Sutton by J.R. Moehringer

Publisher: Hyperion
Publish Date: September 25, 2012
Pages: 352
Format: Hardcover (local library)
ISBN: 1401323146

Willie Sutton was born in the squalid Irish slums of Brooklyn in 1901, and came of age at a time when banks were out of control.  If they weren’t failing outright, causing countless Americans to lose their jobs and homes, they were being propped with emergency bailouts.  Trapped in a cycle of panics, depressions and soaring unemployment, Sutton saw only one way out, only one way to win the girl of his dreams.

So began the career of America’s most successful bank robber.  Over three decades Sutton became so good at breaking into banks, and such a master at breaking out of prisons, police called him one of the most dangerous men in New York, and the FBI put him on its first-ever Most Wanted List.

But the public rooted for Sutton.  He never fired a shot, after all, and his victims were merely those bloodsucking banks.  When he was finally caught for good in 1952, crowds surrounded the jail and chanted his name.

It was more than poverty or rage at society that drove Sutton.  It was one unforgettable woman.  In all Sutton’s crimes and confinements, his first love (and first accomplice) was never far from his thoughts.  And when Sutton finally walked free – a surprise pardon on Christmas Eve, 1969 – he immediately set out to find her.

My Thoughts
Blending vast research with vivid imagination, J.R. Moehringer brings Willie Sutton blazing back to life.  This is a story with many layers including politics, crime and most of all love.  Even though this is a novel about a famous bank robber, Moeringer tells a beautiful love story which is the main reason Sutton chose the life of crime.  It gives us an extensive overview of the risk versus the reward of the profession. 

There are so many vibrant aspects to this story; beating by cops, narrow escapes, unexpected kindness, tearful betrayals and hair raising robberies, life lessons…I could go on and on.  I was absolutely transfixed by this book and I can’t praise it enough.  The story starts and ends on Christmas Eve 1969 and the author does not go on to tell us about Willie’s life after his release which lead me to do some research on my own and have become completely fascinated with Willie Sutton.  Although he never robbed another bank after his final release he still led a pretty interesting life.  He became an advocate for prison reform, consulted with banks implementing anti-robbery techniques and even became a spokesperson for the New Britain Bank and Trust Company.

Highly, highly recommended!

My Rating: «««««

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The reviews made here are my personal opinion. I’m not being paid to review any of these books. I am by no means a professional book reviewer or editor.  I do this for the love of books.