Live By Night is a gangster/crime thriller novel from highly-acclaimed writer Dennis Lehane. This book is entierly fiction, although Lucky Luciano (Who was a real gangster, for those who don't know.) was in this book. How accurate his character is as opposed to the real-life Luciano I have no idea. Mr. Lehane wrote about him very little in the book; which I would assume was for him to be on the safe side. This book is based around the main character: 'Joe Coughlin', who is an "outlaw" rather than a "gangster". (In his own words). He gets into the bootlegging buisness and quickly becomes rich and powerful. The story takes place in the 1920's and ends in the 1930's. The book seems to be generally historically accurate, with lots of references to political matters, The Great Depression and wars going on in other countries. This book is claimed as a gangster "Epic", but I don't think it stands out enough on it's own to take that title. It is a good book no doubt, with a little bit of romance, emotion, violence and intense writing, but it still contains a lot of elements that you see in many other similar novels. Dennis Lehane did a good job on the book, and the plot focuses more on the personal life of Joe Coughlin and his enemies and friends; rather than the typical gangster life with lots of drugs and 'dirty' money. Overall, it's a good book and any fan of this genre should enjoy it; however, I would not classify the book as an 'Epic'.