Lives of Crimes

John Scheck’s Lives of Crimes is a darkly compelling collection that examines how crime and punishment ripple through families and friendships. Moving from the bleak shadows of noir to the unlikely humor found in breaking the law, these stories peel back the layers of ordinary people caught in extraordinary situations, some of their own making, others born of proximity and bad luck.

From a young man who uproots his life to visit his brother in a federal prison, to a gambler betting everything on impossible odds, to a weary guard discovering he’s no freer than the men he oversees, Scheck reveals the human pulse beneath violence and retribution, the loyalty, fear, and fragile hope that survive in even the most hostile surroundings.