There is never a bad time to read Barbarians At the Gates to understand how the incentives work in these deals and to help judge for yourself whether they're going to work out or not.

Spoiler / Hot Take: if you're overloading the company up with debt (even cheap, short-term stuff) and taking out cash based on "revenue projections" or "realized synergies" it's probably not gonna work out so hot when the loan comes due.