First published 2012
Willie Sutton grows up in Brooklyn's Irish slums as the twentieth century begins. Banks collapse around him, destroying jobs and homes while receiving government bailouts. Sutton sees one path forward: robbing the institutions that crush ordinary Americans. For three decades, he perfects his craft, breaking into banks without firing a shot and escaping from prison with legendary skill. The FBI places him on their first Most Wanted List. Police call him one of New York's most dangerous men. Yet crowds chant his name when he's finally captured in 1952. Behind Sutton's criminal career lies an obsession with one woman, his first love and first accomplice. She drives him through every heist and every prison sentence. When he receives a surprise Christmas Eve pardon in 1969, Sutton immediately begins searching for her. Moehringer transforms the famous bank robber's story into a tale of economic desperation and doomed romance.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, crime
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: doomed-romance, redemption
Setting: Brooklyn, New York
Period: 20th Century
334 pages · Hardcover · Hyperion
Content warnings: violence