Handsome Harry : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Harry Pierpont
Review: Having researched Harry for over 25 years, it is good to see a book come out on him, even if it is a novel. It made him appear more human, which all the history and John Dillinger biographies haven't done so far. A guy who lost out on the lime light due to the Dillinger fame...Pierpont was a clever and rather brilliant criminal in his own rights and if he had eluded the police in Tucson of 1934, he may well have made it to the FBI "hit" list right along with Dillinger. Tempermental and highly complexed...Pierpont had all the makings of a famous criminal mind. So sad that history has left him behind.

Rating:
Summary: A rolicking crime caper!
Review: In 'Handsome Harry', author James Carlos Blake captures the voice of bank robber Harry Pierpont in the same way that J.D. Salinger captured the voice of an angsty teenager in 'The Catcher in the Rye'--- BELIEVABLY & SMOOTHLY. This boldly honest first person narrated novel takes actual events of the great depression years of the 30's and gives a novelistic flair and panache to the way it was running with the John Dillinger gang. Robbing banks and staying one step ahead of the law as we know is a very dangerous profession. This novel puts you right there in the center of the action with hot dames, expensive suits, and bullets screaming from a Tommy gun!

Rating:
Summary: Vintage James Carlos Blake
Review: This author specializes in creating historical fiction that is based upon real life characters, who are historically regarded as outlaws but in their own time would have been viewed by many of the contemporary populace as heroes. Blake's work is always meticulously researched, with the resulting work, while technically fiction, usually mirroring very closely the actual historical events and characters that the book is based upon. This latest work is about Harry Pierpont, who was at the centerpoint of John Dillinger's first gang. His second gang, which featured Baby Face Nelson and Homer Van Meter and who were involved at the Little Bohemia shoot-out in Wisconsin, usually carry the greater attention in historical replay. Blake does a wondrous job in creating the atmosphere of this Depression-era story of a time when many of Pierpont's ilk where seen as crusaders against a corrupt banking and big business industry that had created the Depression and brought ruin to so many. I would have given this book 5 stars, except it didn't quite match up to his two best works, those being "Wildwood Boys" and "Red Grass River", both of which are also strongly recommended. I can't wait for his novels to come out, they are like time machines to grittier times when a sense of moral conviction born out of oppression and the use of a gun made the bad guys believe (and with at least some justification) that they were victims and were really the good guys. Anything this man puts out is superlative and is highly recommended.