"Sutton" Book Review

Sutton by J.R. Moehringer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
"Willie Sutton was born in the squalid Irish slums of Brooklyn, in the first year of the twentieth century, 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 up 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.

"Blending vast research with vivid imagination, Pulitzer Prize winner J.R. Moehringer brings Willie Sutton blazing back to life. In Moehringer's retelling, 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.

"Poignant, comic, fast-paced and fact-studded, Sutton tells a story of economic pain that feels eerily modern, while unfolding a story of doomed love that is forever timeless."(overview via Barnes and Noble)

This is a beautifully written fictionalized biography of William Francis Sutton, a notorious figure known for his charm and nonviolent bank robberies and jewel heists. Though not as well known today as a few of his colleagues, Capone and Dillinger just to name a few, he was one of the most sought after criminals of his time. But also a sort of folk hero, like Robin Hood.

A product of his environment, the banks owned much while people starved and lived on the streets thereby developing a heavy dislike for the rich, he's also charismatic and highly intelligent, escaping prison multiple times and reading the great literary classics and becoming an avid gardener while stuck inside.

It was interesting to meet all of the real-life characters that made up his friends and associates. I would love to read a biography of that lawyer, Samuel Untermyer, he sounds absolutely fascinating.

I felt so bad for Sutton at times, though he was so intelligent and planned his crimes so well, his accomplices would usually screw something up or turn out to be a rat. He couldn't catch a break half of the time. And that had to be one of the worst cases of police brutality I have ever read.

Probably one of the better books I've read all year, I really enjoyed it and hope to read more from the author.

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