The Circus of Satan: A Novel

5 Star Review

Forthcoming on Amazon in 2025.

Editorial Book Review:

By SM Harrison

The world of organized crime in early 20th-century America is brutal, unpredictable, and deeply tangled with politics, corruption, and shifting alliances. The Circus of Satan pulls me right into this world, where every decision carries weight and danger lurks around every corner. There are ghosts from the past that won't stay hidden in this story about surviving and achieving your goals. Reading this book is impossible because the stress and stakes are always rising.

What I love most is how the book captures the era with such authenticity. It seems like I've stepped into a world that lived just below the surface of history. The smoky backrooms, the underground gambling dens, and the brutal police officers who keep the wheels of crime turning all feel real. It's sharp, honest, and completely draws you into a time when power only belonged to those who were willing to be cruel enough to take it. There is a lot of history behind every deal, betrayal, and violent act. I could feel the stress in every scene.

At the heart of it all is a character who’s trying to carve out his place in a world where the rules are always changing. It's sad and exciting to follow his journey. He is driven by the need to stay living and the mistakes he has made in the past. There's no good or bad in him; his problems are shown in a real way. What a man trying to find his way in a world that doesn't allow weakness.

This is more than just a crime novel; it’s a deep dive into an era where power and corruption walked hand in hand. The book doesn’t romanticize the violence, but it does show how intoxicating power can be, how easily ambition can turn into obsession. That’s what stays with me the most—the realization that in a world like this, even the strongest can be brought to their knees. The Circus of Satan is gripping, brutal, and impossible to forget.

About the Author

Jeffrey Konvitz

Jeffrey Konvitz was born in New York City, but after graduating from Cornell University and Columbia Law School, he headed to Los Angeles, where he lives and works as an entertainment finance attorney, producer (The Sentinel and Spy Hard, among others) and novelist. His first published novel (Simon and Schuster and Ballantine) was The Sentinel, which rose to Number 2 on the New York Times Mass Market Best Seller List. The Sentinel sequel, The Guardian, was also a bestseller along with his next book, Monster. He is now at work on the third book in The Sentinel Trilogy, currently untitled, while The Sentinel and The Guardian are being mounted for e-book sales.

The author spends most of his spare time on tennis courts, on skis, on basketball courts, and in poker tournaments. The rest of his spare time is spent seeking the perfect word, the perfect sentence, the perfect phrase and the perfect characterization, a most challenging endeavor.