Lionel Essrog

The narrator and by far the most important character in the novel. His journey from the comfort of his Brooklyn-based, petty criminal environment into the mysteries sown by his mentor’s tragic betrayals is the main thrust of the novel. He is characterized as a ‘freak show’, the nickname Frank Minna gave him as a young man, because he suffers from Tourette’s syndrome. Ironically, this condition is at turns useful in his quest to uncover the truth about Minna’s past, and learn how to live in the absence of his role model.

Frank Minna

A small-time hood who brings the Minna Men together to do his bidding. He is an exciting, charismatic character prone to joking and tossing out repeatable turns of phrase. He is prone to biting off more than he can chew, we learn, which is his undoing. It is a drive to...