The Second Life of Nick Mason

★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2 (rounded up)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
—
After listening to the hype around this book for a year, I finally got around to reading it. I'll admit, when this came out last year, I didn't think it was my cup of tea. I think I confused it with something else that came out about the same time. Because after a few pages, I was hooked – it also didn't even come close to matching the kind of story I thought it was (I didn't read the jacket copy). I spent the next 280 pages kicking myself for waiting to read this thing.

Nick Mason was a successful, but small-time criminal for years. He and his friends never got violent, but they sure were not “good” in any sense of the world – things happen, people move on and Nick falls for a college girl. She has one rule: Nick picks her or crime. He picks her and the straight and narrow. A few years later, Nick's making a living, has a wonderful daughter and wife. The friend who moved away comes back and asks Nick to do one final job – one that'll land him enough money to not have to worry about his family's future. Nick makes the fatal mistake and goes along – and ends up serving a 25-year sentence.

Darius Cole, a crime boss – the kind you read about or see in movies and hope that doesn't exist in real life – who's still running a decently-sized empire from a prison he'll never leave takes an interest in Mason. He eventually makes Mason an offer – Cole does a few things and Mason goes free. On the outside, he'll need to serve the remaining 20 years of his sentence, but he'll do so as Cole's employee. As his handler will tell him after he's released:

This isn't freedom. This is mobility. Don't get those things confused.

Exit Strategy