I actually don't mind a book about a bunch of scuzzy characters doing scuzzy things (I just dropped a 5 star review on American Tabloid by Ellroy for god's sake), but by the time everyone in this one's introduced, you're pretty much done with them. Yet we need to watch them circle each other on a confidence game, hired murder, and other criminal activities for the rest of the novel. The love affair that erupts between two of them is actually pretty charming but it is just too cynical to be able to carry our sympathy emotionally. The writing and situations are such that we are clearly meant to be having fun, but there's few enough people here to have fun with. Everyone's a fake or a piece of shit. I could have lived with it if it were shorter, simpler, darker, or lighter. As it is it isn't so good.