tracks Crane as he rebounds from one perilous situation to the next.
Promo
With BURNING BOY, celebrated novelist Paul Auster tells the extraordinary story of Stephen Crane, best known as the author of THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE, who transformed American literature through an avalanche of original short stories, novellas, poems, journalism and war reportage before his life was cut short by tuberculosis at age 28. Auster’s probing account of this singular life tracks Crane as he rebounds from one perilous situation to the next.
About the Book
Booker Prize-shortlisted and New York Times bestselling author Paul Auster's comprehensive, landmark biography of the great American writer Stephen Crane.
With BURNING BOY, celebrated novelist Paul Auster tells the extraordinary story of Stephen Crane, best known as the author of THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE, who transformed American literature through an avalanche of original short stories, novellas, poems, journalism and war reportage before his life was cut short by tuberculosis at age 28.
Auster’s probing account of this singular life tracks Crane as he rebounds from one perilous situation to the next: A controversial article written at 20 disrupts the course of the 1892 presidential campaign, a public battle with the New York police department over the false arrest of a prostitute effectively exiles him from the city, a star-crossed love affair with an unhappily married uptown girl tortures him, a common-law marriage to the proprietress of Jacksonville’s most elegant bawdyhouse endures, a shipwreck results in his near drowning, he withstands enemy fire to send dispatches from the Spanish-American War, and then he relocates to England, where Joseph Conrad becomes his closest friend and Henry James weeps over his tragic, early death.
In BURNING BOY, Auster not only puts forth an immersive read about an unforgettable life but also, casting a dazzled eye on Crane’s astonishing originality and productivity, provides uniquely knowing insight into Crane’s creative processes to produce the rarest of reading experiences --- the dramatic biography of a brilliant writer as only another literary master could tell it.
Audiobook available, read by Paul Auster
Editorial Content for The Correspondents: Six Women Writers on the Front Lines of World War II
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
In THE CORRESPONDENTS, noted author Judith Mackrell has assembled and intertwined the reporting careers of six intrepid females who wrote their truths and made their mark in the chaos and carnage of World War II. Read More
Teaser
On the front lines of the Second World War, a contingent of female journalists were bravely waging their own battle: Martha Gellhorn, who got the scoop on Ernest Hemingway on D-Day by traveling to Normandy as a stowaway on a Red Cross ship; Lee Miller, who went from being a Vogue cover model to the magazine’s official war correspondent; Sigrid Schultz, who hid her Jewish identity and risked her life by reporting on the Nazi regime; Virginia Cowles, a “society girl columnist” turned combat reporter; Clare Hollingworth, the first English journalist to break the news of World War II; and Helen Kirkpatrick, the first woman to report from an Allied war zone with equal privileges to men. In Judith Mackrell's THE CORRESPONDENTS, these six women are captured in all their complexity.
Promo
On the front lines of the Second World War, a contingent of female journalists were bravely waging their own battle: Martha Gellhorn, who got the scoop on Ernest Hemingway on D-Day by traveling to Normandy as a stowaway on a Red Cross ship; Lee Miller, who went from being a Vogue cover model to the magazine’s official war correspondent; Sigrid Schultz, who hid her Jewish identity and risked her life by reporting on the Nazi regime; Virginia Cowles, a “society girl columnist” turned combat reporter; Clare Hollingworth, the first English journalist to break the news of World War II; and Helen Kirkpatrick, the first woman to report from an Allied war zone with equal privileges to men. In Judith Mackrell's THE CORRESPONDENTS, these six women are captured in all their complexity.
About the Book
The riveting, untold history of a group of heroic women reporters who revolutionized the narrative of World War II --- from Martha Gellhorn, who out-scooped her husband, Ernest Hemingway, to Lee Miller, a Vogue cover model turned war correspondent.
On the front lines of the Second World War, a contingent of female journalists were bravely waging their own battle. Barred from combat zones and faced with entrenched prejudice and bureaucratic restrictions, these women were forced to fight for the right to work on equal terms with men.
THE CORRESPONDENTS follows six remarkable women as their lives and careers intertwined: Martha Gellhorn, who got the scoop on Ernest Hemingway on D-Day by traveling to Normandy as a stowaway on a Red Cross ship; Lee Miller, who went from being a Vogue cover model to the magazine’s official war correspondent; Sigrid Schultz, who hid her Jewish identity and risked her life by reporting on the Nazi regime; Virginia Cowles, a “society girl columnist” turned combat reporter; Clare Hollingworth, the first English journalist to break the news of World War II; and Helen Kirkpatrick, the first woman to report from an Allied war zone with equal privileges to men.
From chasing down sources and narrowly dodging gunfire to conducting tumultuous love affairs and socializing with luminaries like Eleanor Roosevelt, Picasso and Man Ray, these six women are captured in all their complexity. With her gripping, intimate and nuanced portrait, Judith Mackrell celebrates these courageous reporters who risked their lives for the scoop.
Audiobook available, read by Julie Teal
Editorial Content for The Wisdom of Crowds
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
In the world of grimdark fantasy, there are few who actually compete with the talent of Joe Abercrombie. He is pretty solid in his position as the preeminent master of the subgenre. Yes, there are other very capable and enjoyable authors, but there is a certain something about the way that Abercrombie unfolds a story --- one peopled with morally gray but ultimately likable characters that leaves readers satisfied and convinced that they were taken on a fantastic, if harrowing, journey from someone who continues to improve his craft. Read More
Teaser
Some say that to change the world you must first burn it down. Now that belief will be tested in the crucible of revolution: the Breakers and Burners have seized the levers of power, the smoke of riots has replaced the smog of industry, and all must submit to the wisdom of crowds. With nothing left to lose, Citizen Brock is determined to become a new hero for the new age, while Citizeness Savine must turn her talents from profit to survival before she can claw her way to redemption. Orso will find that when the world is turned upside down, no one is lower than a monarch. And in the bloody North, Rikke and her fragile Protectorate are running out of allies…while Black Calder gathers his forces and plots his vengeance.
Promo
Some say that to change the world you must first burn it down. Now that belief will be tested in the crucible of revolution: the Breakers and Burners have seized the levers of power, the smoke of riots has replaced the smog of industry, and all must submit to the wisdom of crowds. With nothing left to lose, Citizen Brock is determined to become a new hero for the new age, while Citizeness Savine must turn her talents from profit to survival before she can claw her way to redemption. Orso will find that when the world is turned upside down, no one is lower than a monarch. And in the bloody North, Rikke and her fragile Protectorate are running out of allies…while Black Calder gathers his forces and plots his vengeance.
About the Book
From the New York Times bestselling author of A LITTLE HATRED comes a stunning fantasy novel that finds the world in an unstoppable revolution where heroes have nothing left to lose as darkness and destruction overtake everything.
Chaos. Fury. Destruction.
The Great Change is upon us...
Some say that to change the world you must first burn it down. Now that belief will be tested in the crucible of revolution: the Breakers and Burners have seized the levers of power, the smoke of riots has replaced the smog of industry, and all must submit to the wisdom of crowds.
With nothing left to lose, Citizen Brock is determined to become a new hero for the new age, while Citizeness Savine must turn her talents from profit to survival before she can claw her way to redemption. Orso will find that when the world is turned upside down, no one is lower than a monarch. And in the bloody North, Rikke and her fragile Protectorate are running out of allies...while Black Calder gathers his forces and plots his vengeance.
The banks have fallen, the sun of the Union has been torn down, and in the darkness behind the scenes, the threads of the Weaver's ruthless plan are slowly being drawn together.
Audiobook available, read by Steven Pacey
Editorial Content for A Marvellous Light
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
There are some books that feel like a revelation. That crack the world open and give you something you’re not entirely sure you’d ever been brave enough to ask for. That make you feel like, Oh, there you are. I’ve been hoping I’d find something like you. An instant comfort read, one that you know, even while reading it, you’re going to revisit because it feels so deeply good just to be in. That’s what Freya Marske delivers in A MARVELLOUS LIGHT. This is a balm, though it’s also a romp. Read More
Teaser
Robin Blyth is the harried baronet of a seat gutted by his late parents’ excesses. When an administrative mistake sees him named the civil service liaison to a hidden magical society, he discovers what’s been operating beneath the unextraordinary reality he’s always known. Now Robin must contend with the beauty and danger of magic, an excruciating deadly curse, and the alarming visions of the future that come with it --- not to mention Edwin Courcey, his cold and prickly counterpart in the magical bureaucracy. Thrown together and facing unexpected dangers, Robin and Edwin discover a plot that threatens every magician in the British Isles --- and a secret that more than one person has already died to keep.
Promo
Robin Blyth is the harried baronet of a seat gutted by his late parents’ excesses. When an administrative mistake sees him named the civil service liaison to a hidden magical society, he discovers what’s been operating beneath the unextraordinary reality he’s always known. Now Robin must contend with the beauty and danger of magic, an excruciating deadly curse, and the alarming visions of the future that come with it --- not to mention Edwin Courcey, his cold and prickly counterpart in the magical bureaucracy. Thrown together and facing unexpected dangers, Robin and Edwin discover a plot that threatens every magician in the British Isles --- and a secret that more than one person has already died to keep.
About the Book
RED WHITE & ROYAL BLUE meets JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR. NORRELL in debut author Freya Marske’s A MARVELLOUS LIGHT, featuring an Edwardian England full of magic, contracts and conspiracies.
Robin Blyth has more than enough bother in his life. He’s struggling to be a good older brother, a responsible employer, and the harried baronet of a seat gutted by his late parents’ excesses. When an administrative mistake sees him named the civil service liaison to a hidden magical society, he discovers what’s been operating beneath the unextraordinary reality he’s always known.
Now Robin must contend with the beauty and danger of magic, an excruciating deadly curse, and the alarming visions of the future that come with it --- not to mention Edwin Courcey, his cold and prickly counterpart in the magical bureaucracy, who clearly wishes Robin were anyone and anywhere else.
Robin’s predecessor has disappeared, and the mystery of what happened to him reveals unsettling truths about the very oldest stories they’ve been told about the land they live on and what binds it. Thrown together and facing unexpected dangers, Robin and Edwin discover a plot that threatens every magician in the British Isles --- and a secret that more than one person has already died to keep.
Audiobook available, read by David Thorpe
Editorial Content for Right Behind Her
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
While RIGHT BEHIND HER may be the fourth installment in the mystery series featuring Bree Taggert, a former Philadelphia homicide detective turned county sheriff, author Melinda Leigh masterfully manages to give readers the backstory in a manner that is natural and part of each new book. We learn about the death of Bree's sister, Erin, and that Bree has taken over caring for her niece and nephew with the help of her now-retired former police partner, Dana. They live in a farmhouse with a barn for the horses that Erin rescued from a kill pen. Read More
Teaser
Twenty-seven years ago, Sheriff Bree Taggert’s father killed her mother, then himself. Now Bree and her younger brother, Adam, find human bones on the grounds of their abandoned family farm. The remains are those of a man and a woman, both murdered in the same horrible way. When the investigation determines the murders occurred 30 years ago, Bree’s dead father becomes a suspect, forcing Bree to revisit the brutal night she has spent most of her life trying to forget. The only other suspect is an unlikely squatter on the Taggert farm who claims to know secrets about Bree’s past. When he mysteriously disappears and Bree’s niece is kidnapped, the cold case heats up. Bree has stoked the rage of a murderer who will do anything to keep his identity --- and motives --- a secret.
Promo
Twenty-seven years ago, Sheriff Bree Taggert’s father killed her mother, then himself. Now Bree and her younger brother, Adam, find human bones on the grounds of their abandoned family farm. The remains are those of a man and a woman, both murdered in the same horrible way. When the investigation determines the murders occurred 30 years ago, Bree’s dead father becomes a suspect, forcing Bree to revisit the brutal night she has spent most of her life trying to forget. The only other suspect is an unlikely squatter on the Taggert farm who claims to know secrets about Bree’s past. When he mysteriously disappears and Bree’s niece is kidnapped, the cold case heats up. Bree has stoked the rage of a murderer who will do anything to keep his identity --- and motives --- a secret.
About the Book
The discovery of human remains unearths another nightmare from Sheriff Bree Taggert’s past in a bone-chilling thriller by #1 Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh.
Twenty-seven years ago, Sheriff Bree Taggert’s father killed her mother, then himself. Now Bree and her younger brother, Adam, find human bones on the grounds of their abandoned family farm. The remains are those of a man and a woman, both murdered in the same horrible way.
When the investigation determines the murders occurred 30 years ago, Bree’s dead father becomes a suspect, forcing Bree to revisit the brutal night she has spent most of her life trying to forget. The only other suspect is an unlikely squatter on the Taggert farm who claims to know secrets about Bree’s past. When he mysteriously disappears and Bree’s niece is kidnapped, the cold case heats up.
Bree has stoked the rage of a murderer who will do anything to keep his identity --- and motives --- a secret. To protect everyone she loves, Bree must confront a killer.
Audiobook available, read by Christina Traister
Editorial Content for Murder at Greysbridge: An Inishowen Mystery
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
In 2020’s THE WELL OF ICE, Irish solicitor (attorney) Benedicta “Ben” O’Keeffe is about to die at the hands of Luke Kirby, the monster who had murdered her sister a decade before. Tom Molloy, Ben’s beau and top cop, thwarts that attempt: the killer becomes the killed. Read More
Teaser
Summer has arrived in Inishowen, and solicitor Benedicta (Ben) O'Keeffe is greatly tempted by a job offer from a law firm in America. Yet, before making any life-changing decisions, there is her assistant Leah's wedding to attend at the newly restored Greysbridge Hotel. Tragically, the festivities are cut short when a young American drowns in full view of the wedding guests. And when a second death is discovered the same evening, Ben finds herself embroiled in a real country-house-murder-mystery, where all the guests are suspects. A deadly conspiracy is unfolding on this tiny North Atlantic island, fueled by the ruthless pursuit of money, careening toward disaster for the inhabitants --- and for Ben.
Promo
Summer has arrived in Inishowen, and solicitor Benedicta (Ben) O'Keeffe is greatly tempted by a job offer from a law firm in America. Yet, before making any life-changing decisions, there is her assistant Leah's wedding to attend at the newly restored Greysbridge Hotel. Tragically, the festivities are cut short when a young American drowns in full view of the wedding guests. And when a second death is discovered the same evening, Ben finds herself embroiled in a real country-house-murder-mystery, where all the guests are suspects. A deadly conspiracy is unfolding on this tiny North Atlantic island, fueled by the ruthless pursuit of money, careening toward disaster for the inhabitants --- and for Ben.
About the Book
Summer has arrived in Inishowen and solicitor Benedicta (Ben) O'Keeffe is greatly tempted by a job offer from a law firm in America. Yet before making any life-changing decisions, there is her assistant Leah's wedding to attend at the newly restored Greysbridge Hotel --- with its private beach and beautiful pier.
The perfect location --- but the festivities are brutally cut short when a young American, a visitor also staying at the hotel, drowns in full view of the wedding guests. And when a second death is discovered the same evening, Ben finds herself embroiled in a real country-house-murder-mystery, where all the guests are suspects.
Sergeant Tom Molloy’s appearance to investigate throws Ben into turmoil, especially when the pursuit of two runaways leads the pair to an island off the Donegal coast, where a violent storm traps them together, completely cut off from the mainland.
A deadly conspiracy is unfolding on this tiny North Atlantic island, fueled by the ruthless pursuit of money, careening toward disaster for the inhabitants --- and for Ben.