Author: Thomas Mullen
Format: Hardcover, 397 pages
Publisher: Random House
FTC: Won from LibraryThing.com
Let me just say right here that I absolutely loved this book. LOVED it! Please go rent, borrow or buy this book and check it out! It's seriously one of my top favorite books I've read in the last few years.
Here's the plot:
It's 1934 and the Great Depression is in full swing in America. Jason and Whit Fireson have turned to bank robbing as their means of surviving. Jason is seeing Darcy Windham, the disinherited daughter of a wealthy automobile manufacturer. Whit has his hastily married wife, Veronica, and small son to look after. They've also left behind a mother mourning her late husband and a younger brother who is trying to make a living despite having the unfortunate last name of a couple of bank robbers. As the brother's notoriety rises, so does their fame with J. Edgar Hoover's team of newly created FBI agents tracking down America's public enemies.
So this all sounds ok but what's the big hoopla about? Seriously, read the first chapter. The story starts out with Jason and Whit waking up naked in what appears to be their death beds in the back of a police station. They are assumed dead by the police and their death photos appear in all the newspapers. Thus begins the start of the many deaths of the Firefly Brother's as they attempt to score their last heist so they can retire. What happened that night?
I loved how this book starts out and how the whole story unfolds. I loved each character even though they were all pretty flawed. I even enjoyed the side stories with Darcy, Veronica, and their brother Weston. The book is never boring. It's got police shootouts, bank heists, kidnapping, speakeasies, and really makes the setting of the Great Depression come alive.
Go out, find this book and read the first chapter and I guarantee you will be hooked.
Also, check out Thomas Mullen's Q&A about the book on his website. He lists some other books as suggested reading. I love when people do that.
Also reviewed by:
Leafing Through Life - She wrote, "It's so good. I felt it. I fell a little in love with the brothers as bank robbers and as men, even though they're far, far from perfect. The picture Mullen painted of this awfully desperate era is terribly vivid. And it all came together perfectly, and it was all just great. And I loved it."
