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Sutton: A Blazing Historical Novel About the Most Wanted Criminal in American History
One of the most notorious criminals in American history is brought blazing back to life by a master storyteller.
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
Over three decades, from Prohibition through the Great Depression, from the age of Al Capone until the reign of Murder Inc., police called Sutton one of the most dangerous men in New York, and the FBI put him on its first-ever Most Wanted list. But the public loved him. He never fired a shot, after all, and his victims were merely those bloodsucking banks.
Based on extensive research, Sutton is the moving story of an enigmatic man, an arch criminal driven by love, forever seeking the beautiful woman who led him into a life of crime, then broke his heart and disappeared.
352 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2012
508 people are currently reading
9509 people want to read
About the author
J.R. Moehringer
12 books1,034 followersJ.R. Moehringer is an American journalist and author. Born in New York City and raised in Manhasset, New York, he is a former national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times.
A 1986 graduate of Yale University, Moehringer began his journalism career as a news assistant at The New York Times.
He won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing in 2000.
A 1986 graduate of Yale University, Moehringer began his journalism career as a news assistant at The New York Times.
He won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing in 2000.
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March 28, 2020
”Sutton is the first multigeneration bank robber in history, the first ever to build a lengthy career--it spans four decades. In his heyday Sutton was the face of American crime, one of a handful of men to make the leap from public enemy to folk hero. Smarter than Machine Gun Kelly, saner than Pretty Boy Floyd, more likable than Legs Diamond, more peaceable than Dutch Schultz, more romantic than Bonnie and Clyde, Sutton saw bank robbery as high art and went about it with an artist’s single-minded zeal. He believed in study, planning, hard work. And yet he was also creative, an innovator, and like the greatest artists he proved to be tenacious survivor.
He escaped three maximum-security prisons, eluded cops and FBI agents for years. He was Henry Ford by way of John Dillinger--with dashes of Houdini and Picasso and Rasputin. The reporters know all about Sutton’s stylish clothes, his impish smile, his love of good books, the glint of devilment in his bright blue eyes, so blue that the FBI once described them in bulletins as azure. It’s the rare bank robber who moves the FBI to such lyricism.
Willie Sutton
Willie “The Artist” Sutton stole an estimated $2million dollars over the span of his forty year career and spent more than half of his adult life behind bars. J. R. Moehringer takes us from his childhood until his death. The story is told from the vantage point of Willie Sutton aged 69 on the day he is released from prison and as his memories unfold the reader is allowed to ride shotgun with Sutton as he guides us through his career. One thing that really struck me is that just before World War One the United States was in a depression and then experienced several more depressions long before the Great Depression of the 1930s. Willie was one of those guys born in an Irish borough, achieving only an 8th grade education, and every time there was even a slight downturn in the market he was among the first group to be let go from his job. The disparity between rich and poor was a wide chasm and he and his friends, growing up barely able to keep food in their mouths, were well aware of the disadvantages. The uneven playing field that people, by dint of birth, found themselves fighting against their whole lives is the same rigged machine that exists today. The rich just keep getting richer, the middle class is shrinking, and the poor are losing all hope of climbing the rungs to prosperity.
Willie has a natural animosity towards the banks and the Wall Street tycoons. The name Rockefeller rarely leaves his mouth without being preceded and followed by a handful of expletives. It is beyond ironic that when Willie gets the call that he has been pardoned in 1969 it is Nelson Rockefeller that secures his release. "Death stands at your door, hitches up its pants, points its baton at you--then hands you a pardon."New York loved Sutton, thought of him as a Robin Hood character because he used guile rather than violence to rob banks. He meets a doorman who happens to be a fan. ”Three greatest Willies in New York, my old man says--Willie Mays, Joe Willie Namath, and Willie the Actor.” Willie loves New York and spends most of his life, while not in prison, in the city. He casts a jaundiced eye on his own relationship with his home city. ”New York, he says. No matter how many times you see it, you never quite get over how much it doesn’t fuckin need you. Doesn’t care if you live or die, stay or go. But that--that indifference, I guess you’d call it--that’s half of what makes the town so goddamn beautiful.”
Willie was a lifetime reader, a fact that endeared him to me. He started out reading Horatio Alger books because they were predictable and reassured him that if he worked hard he would eventually succeed. After being laid off numerous times regardless of how well he performed his duties it didn’t take him long to realize that Horatio Alger was selling a load of crap.
While in prison he discovered the series of pamphlets produced by E. Haldeman-Julius about every subject under the sun.
They raised his familiarity with subjects to the point that he was comfortable reading the regular editions of Cicero, St, Augustine, Bronte, and one of his favorite authors Proust. For a man marking time, obsessed with time, Proust was a natural fit for a man stacking every hour in prison. The police knew that Willie liked books and after one of his escapes bookstores were on the list of sites to be staked out. Yep that would be me, FBI’s MOST WANTED JEFFREY DEAN KEETEN snagged at a bookstore.
Like John Dillinger, cops liked to be photographed with Willie Sutton.
Sutton was in love with one girl for most of his life. A girl named Bess Endner was the object of his affection. A girl not only unattainable, but existing in a life of security and wealth so far removed from Sutton that the air was too precious for him to breath. The bisection of fantasy and reality that surround his relationship with Bess are difficult to unravel. A reporter who spent most of his professional career following the exploits of Willie Sutton finds himself hitting inconsistency not only in his “relationship” with Bess, but with details regarding Sutton’s criminal career.
Willie lived long enough to control his own legend. His most quoted line that I had heard, but couldn't have attributed to Sutton is;
"Willie, why do you rob banks?" He was asked by a reporter.
"Because that's where the money is." He famously replied.
I was absolutely transported by this book. It is a book of many layers, sprinkled with politics and a clear eyed view about crime. It gives us an extensive overview of the risk versus reward of the profession. There is philosophy. ”Whenever an Indian is lost or sad, or near death, he goes and finds the place of his birth and lies down on top of it. Indians think that gives a man some kind of healing. Closes some kind of loop. And hookers with a heart of gold. ”Her touch is surprisingly gentle, and skillful, and Willie is quickly aroused. She drags her rich chestnut hair up his chest, across his face, like a fan of feathers. He likes the way it feels, and smells. Her hair soap, Castile maybe, masks the room’s other baked-in scents. Male sweat, old spunk--and Fels?” There are hardboiled statements straight out of Chandler or Hammett. ”A safe is like a woman. She’ll tell you how to open her, providing you know how to listen.” There are beatings by cops, there are narrow escapes, unexpected kindnesses, soul tearing betrayals, and hair raising robberies. The book delivered exactly what I wanted; and best of all, even though this is a novel, Willie Sutton really existed.
I worked as a loan officer in a bank for a year and interesting enough they had to do a back ground check on me, my father, and my grandfather before I could go to work there. I had these visions of sitting there before the bank president. He looking at me over the top of his bifocals and saying "we are so sorry Mr. Keeten, but there was this little incident with a bank in Oklahoma back in 1936." I was as it turned out hired, but there was a small part of me rooting for my grandfather, who I never knew, to have done something nefarious. After experiencing how banks think about their customers, talk about their customers, and screw the people most in need with higher interest, maliciously so, I probably have more sympathy for guys like Dillinger and Sutton than I should. I've always had an adage to get away from untrustworthy people and I couldn't leave the banking business fast enough. On a moral scale I'm not sure much more than a sheet of paper with a financing degree separates most bankers from a bank robber.
Watching my father deal with banks, especially through the 1980s farming crisis, I learned pretty quickly there are no rules. The friendly grin you see one day from a banker can turn into a shark smile the next day. Believe me, there are reasons why the banking industry is heavily regulated and I can assure you they spend a lot of time trying to figure out ways to bend the rules to their advantage. I didn't experience finance on the epic scale that is Wall Street, but what I observed on the smaller scale made it pretty easy to project what was going on further up the food chain.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
He escaped three maximum-security prisons, eluded cops and FBI agents for years. He was Henry Ford by way of John Dillinger--with dashes of Houdini and Picasso and Rasputin. The reporters know all about Sutton’s stylish clothes, his impish smile, his love of good books, the glint of devilment in his bright blue eyes, so blue that the FBI once described them in bulletins as azure. It’s the rare bank robber who moves the FBI to such lyricism.
Willie SuttonWillie “The Artist” Sutton stole an estimated $2million dollars over the span of his forty year career and spent more than half of his adult life behind bars. J. R. Moehringer takes us from his childhood until his death. The story is told from the vantage point of Willie Sutton aged 69 on the day he is released from prison and as his memories unfold the reader is allowed to ride shotgun with Sutton as he guides us through his career. One thing that really struck me is that just before World War One the United States was in a depression and then experienced several more depressions long before the Great Depression of the 1930s. Willie was one of those guys born in an Irish borough, achieving only an 8th grade education, and every time there was even a slight downturn in the market he was among the first group to be let go from his job. The disparity between rich and poor was a wide chasm and he and his friends, growing up barely able to keep food in their mouths, were well aware of the disadvantages. The uneven playing field that people, by dint of birth, found themselves fighting against their whole lives is the same rigged machine that exists today. The rich just keep getting richer, the middle class is shrinking, and the poor are losing all hope of climbing the rungs to prosperity.
Willie has a natural animosity towards the banks and the Wall Street tycoons. The name Rockefeller rarely leaves his mouth without being preceded and followed by a handful of expletives. It is beyond ironic that when Willie gets the call that he has been pardoned in 1969 it is Nelson Rockefeller that secures his release. "Death stands at your door, hitches up its pants, points its baton at you--then hands you a pardon."New York loved Sutton, thought of him as a Robin Hood character because he used guile rather than violence to rob banks. He meets a doorman who happens to be a fan. ”Three greatest Willies in New York, my old man says--Willie Mays, Joe Willie Namath, and Willie the Actor.” Willie loves New York and spends most of his life, while not in prison, in the city. He casts a jaundiced eye on his own relationship with his home city. ”New York, he says. No matter how many times you see it, you never quite get over how much it doesn’t fuckin need you. Doesn’t care if you live or die, stay or go. But that--that indifference, I guess you’d call it--that’s half of what makes the town so goddamn beautiful.”
Willie was a lifetime reader, a fact that endeared him to me. He started out reading Horatio Alger books because they were predictable and reassured him that if he worked hard he would eventually succeed. After being laid off numerous times regardless of how well he performed his duties it didn’t take him long to realize that Horatio Alger was selling a load of crap.
While in prison he discovered the series of pamphlets produced by E. Haldeman-Julius about every subject under the sun.
They raised his familiarity with subjects to the point that he was comfortable reading the regular editions of Cicero, St, Augustine, Bronte, and one of his favorite authors Proust. For a man marking time, obsessed with time, Proust was a natural fit for a man stacking every hour in prison. The police knew that Willie liked books and after one of his escapes bookstores were on the list of sites to be staked out. Yep that would be me, FBI’s MOST WANTED JEFFREY DEAN KEETEN snagged at a bookstore.
Like John Dillinger, cops liked to be photographed with Willie Sutton.
Sutton was in love with one girl for most of his life. A girl named Bess Endner was the object of his affection. A girl not only unattainable, but existing in a life of security and wealth so far removed from Sutton that the air was too precious for him to breath. The bisection of fantasy and reality that surround his relationship with Bess are difficult to unravel. A reporter who spent most of his professional career following the exploits of Willie Sutton finds himself hitting inconsistency not only in his “relationship” with Bess, but with details regarding Sutton’s criminal career.
How many of the contradictions in Sutton’s memoirs, or in his mind, were willful, and how many were dementia, Reporter doesn’t know. HIs current theory is that Sutton lived three separate lives. The one he remembered, the one he told people about, the one that really happened. Where those lives overlapped, no one can say, and God help anyone who tries. More than likely, Sutton himself didn’t know.”
Willie lived long enough to control his own legend. His most quoted line that I had heard, but couldn't have attributed to Sutton is;
"Willie, why do you rob banks?" He was asked by a reporter.
"Because that's where the money is." He famously replied.
I know he looks harmless lady, but that little old man is a notorious bank robber.
I was absolutely transported by this book. It is a book of many layers, sprinkled with politics and a clear eyed view about crime. It gives us an extensive overview of the risk versus reward of the profession. There is philosophy. ”Whenever an Indian is lost or sad, or near death, he goes and finds the place of his birth and lies down on top of it. Indians think that gives a man some kind of healing. Closes some kind of loop. And hookers with a heart of gold. ”Her touch is surprisingly gentle, and skillful, and Willie is quickly aroused. She drags her rich chestnut hair up his chest, across his face, like a fan of feathers. He likes the way it feels, and smells. Her hair soap, Castile maybe, masks the room’s other baked-in scents. Male sweat, old spunk--and Fels?” There are hardboiled statements straight out of Chandler or Hammett. ”A safe is like a woman. She’ll tell you how to open her, providing you know how to listen.” There are beatings by cops, there are narrow escapes, unexpected kindnesses, soul tearing betrayals, and hair raising robberies. The book delivered exactly what I wanted; and best of all, even though this is a novel, Willie Sutton really existed.
I worked as a loan officer in a bank for a year and interesting enough they had to do a back ground check on me, my father, and my grandfather before I could go to work there. I had these visions of sitting there before the bank president. He looking at me over the top of his bifocals and saying "we are so sorry Mr. Keeten, but there was this little incident with a bank in Oklahoma back in 1936." I was as it turned out hired, but there was a small part of me rooting for my grandfather, who I never knew, to have done something nefarious. After experiencing how banks think about their customers, talk about their customers, and screw the people most in need with higher interest, maliciously so, I probably have more sympathy for guys like Dillinger and Sutton than I should. I've always had an adage to get away from untrustworthy people and I couldn't leave the banking business fast enough. On a moral scale I'm not sure much more than a sheet of paper with a financing degree separates most bankers from a bank robber.
Watching my father deal with banks, especially through the 1980s farming crisis, I learned pretty quickly there are no rules. The friendly grin you see one day from a banker can turn into a shark smile the next day. Believe me, there are reasons why the banking industry is heavily regulated and I can assure you they spend a lot of time trying to figure out ways to bend the rules to their advantage. I didn't experience finance on the epic scale that is Wall Street, but what I observed on the smaller scale made it pretty easy to project what was going on further up the food chain.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
August 11, 2022
“Banks gamed the system, fucked society, caused the crash of 1929, drove the world into the abyss and paved the way for the rise of fascism—Stalin, Hitler—and they got despicably, disgustingly rich in the process. Banks. Banks did all that.”
J.R. Moehringer Sutton begins with Willie Sutton’s release from Attica and nostalgically follows this notorious bank robber’s career through flashbacks. Though I’m not related, I’d heard of “Slick Willie” “The Actor” Sutton most of my life. Moehringer’s account makes it clear just how famous Sutton was and why he’d earned a place in the folklore of bank robbers. I don’t think the novel stretches any of the previous interpretations of Sutton’s life, but it was an easy and fun read.
J.R. Moehringer Sutton begins with Willie Sutton’s release from Attica and nostalgically follows this notorious bank robber’s career through flashbacks. Though I’m not related, I’d heard of “Slick Willie” “The Actor” Sutton most of my life. Moehringer’s account makes it clear just how famous Sutton was and why he’d earned a place in the folklore of bank robbers. I don’t think the novel stretches any of the previous interpretations of Sutton’s life, but it was an easy and fun read.
September 9, 2014
The sound of men in cages — nothing can compare with it.
I read this line, within the first twenty pages of J.R. Moehringer’s Sutton, on the streetcar. I had been given the book by a colleague and had no real expectations. It was a book about a real life criminal, notorious for his bank robberies and ability to escape high-security prisons. But, like they say, love finds you when you least expect it. And, I can assure you, that is exactly how it happened.
First, to address my previous statement, I was wrong about the criminal stereotyping. William Francis Sutton was, by definition, a criminal. But he was also a lover of literature, a swell gardener, a loyal friend and a painstakingly devoted romantic. Known for his polite and charming persona, Sutton’s crimes were never violent. More than a criminal, Willie Sutton was a modern day Robin Hood.
So when I read this line, I knew, J.R. Moehringer was going to make me love this man. And love him, I did. Though Sutton is a fictional story, it is based very accurately on historical events. Willie Sutton did grow up in the Irish slums, and did hold a severe resentment for the banks that swam in cash while the public starved. He did get arrested repeatedly, and subsequently escaped prison repeatedly. He was released from prison for the last time on Christmas Eve at the age of 68. He proceeded to write two memoirs, both of which contradicted the other, leaving so much room for the imagination to fill in the gaps. And I must admit, I am so glad that this is exactly what J.R. Moehringer did.
Upon his release from prison, Sutton was forced to drive around New York with a reporter, taking him to all the scenes of his life’s most significant moments. Moehringer frames the story of Willie’s life with this trip. New York comes alive in Moehringer’s vivid descriptions of the concrete jungle during the whole of the 1900′s. I was captivated. But more than this, I was moved.
Moehringer’s depiction of Willie Sutton was a force, from the narrative voice he is given, to his poetic thought and his astoundingly passionate love for the woman who lead him into a life of crime, Bess Endner. Willie’s story is not just one of money; it is primarily a story of love.
An entire world exists in the pages of this book. One that has dug deep into my heart and burrowed there. The amount of feeling that this novel evoked from me is a pure testiment to the raw talent that is scribed within these pages. I proceeded to read everything I could on this book, Willie Sutton, and J.R. Moehringer. I will go as far as saying that Moehringer’s Willie Sutton is one of the most wonderful literary characters that I have ever encountered.
One last quote to leave you with, because the writing in this novel was so beautiful, I could feel it in my bones. Sadly, my favourite lines would reveal spoilers, so you’ll just have to read the book for yourself!
He never realized until now that ribs are nothing but bars made of bone, and the heart is just a scared prisoner pleading to get out.
And if you have the time, please listen to the amazing speech that J.R. Moehringer did at BEA this year. I listened to it three times in a span of eight hours. Oh, and read this book. And be prepared to want to start it all over again once you finish.
I read this line, within the first twenty pages of J.R. Moehringer’s Sutton, on the streetcar. I had been given the book by a colleague and had no real expectations. It was a book about a real life criminal, notorious for his bank robberies and ability to escape high-security prisons. But, like they say, love finds you when you least expect it. And, I can assure you, that is exactly how it happened.
First, to address my previous statement, I was wrong about the criminal stereotyping. William Francis Sutton was, by definition, a criminal. But he was also a lover of literature, a swell gardener, a loyal friend and a painstakingly devoted romantic. Known for his polite and charming persona, Sutton’s crimes were never violent. More than a criminal, Willie Sutton was a modern day Robin Hood.
So when I read this line, I knew, J.R. Moehringer was going to make me love this man. And love him, I did. Though Sutton is a fictional story, it is based very accurately on historical events. Willie Sutton did grow up in the Irish slums, and did hold a severe resentment for the banks that swam in cash while the public starved. He did get arrested repeatedly, and subsequently escaped prison repeatedly. He was released from prison for the last time on Christmas Eve at the age of 68. He proceeded to write two memoirs, both of which contradicted the other, leaving so much room for the imagination to fill in the gaps. And I must admit, I am so glad that this is exactly what J.R. Moehringer did.
Upon his release from prison, Sutton was forced to drive around New York with a reporter, taking him to all the scenes of his life’s most significant moments. Moehringer frames the story of Willie’s life with this trip. New York comes alive in Moehringer’s vivid descriptions of the concrete jungle during the whole of the 1900′s. I was captivated. But more than this, I was moved.
Moehringer’s depiction of Willie Sutton was a force, from the narrative voice he is given, to his poetic thought and his astoundingly passionate love for the woman who lead him into a life of crime, Bess Endner. Willie’s story is not just one of money; it is primarily a story of love.
An entire world exists in the pages of this book. One that has dug deep into my heart and burrowed there. The amount of feeling that this novel evoked from me is a pure testiment to the raw talent that is scribed within these pages. I proceeded to read everything I could on this book, Willie Sutton, and J.R. Moehringer. I will go as far as saying that Moehringer’s Willie Sutton is one of the most wonderful literary characters that I have ever encountered.
One last quote to leave you with, because the writing in this novel was so beautiful, I could feel it in my bones. Sadly, my favourite lines would reveal spoilers, so you’ll just have to read the book for yourself!
He never realized until now that ribs are nothing but bars made of bone, and the heart is just a scared prisoner pleading to get out.
And if you have the time, please listen to the amazing speech that J.R. Moehringer did at BEA this year. I listened to it three times in a span of eight hours. Oh, and read this book. And be prepared to want to start it all over again once you finish.
October 3, 2012
I'm going to write the author an extended thank-you letter for this book. It has opened up and fleshed out a childhood question that has intrigued me since I was old enough to read. The author already established himself as one of my favorite writers with his memoir, The Tender Bar. Reading Sutton cemented this feeling for me. It is a deeply affecting, highly entertaining book.
Sutton reconstructs the story of folk-hero/bank robber Willie Sutton in a really creative way: after Sutton's release from Prison in 1969, he takes a reporter and a photographer on an exclusive chronological journey through his old haunts. As they visit the five boroughs of New York City the newspapermen begin to get glimpses of the man behind the myth... or do they? Sutton is an intriguing character, beautifully drawn here. A product of a keen intellect and one of the hardest stretches of Twentieth Century American History. His story is the story of rising disillusionment and corruption and the mental gymnastics needed to survive. Sutton moves through a succession of impossible situations beginning with a brutal childhood, with the grace of a philosopher (or a prizefighter...), buoyed along by his love of knowledge and the pursuit of the love of his life. He finds there is one thing he does really well. The fact that it isn't legal has a basically very moral man jumping through hoops to convince himself that his life has meaning and is justified, much as we all do. Sutton's life was just writ on a larger stage than most of us will ever tread upon.
Moehringer's portrait of the slums of Irish Town, Brooklyn in the first decades of the last century is so resonant with sensory elements, I could smell the streets. His description of the elation of a released convict slipping off the prison garb and putting on his release suit, is worth the price of the book alone. For any student of the criminal component of American Culture and the achievements of the heart rising above its surroundings, this novel should be considered part of the canon.
Sutton reconstructs the story of folk-hero/bank robber Willie Sutton in a really creative way: after Sutton's release from Prison in 1969, he takes a reporter and a photographer on an exclusive chronological journey through his old haunts. As they visit the five boroughs of New York City the newspapermen begin to get glimpses of the man behind the myth... or do they? Sutton is an intriguing character, beautifully drawn here. A product of a keen intellect and one of the hardest stretches of Twentieth Century American History. His story is the story of rising disillusionment and corruption and the mental gymnastics needed to survive. Sutton moves through a succession of impossible situations beginning with a brutal childhood, with the grace of a philosopher (or a prizefighter...), buoyed along by his love of knowledge and the pursuit of the love of his life. He finds there is one thing he does really well. The fact that it isn't legal has a basically very moral man jumping through hoops to convince himself that his life has meaning and is justified, much as we all do. Sutton's life was just writ on a larger stage than most of us will ever tread upon.
Moehringer's portrait of the slums of Irish Town, Brooklyn in the first decades of the last century is so resonant with sensory elements, I could smell the streets. His description of the elation of a released convict slipping off the prison garb and putting on his release suit, is worth the price of the book alone. For any student of the criminal component of American Culture and the achievements of the heart rising above its surroundings, this novel should be considered part of the canon.
June 15, 2025
J.R. Moehringer first became known in my world during the credits for the Amazon film "The Tender Bar". Since I gravitate towards inspired stories such as this, I felt compelled to read book it was based upon. For those like myself who choose 'under the radar' authors, it became clear how the JR was awarded the 2000 Pulitzer for feature writing, and a former Neiman fellow at Harvard. Not only is the book glorious, its a huge departure from the screenplay.
Blending his vast imagination with copious research, JR tells the story of Willie Sutton, aka Willie the Actor, the world's most famous bank robber. We meet him as he's being released from Attica prison and quickly rushed away due to an exclusive interview contracted with a newspaper. The story toggles back and forth between Willie's childhood during the Depression era in Brooklyn and the tour he takes The Reporter and The Photographer on during the interview. The author's lyrical prose, use of metaphor and narrative approach result in a book that's memorable and UNIQUE!
Born to an Irish and Italian immigrants who like most, struggled to keep food on the table, the 'hard work' meme dominates the period. Willie is a good child who cares for his mother and does everything he can to help. When he meets Bess in his teens, its love at first sight in spite of their family's economic differences.
The first part of the story is focused on the 'coming of age' and his desire to 'wed' Bess, his true love in spite of the 'class differences' between their families. Her father is both controlling and wealthy and feels 'rules are not to be broken'. As their relationship deepens, Willie comes clean about petty thefts he's succeeded with which spurns a plan to rob her father's safe. As the saying goes, 'no good deed goes unpunished' Willie and his crew are arrested.
In the second part of the story, we learn of Willie's introduction to a highly successful underworld character known as Doc, who is of the same ilk as Capone, Dutch Schultz and others. Doc takes Willie under his wing where he learns 'the ropes' of crime, bank robbing and more and finds himself floating in money. Wanting to strike out on his own, Willie breaks from Doc and partners with Eddie and develops an original approach to bank robbing. Dressed in cop or other uniforms, they approach the security guard prior to opening and await the arrival of the staff and manager. Having the knowledge gained from Doc with safe cracking, the pair make away with fortunes. After countless robberies, Sutton's disguising talent results in the nickname, Willie the Actor, and his popularity with the less fortunate skyrockets.
One of the more unique qualities JR assigns to Sutton is his passion for reading and ability to quote from classics. Additionally, Willie feigns violence and lives from his heart and over time the public 'roots' for him. He loves the planning and studying that go into a job; wears opera gloves when breaking into a safe and much more. In other words, Sutton is an 'artistic' bank robber who like the author, defies categorization
Another important element to point out is the use of italics for the present narrative and standard text for the back story resulting in deeper engagement. He also injects humor during dialog Willie has with clueless cohorts. As with most crime stories, Willie's downfall is trusting these illiterates and pays the price as a result.
While mystery and crime are lower on the preference list, this is storytelling at its best. JR shows his creativity, talent and more with this truly remarkable narrative that engages, humors and evokes a full range of emotion. Highly recommended and worthy of adding to anyone's list.
Blending his vast imagination with copious research, JR tells the story of Willie Sutton, aka Willie the Actor, the world's most famous bank robber. We meet him as he's being released from Attica prison and quickly rushed away due to an exclusive interview contracted with a newspaper. The story toggles back and forth between Willie's childhood during the Depression era in Brooklyn and the tour he takes The Reporter and The Photographer on during the interview. The author's lyrical prose, use of metaphor and narrative approach result in a book that's memorable and UNIQUE!
Born to an Irish and Italian immigrants who like most, struggled to keep food on the table, the 'hard work' meme dominates the period. Willie is a good child who cares for his mother and does everything he can to help. When he meets Bess in his teens, its love at first sight in spite of their family's economic differences.
The first part of the story is focused on the 'coming of age' and his desire to 'wed' Bess, his true love in spite of the 'class differences' between their families. Her father is both controlling and wealthy and feels 'rules are not to be broken'. As their relationship deepens, Willie comes clean about petty thefts he's succeeded with which spurns a plan to rob her father's safe. As the saying goes, 'no good deed goes unpunished' Willie and his crew are arrested.
In the second part of the story, we learn of Willie's introduction to a highly successful underworld character known as Doc, who is of the same ilk as Capone, Dutch Schultz and others. Doc takes Willie under his wing where he learns 'the ropes' of crime, bank robbing and more and finds himself floating in money. Wanting to strike out on his own, Willie breaks from Doc and partners with Eddie and develops an original approach to bank robbing. Dressed in cop or other uniforms, they approach the security guard prior to opening and await the arrival of the staff and manager. Having the knowledge gained from Doc with safe cracking, the pair make away with fortunes. After countless robberies, Sutton's disguising talent results in the nickname, Willie the Actor, and his popularity with the less fortunate skyrockets.
One of the more unique qualities JR assigns to Sutton is his passion for reading and ability to quote from classics. Additionally, Willie feigns violence and lives from his heart and over time the public 'roots' for him. He loves the planning and studying that go into a job; wears opera gloves when breaking into a safe and much more. In other words, Sutton is an 'artistic' bank robber who like the author, defies categorization
Another important element to point out is the use of italics for the present narrative and standard text for the back story resulting in deeper engagement. He also injects humor during dialog Willie has with clueless cohorts. As with most crime stories, Willie's downfall is trusting these illiterates and pays the price as a result.
While mystery and crime are lower on the preference list, this is storytelling at its best. JR shows his creativity, talent and more with this truly remarkable narrative that engages, humors and evokes a full range of emotion. Highly recommended and worthy of adding to anyone's list.
March 14, 2013
I read Moehringer's A Tender Bar after being impressed by the Agassi bio Open. I loved A Tender Bar. On the basis of that, I got hold of Sutton. I read two pages and raved to all who would listen. Moehringer is a great writer of sentences and paragraphs.
But perhaps there is good reason he hasn't attempted a novel before this - the structure of this book was a letdown.
Yes, it is a clever device to have Sutton drive around with the journos and retelling his past bit by bit. The problem is that the flashback device makes it harder for the reader to become as invested in the character and his fortunes as it would've been had the story unfolded without the flashback framework.
This issue could've been mitigated had the two story strands melded inventively or meaningfully at the end. To my mind, they didn't. Also, what is arguably the key scene in the book, where Sutton goes to meet Bess or her descendants, didn't take me along on the journey. Sutton's strange confusion at this point left me confused, not enlightened.
And the last chapter, which one supposes was meant to be in some way a commentary or key to what had gone before, seemed a bit pointless and tacked on.
I'm eager to read Moehringer's next book. He's that good a writer. This book, however, was a disappointment. Maybe Moehringer was too respectful of history, too much of a journalist and not enough of a novelist.
But perhaps there is good reason he hasn't attempted a novel before this - the structure of this book was a letdown.
Yes, it is a clever device to have Sutton drive around with the journos and retelling his past bit by bit. The problem is that the flashback device makes it harder for the reader to become as invested in the character and his fortunes as it would've been had the story unfolded without the flashback framework.
This issue could've been mitigated had the two story strands melded inventively or meaningfully at the end. To my mind, they didn't. Also, what is arguably the key scene in the book, where Sutton goes to meet Bess or her descendants, didn't take me along on the journey. Sutton's strange confusion at this point left me confused, not enlightened.
And the last chapter, which one supposes was meant to be in some way a commentary or key to what had gone before, seemed a bit pointless and tacked on.
I'm eager to read Moehringer's next book. He's that good a writer. This book, however, was a disappointment. Maybe Moehringer was too respectful of history, too much of a journalist and not enough of a novelist.
December 13, 2015
This book is amazing! You keep thinking about it even after you stop reading it. The ending is such a shock and makes you rethink the entire book! Absolutely adored this book.
July 28, 2022
Mi-a placut cartea, m-a tinut "acolo", scrie bine Moehringer...Pãcat de final, m-a bagat in ceatã si a sters ceva din frumusetea cãrtii....
November 7, 2017
Remember how I fussed and fumed over The Movement of Stars and how a completely fictional romance was shoehorned into a real person's life, presumably to make it more interesting? And how I complained that whenever the protagonist is a woman, it seems like there has to be a grand romantic sub-plot, but when the protagonists are men, it doesn't?
I take it back. I lied. Here is a book, about a man, written by a man, that does the EXACT SAME THING.
J.R. Moehringer got the idea for the novel while wanting to write a non-fiction book about how evil modern banks are. But he went this route instead. Willie Sutton was a "gentleman bankrobber" whose career spanned the 20s through the 50s, included 3 jailbreaks, and caused him to be somewhat of a folk hero. Overall, a good subject for a novel. And I saw an interview with the author where he talked about the importance of following history, just filling in the gaps, that he thinks this is what historical fiction readers want to experience. He said this is what he did -- no CHANGING history, just following it and adding his own imagination where no evidence exists.
...Woe, WOE to authors who make those promises and then don't follow through! A good historical fiction will make me look up the subject, and then I will KNOW what you did and did not do!
So as I said at the beginning, this book takes (and runs with) the idea that a girl Willie met early on -- Bess Endner -- is the grand love of his life and that his whole life of crime somehow revolves around her and his love for her. (This is not a spoiler, it becomes evident very early in the book.)
Almost unmentioned go his two real life wives and his real life daughter...less than a paragraph is devoted in total to the three of them. Moehringer's determination to give Willie Sutton an Anakin Skywalkeresque "I did it all for love" character arc means it's all Bess Bess Bess, all the time. Never mind that in my opinion, it would have been way more interesting to see a career criminal's interactions with his REAL wives, his REAL daughter, as opposed to some fakey relationship (fakey in that there's no historical evidence that Moehringer's hypothesis is true, and fakey in that even in the novelverse the romance barely passes the 1/4 of the way mark before it's all just remembrances). Because we're so focused on that, we see very little of Willie's life -- we don't even get a good walkthrough of any of his famous bank heists!! Usually I complain of too little going on in characters' heads, but this is the opposite--we spend so much time in Willie's head we don't get to see his life.
Also, whatever you do,
Maybe I'm just not a romantic, but I don't understand this trope in literature, TV, and movies. I find it trite, dull, and not terribly realistic. And when it's laid over an actual historical figure who seems way more complex than this, it bothers me doubly.
It's probably a book still worth reading, but I don't know that it's a book worth buying -- pick it up at the library.
That said, the cover is sexy as hell. Look at that! Yowza.
I take it back. I lied. Here is a book, about a man, written by a man, that does the EXACT SAME THING.
J.R. Moehringer got the idea for the novel while wanting to write a non-fiction book about how evil modern banks are. But he went this route instead. Willie Sutton was a "gentleman bankrobber" whose career spanned the 20s through the 50s, included 3 jailbreaks, and caused him to be somewhat of a folk hero. Overall, a good subject for a novel. And I saw an interview with the author where he talked about the importance of following history, just filling in the gaps, that he thinks this is what historical fiction readers want to experience. He said this is what he did -- no CHANGING history, just following it and adding his own imagination where no evidence exists.
...Woe, WOE to authors who make those promises and then don't follow through! A good historical fiction will make me look up the subject, and then I will KNOW what you did and did not do!
So as I said at the beginning, this book takes (and runs with) the idea that a girl Willie met early on -- Bess Endner -- is the grand love of his life and that his whole life of crime somehow revolves around her and his love for her. (This is not a spoiler, it becomes evident very early in the book.)
Almost unmentioned go his two real life wives and his real life daughter...less than a paragraph is devoted in total to the three of them. Moehringer's determination to give Willie Sutton an Anakin Skywalkeresque "I did it all for love" character arc means it's all Bess Bess Bess, all the time. Never mind that in my opinion, it would have been way more interesting to see a career criminal's interactions with his REAL wives, his REAL daughter, as opposed to some fakey relationship (fakey in that there's no historical evidence that Moehringer's hypothesis is true, and fakey in that even in the novelverse the romance barely passes the 1/4 of the way mark before it's all just remembrances). Because we're so focused on that, we see very little of Willie's life -- we don't even get a good walkthrough of any of his famous bank heists!! Usually I complain of too little going on in characters' heads, but this is the opposite--we spend so much time in Willie's head we don't get to see his life.
Also, whatever you do,
Maybe I'm just not a romantic, but I don't understand this trope in literature, TV, and movies. I find it trite, dull, and not terribly realistic. And when it's laid over an actual historical figure who seems way more complex than this, it bothers me doubly.
It's probably a book still worth reading, but I don't know that it's a book worth buying -- pick it up at the library.
That said, the cover is sexy as hell. Look at that! Yowza.
September 23, 2015
Sutton by J.R. Moehringer is a work of fiction but the protagonist, Willie Sutton actually existed. Willie Sutton or William Francis Sutton, Jr. was a prolific American bank robber who during his forty-year criminal career stole an estimated $2 million, and spent more than half of his adult life in prison and escaped three times.
He robbed banks in different disguises and got the nickname "Willie the Actor". He also gained another nickname "Slick Willie" and to know the story behind this name you got to read the book. And if the story in the book is actually true; I do not want to think about it. It was yuck!
People in the early twentieth century hated banks and loved Willie for robbing these blood sucking banks. He was a hero among the American population and police officers liked to pose with him for photographs.
When Sutton was interviewed by a reporter and was asked why he robbed, Sutton replied "Because that's where the money is."
This quote went on to evolve into the Sutton's law which is taught in medical schools to suggest to medical students that they might best order tests in that sequence which is most likely to result in a quick diagnosis, hence treatment, while minimizing unnecessary costs.
But, what is astonishing is that Willie confessed that he never said it. He said that if some one had asked him, he would have answered the same as it was obvious. But, in real he never mentioned anything like this. He says that it just came up somewhere and the reporter just filled it in his copy. It appeared one day and then it was everywhere.
You can read more about Sutton here
And Sutton Law here
And you can watch the author talk about Sutton and this book here
These are just few sources, there are many other articles on this interesting bank robber on the internet.
Book Cover
Isn't the cover beautiful? well, we don't get this! The cover available in India is a different one which I don't like much. It shows Sutton holding a pistol which does not really goes with his character because he never killed a single person during his criminal life when he robbed the banks(in real life too not only in the book!)
Plot
The story is the retelling of America's one of the most notorious bank robbers. This book tells his journey from the Irish slums of Brooklyn where he was born and how he ended up becoming one of FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives (in fact the FBI site still has him listed in famous cases of history).
The book is written in two parts - one part is in present where Sutton after being released from Attica State Prison has to spend an entire day with a reporter and a photographer for a newspaper article. Sutton takes the two through his major life events in a chronological order at different places in and near New York.
The second part is in past where Sutton narrates his life encounters to the readers. The story he tells to readers and to the reporter and the photographer are sometimes the same and sometimes different. When is Willie telling the truth - in the past or in the present? Well, as a reader, you decide because Sutton is one unreliable narrator.
Characters
After reading this book, Willie Sutton goes to my favorite characters list. A bank robber who is a voracious reader and is a die hard romantic - can any character beat that? How can one not like him?
Also, he is a criminal, a bank robber but as a reader you still vouch for him all the time. If you forget the fact that he is a bank robber; he is such an amazing character - he never hurts any one, never takes revenge on people who cross him or hurt him. If he befriends any one, he is a friend for a lifetime. In his teens he falls in love with a girl and loves her till his very last breath. Sum this all up and you get a real hero! Even if you keep in mind that he is a bank robber, well, you still will not be able to dislike him.
He has a good humor and is highly intelligent - all in all a wonderful character with whom you will easily fall in love with.
What I like
The character, the story, the pace of the book, the writing together make it a great piece of work. J.R. Moehringer is a Pulitzer Prize winner and his writing and story narration will make it difficult for you to put this book down.
The book is a fantastic read throughout but the last few chapters unfold in a way that leaves you in a shock and you are left unsure what and who to believe? It's up to the readers to decide what they want to deduce.
There are some amazing quotes in this book and I have got most of this book highlighted. Since there are so many, I have shared the quotes in a different post here.
What I did not like
I did not dislike any thing in this book, yes the last few chapters left me thinking and I was like what?? I was confused that do I still love this book or not? But, after gathering my thoughts, I would say I ended up loving this book even more!
And this is a sign of a book good book that when you finish it you sit thinking about it for few minutes, hours or days and this book does that.
My final thoughts on the book
An extraordinary work of fiction about a non fiction protagonist that makes you laugh, makes you sad and in the end leaves you thinking about this book and Willie Sutton for days.
I cannot recommend this book enough and this is one of the best books I have read this year.
Read this and my other book reviews at www.book-choose.com
He robbed banks in different disguises and got the nickname "Willie the Actor". He also gained another nickname "Slick Willie" and to know the story behind this name you got to read the book. And if the story in the book is actually true; I do not want to think about it. It was yuck!
People in the early twentieth century hated banks and loved Willie for robbing these blood sucking banks. He was a hero among the American population and police officers liked to pose with him for photographs.
When Sutton was interviewed by a reporter and was asked why he robbed, Sutton replied "Because that's where the money is."
This quote went on to evolve into the Sutton's law which is taught in medical schools to suggest to medical students that they might best order tests in that sequence which is most likely to result in a quick diagnosis, hence treatment, while minimizing unnecessary costs.
But, what is astonishing is that Willie confessed that he never said it. He said that if some one had asked him, he would have answered the same as it was obvious. But, in real he never mentioned anything like this. He says that it just came up somewhere and the reporter just filled it in his copy. It appeared one day and then it was everywhere.
You can read more about Sutton here
And Sutton Law here
And you can watch the author talk about Sutton and this book here
These are just few sources, there are many other articles on this interesting bank robber on the internet.
Book Cover
Isn't the cover beautiful? well, we don't get this! The cover available in India is a different one which I don't like much. It shows Sutton holding a pistol which does not really goes with his character because he never killed a single person during his criminal life when he robbed the banks(in real life too not only in the book!)
Plot
The story is the retelling of America's one of the most notorious bank robbers. This book tells his journey from the Irish slums of Brooklyn where he was born and how he ended up becoming one of FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives (in fact the FBI site still has him listed in famous cases of history).
The book is written in two parts - one part is in present where Sutton after being released from Attica State Prison has to spend an entire day with a reporter and a photographer for a newspaper article. Sutton takes the two through his major life events in a chronological order at different places in and near New York.
The second part is in past where Sutton narrates his life encounters to the readers. The story he tells to readers and to the reporter and the photographer are sometimes the same and sometimes different. When is Willie telling the truth - in the past or in the present? Well, as a reader, you decide because Sutton is one unreliable narrator.
Characters
After reading this book, Willie Sutton goes to my favorite characters list. A bank robber who is a voracious reader and is a die hard romantic - can any character beat that? How can one not like him?
Also, he is a criminal, a bank robber but as a reader you still vouch for him all the time. If you forget the fact that he is a bank robber; he is such an amazing character - he never hurts any one, never takes revenge on people who cross him or hurt him. If he befriends any one, he is a friend for a lifetime. In his teens he falls in love with a girl and loves her till his very last breath. Sum this all up and you get a real hero! Even if you keep in mind that he is a bank robber, well, you still will not be able to dislike him.
He has a good humor and is highly intelligent - all in all a wonderful character with whom you will easily fall in love with.
What I like
The character, the story, the pace of the book, the writing together make it a great piece of work. J.R. Moehringer is a Pulitzer Prize winner and his writing and story narration will make it difficult for you to put this book down.
The book is a fantastic read throughout but the last few chapters unfold in a way that leaves you in a shock and you are left unsure what and who to believe? It's up to the readers to decide what they want to deduce.
There are some amazing quotes in this book and I have got most of this book highlighted. Since there are so many, I have shared the quotes in a different post here.
What I did not like
I did not dislike any thing in this book, yes the last few chapters left me thinking and I was like what?? I was confused that do I still love this book or not? But, after gathering my thoughts, I would say I ended up loving this book even more!
And this is a sign of a book good book that when you finish it you sit thinking about it for few minutes, hours or days and this book does that.
My final thoughts on the book
An extraordinary work of fiction about a non fiction protagonist that makes you laugh, makes you sad and in the end leaves you thinking about this book and Willie Sutton for days.
I cannot recommend this book enough and this is one of the best books I have read this year.
Read this and my other book reviews at www.book-choose.com
September 20, 2017
Such a great read!! I loved this one. I would not have come across it if it wasn't for my book club. It was such an interesting character sketch of a real criminal, Will Sutton. The author did a great job in scene setting and getting you immediately engrossed into the story. I loved the dual timelines, it was presented in such an interesting and effective way. I found myself caring for the MC despite his criminal life and the ending was fantastic.
April 29, 2016
4.5* rounded up
November 14, 2018
Book on CD narrated by Dylan Baker
Everyone knows the Willie Sutton quote; asked why he robbed banks, Sutton purportedly said, “That’s where the money was.” Of course, this was later questioned, but it has remained part of the Sutton lore. In this historical fiction novel, Moehringer tries to explain why Willie robbed all those banks. In a brief author’s note Moehringer relates that after spending half his life in prison, Sutton was released from Attica on Christmas Eve 1969. He spent the entire day with a reporter and a photographer, retracing the steps of his personal history through the boroughs of New York City. The resulting article, however, was curiously sparse in detail. Moehringer writes: “Sadly, Sutton and the reporter and the photographer are all gone, so what happened among them that Christmas, and what happened to Sutton during the preceding sixty-eight years, is anyone’s guess. This book is my guess. But it’s also my wish.”
I wanted to like this. I remember the hoopla when Sutton was released in 1969, and I’ve always been fascinated by true crime works. I knew this was a novel, however, I expected something along the lines of other novels I’ve read that are “fictionalized biographies.”
The trouble I had here was Moehringer’s chosen device: following Sutton, the reporter and the photographer throughout Christmas day 1969, and then having Sutton recall one event after another from his past. It just didn’t work for me. I would be involved in the past and then yanked to the back seat of the car while Willie’s scarfing down donuts provided by the photographer. I also didn’t like the author’s choice to call his characters not by name, but by their roles in Sutton’s life: Photographer, Reporter, Left Cop, Right Cop, etc. It annoyed me.
On the plus side, I really liked the sections where we were living in Sutton’s past. Moehringer brought the 1920s and 1930s to life in his descriptions and scenes on the streets of Brooklyn, or in the prison cells in which Sutton was held. The text version of the book also includes a map of the route taken by Sutton and the reporter on Christmas Day; I found that helpful at times.
Dylan Baker does a credible job of narrating the audiobook. It’s difficult to follow at times because of the constant moving back and forth in time. The text version uses different fonts to give the reader a clue, but the person listening to the audio version doesn’t get any such clue. That’s not the narrator’s fault, it’s the author’s.
Everyone knows the Willie Sutton quote; asked why he robbed banks, Sutton purportedly said, “That’s where the money was.” Of course, this was later questioned, but it has remained part of the Sutton lore. In this historical fiction novel, Moehringer tries to explain why Willie robbed all those banks. In a brief author’s note Moehringer relates that after spending half his life in prison, Sutton was released from Attica on Christmas Eve 1969. He spent the entire day with a reporter and a photographer, retracing the steps of his personal history through the boroughs of New York City. The resulting article, however, was curiously sparse in detail. Moehringer writes: “Sadly, Sutton and the reporter and the photographer are all gone, so what happened among them that Christmas, and what happened to Sutton during the preceding sixty-eight years, is anyone’s guess. This book is my guess. But it’s also my wish.”
I wanted to like this. I remember the hoopla when Sutton was released in 1969, and I’ve always been fascinated by true crime works. I knew this was a novel, however, I expected something along the lines of other novels I’ve read that are “fictionalized biographies.”
The trouble I had here was Moehringer’s chosen device: following Sutton, the reporter and the photographer throughout Christmas day 1969, and then having Sutton recall one event after another from his past. It just didn’t work for me. I would be involved in the past and then yanked to the back seat of the car while Willie’s scarfing down donuts provided by the photographer. I also didn’t like the author’s choice to call his characters not by name, but by their roles in Sutton’s life: Photographer, Reporter, Left Cop, Right Cop, etc. It annoyed me.
On the plus side, I really liked the sections where we were living in Sutton’s past. Moehringer brought the 1920s and 1930s to life in his descriptions and scenes on the streets of Brooklyn, or in the prison cells in which Sutton was held. The text version of the book also includes a map of the route taken by Sutton and the reporter on Christmas Day; I found that helpful at times.
Dylan Baker does a credible job of narrating the audiobook. It’s difficult to follow at times because of the constant moving back and forth in time. The text version uses different fonts to give the reader a clue, but the person listening to the audio version doesn’t get any such clue. That’s not the narrator’s fault, it’s the author’s.
September 2, 2025
Îmi place stilul dezinvolt al lui Moehringer, același care m-a cucerit și în "Dulcele bar" și "Open" (biografia lui Andre Agassi).
"Sutton" m-a ținut conectată, este realitate aventuroasă, iubire, cugetare asupra vietii și istorie a Americii.
"Sutton" m-a ținut conectată, este realitate aventuroasă, iubire, cugetare asupra vietii și istorie a Americii.
November 30, 2012
SUTTON
J. R. Moehringer
Having been a huge fan and thrilled with Mr. Moehringer’s first book which was nonfiction and titled, THE TENDER BAR. I anticipated an exceptional debut novel from Mr. Moehringer.
I certainly was not disappointed!
Mr. Moehringer is a masterful writer, a gifted story teller and a superb tour guide.
Willie “The Actor” Sutton may not be a name easily recognized today, but he became a folk hero for the oppressed Americans of the 20’s and 30’s fed up with the financial and banking systems. He and his crew robbed 100 banks from the 1920’s till his final arrest in 1952. He was known for his brilliant disguises and daring escapes hence the nickname “The Actor”.
SUTTON begins with Willie being released from Attica Prison on Christmas 1969. He had spent more than half of his adult life in prison where he became a voracious reader of the classics. Upon his release a photographer and reporter have been promised an exclusive to accompany the man named William Francis Sutton born in the Brooklyn in 1901 on a physical tour of the pivotal events and locations that shaped his life. This journey becomes a love letter to Willie’s beloved New York, and an ode to a poignant lost love that influences and haunts the rest of his life.
This is a marvelous debut novel with pitch perfect dialogue, and excels in the sense of place and history.
Very highly recommended!
J. R. Moehringer
Having been a huge fan and thrilled with Mr. Moehringer’s first book which was nonfiction and titled, THE TENDER BAR. I anticipated an exceptional debut novel from Mr. Moehringer.
I certainly was not disappointed!
Mr. Moehringer is a masterful writer, a gifted story teller and a superb tour guide.
Willie “The Actor” Sutton may not be a name easily recognized today, but he became a folk hero for the oppressed Americans of the 20’s and 30’s fed up with the financial and banking systems. He and his crew robbed 100 banks from the 1920’s till his final arrest in 1952. He was known for his brilliant disguises and daring escapes hence the nickname “The Actor”.
SUTTON begins with Willie being released from Attica Prison on Christmas 1969. He had spent more than half of his adult life in prison where he became a voracious reader of the classics. Upon his release a photographer and reporter have been promised an exclusive to accompany the man named William Francis Sutton born in the Brooklyn in 1901 on a physical tour of the pivotal events and locations that shaped his life. This journey becomes a love letter to Willie’s beloved New York, and an ode to a poignant lost love that influences and haunts the rest of his life.
This is a marvelous debut novel with pitch perfect dialogue, and excels in the sense of place and history.
Very highly recommended!
September 29, 2012
Sutton is a beautifully written novel that seamlessly blends fact and fiction and sweeps across nearly sixty years of history. The characters aren't exactly moral, but are so well developed that you can't help but cheer for them. Even though Sutton is about a life in crime, it is a surprisingly romantic read. Willie, lover of literature, has the soul of a poet: 'Life's complicated, love isn't. If you need to think about it for one half second, you're not in love'. Much of what he has done in life can be traced back to his own hopeless, enduring love for the lovely Bess. I listened to the excellent unabridged audio edition of Sutton, then went back and re-read parts of the book because I enjoyed it so much. Moehringer is a wonderful wordsmith. You'll feel the characters hunger & loneliness and will feel as though you've traveled through New York's past as the Willie recounts his story (in chronological order, as he insists) to Reporter and Photographer. Can't recommend this book enough!
November 10, 2012
I picked up this book because I'm a J.R. Moehringer fan, due to his moving memoir, "The Tender Bar," and Agassi's autobiography, which remains one of the best sports biographies I've ever read (Moehringer ghost-wrote the memoir, telling Agassi he didn't want credit on the book itself because it was Agassi's story). I was curious how he'd take to writing fiction, though this was more like a non-fiction novel, I suppose. In his introduction, he says that he essentially made up most of the story since so little is actually known about Willie Sutton's life. "This book is my guess. But it's also my wish," he writes. If this book is his wish, then Moehringer is quite the romantic, because Sutton's character is so romanticized that it bears little resemblence to a fully-fleshed out character in a far superior novel.
Moehringer's Sutton instead comes out of a 50's noir era where women were dames and men were gents. He is a man who devours poetry and Proust as if it were vegetables and steak. He gardens. He's a bank robber who abhors violence. He commits his crimes all for the love of a woman, Bess, who is apparently the smartest, most beautiful, most perfect person in history. He hordes his money for years, and when his robbing days are over, albeit temporarily, he uses his savings to pay for lavish funerals for old women that he befriends at the retirement home where he currently mops floors. Aside for the millions he stole and the hundreds he terrorized during the robberies, by golly Sutton sure seems like a swell guy.
Moehringer also chooses to structure the novel in a fairly convoluted way. Sutton's backstory is essentially told in flashback form, with the mainframe of the story taking place on Christmas Day 1969 when Sutton gets out of prison. He agrees to take a reporter and photographer on a tour of his past, driving through New York City visiting landmarks that feature prominently in his life story. He insists they do this chronologically, so they essentially drive in circles all day just to provide us with a linear narrative. Never mind that, if they were to actually go to all these places, this "day" would probably need to be about 36 hours long. Time seems to function here, much as it does in a Jonathan Larson musical. We are also treated to the modern-day musings of the reporter and photographer, whose lives we needlessly learn about, though they're not what we're interested in.
In the end, we get an unnecessary twist ending (SPOILER: Bess never loved him! She loved his partner, Happy.) and a denouement that outright states that potentially everything Sutton says is a lie (He wrote two autobiographies that gave such conflicting versions of the same events that nothing can ever be truly known about his early life and crimes). So we've travelled 300+ pages and come to no conclusions about the man we were supposed to spend all this time getting to know.
I still consider myself a J.R. Moehringer fan. As long as he sticks to nonfiction.
Moehringer's Sutton instead comes out of a 50's noir era where women were dames and men were gents. He is a man who devours poetry and Proust as if it were vegetables and steak. He gardens. He's a bank robber who abhors violence. He commits his crimes all for the love of a woman, Bess, who is apparently the smartest, most beautiful, most perfect person in history. He hordes his money for years, and when his robbing days are over, albeit temporarily, he uses his savings to pay for lavish funerals for old women that he befriends at the retirement home where he currently mops floors. Aside for the millions he stole and the hundreds he terrorized during the robberies, by golly Sutton sure seems like a swell guy.
Moehringer also chooses to structure the novel in a fairly convoluted way. Sutton's backstory is essentially told in flashback form, with the mainframe of the story taking place on Christmas Day 1969 when Sutton gets out of prison. He agrees to take a reporter and photographer on a tour of his past, driving through New York City visiting landmarks that feature prominently in his life story. He insists they do this chronologically, so they essentially drive in circles all day just to provide us with a linear narrative. Never mind that, if they were to actually go to all these places, this "day" would probably need to be about 36 hours long. Time seems to function here, much as it does in a Jonathan Larson musical. We are also treated to the modern-day musings of the reporter and photographer, whose lives we needlessly learn about, though they're not what we're interested in.
In the end, we get an unnecessary twist ending (SPOILER: Bess never loved him! She loved his partner, Happy.) and a denouement that outright states that potentially everything Sutton says is a lie (He wrote two autobiographies that gave such conflicting versions of the same events that nothing can ever be truly known about his early life and crimes). So we've travelled 300+ pages and come to no conclusions about the man we were supposed to spend all this time getting to know.
I still consider myself a J.R. Moehringer fan. As long as he sticks to nonfiction.
November 15, 2012
"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)
5 Stars ***** I cannot begin to articulate how I love the writing and talent of J.R. Moehringer! I had never head of this author when I read his first book "The Tender Bar" but I loved the book. Then I saw where he had written his own 'version' of the life of Willie Sutton and I could not wait for the book to be released. I paced myself reading it because I don't want to rush through it. I cannot recommend this author or this book enough. Even though about a famous bank robber, J.R. Moeringer tells a beautiful love story in a wonderful way.
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)
5 Stars ***** I cannot begin to articulate how I love the writing and talent of J.R. Moehringer! I had never head of this author when I read his first book "The Tender Bar" but I loved the book. Then I saw where he had written his own 'version' of the life of Willie Sutton and I could not wait for the book to be released. I paced myself reading it because I don't want to rush through it. I cannot recommend this author or this book enough. Even though about a famous bank robber, J.R. Moeringer tells a beautiful love story in a wonderful way.
January 21, 2013
- Very good storytelling. I must admit I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would.
- Moehringer manages to create compelling characters and you do root for them, even though most of them are criminals.
- Writing style was pretty decent, but mostly short, fragmented sentences, but they move the prose along nicely.
- I did not like the ending, however...I felt it was a let down when the reader realizes that Sutton's love for Bess was delusional at best, and probably self-invented. I felt it made the rest of the story entirely pointless...since Moehringer framed the entire novel and the majority of Sutton's motivations as his love and desire to reunite Bess. If they really weren't in love with each other, then what on earth was the point???
- I was shocked and amazed at how revelant this book was to 2013, considering the banking/real estate crash we faced not only 5 years ago...it seems that history in the US keeps repeating itself over & over again to the detriment of millions of everyday people, and it's very sad to see that we have in fact, learned nothing from the sins of our past.
- Moehringer manages to create compelling characters and you do root for them, even though most of them are criminals.
- Writing style was pretty decent, but mostly short, fragmented sentences, but they move the prose along nicely.
- I did not like the ending, however...I felt it was a let down when the reader realizes that Sutton's love for Bess was delusional at best, and probably self-invented. I felt it made the rest of the story entirely pointless...since Moehringer framed the entire novel and the majority of Sutton's motivations as his love and desire to reunite Bess. If they really weren't in love with each other, then what on earth was the point???
- I was shocked and amazed at how revelant this book was to 2013, considering the banking/real estate crash we faced not only 5 years ago...it seems that history in the US keeps repeating itself over & over again to the detriment of millions of everyday people, and it's very sad to see that we have in fact, learned nothing from the sins of our past.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 16, 2012
'Underneath all the delusion, all the bluster, all the wrongdoing, admitted and denied, there was something intractably good. Eternally, salvageable'... That excerpt does a wonderful job of describing Willie Sutton!!! Wasn't looking forward to reading this, but I'm SO glad i did!!! I REALLY enjoyed Moehringer's style of writing... totally engrossing!!! Highly recommend!!!
November 6, 2019
Qué maravilla!!! Después de leer ‘El bar de las grandes esperanzas’, este libro es otro vicio. La historia de Willie Sutton, un mítico atracador estadounidense, está genialmente contada. Me encanta cómo renombra a los secundarios: El Conserje, el Reportero, el Fotógrafo... Sólo falla el título: A plena luz. Una mención menor en el libro. Le pegaba más El tumulto del mundo.
September 7, 2020
When you need something unlike everything else on the market, this is the book. Gripping, fast-paced, real. After reading this (and putting his other great book, The Tender Bar, on my permanent favorites list) I am convinced I would read anything Moehringer writes.
November 27, 2012
The Good Stuff
Was completely enthralled with the story and with Wilie
Little hints throughout story grab you throughout the story and keeps you from wanting to put book down. Had a couple of late nights with this one - not to mention a couple of times I really didn't want to go back on the sales floor I was so engrossed
Makes you think about so many things - especially about nature vs nurture
How can you not love a bank robber who went out of his way not to kill people
Need to know more about Sutton -- think I will be looking into some of the research
Author obviously thoroughly researched Sutton
Authentic & you feel like you are back in the era
The characters love of the written word is delightful and gives you another reason to be intrigued by him
The part with the psychiatrist really gives you pause for thought
Get a real understanding of America during the depression
Delightfully dark and funny at time
I dare you not to fall in love with Willie and cheer him on - a moral quandary for sure, you know what he has done is wrong, yet you can understand what brought him to this place and think maybe just maybe if you were in the same place, you to0 might make the same choices
An intriguing and unusual love story
O.K. - enough - it's also a Heather's Pick. I'm usually not the type of girl that goes for the Oprah picks or Globe and Mail lists and definitely not anything literary - but man I think Heather and I have similar tastes
Just go buy it - you will thank me
The Not So Good Stuff
A wee bit slow moving at times
Still confused about one part (And damn you Moehringer - it just broke my heart if I get what happened)
Favorite Quotes/Passages
"Because Sutton robbed banks, the TV reporter says, and who the hell has a kind word to say for banks? They should not only let him out, they should give him the key to the city."
"He invited death in with that suicide note. Once you let death in, it doesn't always leave."
"Oh kid, it's all about confidence. That's the whole game right there. Whatever you do, do it with your nuts. That's how Ruth swung a bat - with his nuts. Rob a bank, date a girl, brush your teeth - whatever. Do it with boldness, with swagger, with nuts, or don't do it all."
"A man is his job, kid, and I had no job, so I was a bum. A loser. America's a great place to be a winner, but it's hell on losers."
Who Should/Shouldn't Read
Not to be sexist or anything but this one will really appeal to men but at the same time most women will be as enthralled with the story as I was
Perfect Christmas gift for pretty much everyone on your list -- there is something for pretty much everyone in this one
Not for those who need things clear cut and fast paced
One that you could give to both Non-Fiction and Fiction lovers
4.5 Dewey's
Borrowed this one from our staff room library - basically a bunch of ARC's from publishers and we can borrow and pass around - another truly awesome part of my job
Was completely enthralled with the story and with Wilie
Little hints throughout story grab you throughout the story and keeps you from wanting to put book down. Had a couple of late nights with this one - not to mention a couple of times I really didn't want to go back on the sales floor I was so engrossed
Makes you think about so many things - especially about nature vs nurture
How can you not love a bank robber who went out of his way not to kill people
Need to know more about Sutton -- think I will be looking into some of the research
Author obviously thoroughly researched Sutton
Authentic & you feel like you are back in the era
The characters love of the written word is delightful and gives you another reason to be intrigued by him
The part with the psychiatrist really gives you pause for thought
Get a real understanding of America during the depression
Delightfully dark and funny at time
I dare you not to fall in love with Willie and cheer him on - a moral quandary for sure, you know what he has done is wrong, yet you can understand what brought him to this place and think maybe just maybe if you were in the same place, you to0 might make the same choices
An intriguing and unusual love story
O.K. - enough - it's also a Heather's Pick. I'm usually not the type of girl that goes for the Oprah picks or Globe and Mail lists and definitely not anything literary - but man I think Heather and I have similar tastes
Just go buy it - you will thank me
The Not So Good Stuff
A wee bit slow moving at times
Still confused about one part (And damn you Moehringer - it just broke my heart if I get what happened)
Favorite Quotes/Passages
"Because Sutton robbed banks, the TV reporter says, and who the hell has a kind word to say for banks? They should not only let him out, they should give him the key to the city."
"He invited death in with that suicide note. Once you let death in, it doesn't always leave."
"Oh kid, it's all about confidence. That's the whole game right there. Whatever you do, do it with your nuts. That's how Ruth swung a bat - with his nuts. Rob a bank, date a girl, brush your teeth - whatever. Do it with boldness, with swagger, with nuts, or don't do it all."
"A man is his job, kid, and I had no job, so I was a bum. A loser. America's a great place to be a winner, but it's hell on losers."
Who Should/Shouldn't Read
Not to be sexist or anything but this one will really appeal to men but at the same time most women will be as enthralled with the story as I was
Perfect Christmas gift for pretty much everyone on your list -- there is something for pretty much everyone in this one
Not for those who need things clear cut and fast paced
One that you could give to both Non-Fiction and Fiction lovers
4.5 Dewey's
Borrowed this one from our staff room library - basically a bunch of ARC's from publishers and we can borrow and pass around - another truly awesome part of my job
January 12, 2013
Born on June 30, 1901 Willie “the Actor” Sutton was a notorious bank robber through the early part of the 1900’s. He died on November 02, 1980 after having spent more than half of his adult life in prison. He served time in several different penal institutions and managed dramatic escapes three times. Willie Sutton was a legend stealing more than $2 million during his dubious career. He became legendary mostly due to the fact that he never completed a robbery if a woman screamed or a baby cried and never hurt or killed anyone during his robberies. Willie was a gentleman thief, but also a smooth talker and a consummate liar so many versions of his escapades exist.
Mr. Moehringer begins his book on the day of Willie’s final release from Attica on Christmas Eve, 1969. Wanting an exclusive story “Reporter” and “Photographer” (Willie never can remember their names) are sent to get the exclusive story of the murder of Arnold Shuster, who recognized Willie on the subway, thereby sending him back to prison for the final time. Willie agrees to the interview but on his terms. He wants to visit the important places in his life in chronological order, finally getting to the scene of the Shuster shooting. Although it means traveling back and forth across the city of New York several times “Reporter” and “Photographer” agree. Each stop is a story told in Willie’s voice, an important event in his life, a memory sometimes sad and sometimes humorous.
Mr. Moehringer obviously did his research. I thoroughly enjoyed this book I wanted to know a little more about Willie Sutton, so did a little more reading about his life. I believe Mr. Moehringer waded through the various stories and factual accounts and wove them into his narrative. The book starts and ends on Christmas Eve of 1969, but the one night is filled with Willie’s memories of decades. Unfortunately the ending is bittersweet for both Willie and the reader.
This was my first read of 2013 and what a great way to start off the new year of reading. This is a five star book all the way. Mr. Moehringer does not go on to tell us about Willie’s life after his release, but my personal reading let me to believe that although he no longer robbed banks (???) and despite suffering from emphysema 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.
Mr. Moehringer begins his book on the day of Willie’s final release from Attica on Christmas Eve, 1969. Wanting an exclusive story “Reporter” and “Photographer” (Willie never can remember their names) are sent to get the exclusive story of the murder of Arnold Shuster, who recognized Willie on the subway, thereby sending him back to prison for the final time. Willie agrees to the interview but on his terms. He wants to visit the important places in his life in chronological order, finally getting to the scene of the Shuster shooting. Although it means traveling back and forth across the city of New York several times “Reporter” and “Photographer” agree. Each stop is a story told in Willie’s voice, an important event in his life, a memory sometimes sad and sometimes humorous.
Mr. Moehringer obviously did his research. I thoroughly enjoyed this book I wanted to know a little more about Willie Sutton, so did a little more reading about his life. I believe Mr. Moehringer waded through the various stories and factual accounts and wove them into his narrative. The book starts and ends on Christmas Eve of 1969, but the one night is filled with Willie’s memories of decades. Unfortunately the ending is bittersweet for both Willie and the reader.
This was my first read of 2013 and what a great way to start off the new year of reading. This is a five star book all the way. Mr. Moehringer does not go on to tell us about Willie’s life after his release, but my personal reading let me to believe that although he no longer robbed banks (???) and despite suffering from emphysema 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.
December 15, 2014
Spicuiri din recenzia finala care se gaseste pe blogul meu
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De la o copilărie nefericită, terorizată de familie, trecând pe la întâlnirea cu prieteni potriviți sau nu prea, către marile planuri şi către marile eşecuri, nelăsând deoparte dragostea şi nici suferinţele, Moehringer crează şi reacrează un fir din care tare greu îţi va fi să mai ieşi. Eu una, am stat până dis de dimineaţă ca să îi aflu sfârşitul uşor fantezist şi clar departe de gustul meu. Din fericire, romanul nu e despre sfârşit, ci despre planuri, jafuri, încarcerări, evadări deştepte, şmechere, halucinante, despre altele slăbuţe şi prost gândire, despre mafioţi şi criminali, dar şi despre oameni respectabili care s-au războit cu băncile mai abitir decât Sutton pentru că, aşa cum va spune marele spărgător: „Acolo erau banii“.
Mi-a plăcut că Sutton citea Proust şi Dos Passos, că va afla ca mulţi altii mai apoi că „O carte este singura scăpare din această lume căzută. În afară de moarte.“, că e un personaj inteligent şi că tresari atunci când e prins sau chinuit prin închisori, dar şi că un zâmbet îţi apare în colţul gurii atunci când poliţia trece la mustaţă pe lângă el. Un thriller în toată regula, ce să mai..
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De la o copilărie nefericită, terorizată de familie, trecând pe la întâlnirea cu prieteni potriviți sau nu prea, către marile planuri şi către marile eşecuri, nelăsând deoparte dragostea şi nici suferinţele, Moehringer crează şi reacrează un fir din care tare greu îţi va fi să mai ieşi. Eu una, am stat până dis de dimineaţă ca să îi aflu sfârşitul uşor fantezist şi clar departe de gustul meu. Din fericire, romanul nu e despre sfârşit, ci despre planuri, jafuri, încarcerări, evadări deştepte, şmechere, halucinante, despre altele slăbuţe şi prost gândire, despre mafioţi şi criminali, dar şi despre oameni respectabili care s-au războit cu băncile mai abitir decât Sutton pentru că, aşa cum va spune marele spărgător: „Acolo erau banii“.
Mi-a plăcut că Sutton citea Proust şi Dos Passos, că va afla ca mulţi altii mai apoi că „O carte este singura scăpare din această lume căzută. În afară de moarte.“, că e un personaj inteligent şi că tresari atunci când e prins sau chinuit prin închisori, dar şi că un zâmbet îţi apare în colţul gurii atunci când poliţia trece la mustaţă pe lângă el. Un thriller în toată regula, ce să mai..
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November 1, 2012
J R Mohringer has only written 3 books -- his own memoir, a biography of Andre Agassi, and now a fictionalized bio of a 20th center rascal, but he has in this short time become one of my favorite authors. His background as a journalist provides him a punchy enthusiastic style, and his talent for choosing intriguing subjects and fact finding for truth give even this work of fiction the stamp of originality and verisimilitude. Growing up in Brooklyn was tough for Willie Sutton, given that except for his grandfather, his family didn't appear to particularly provide any love or guidance. But he did learn the code of honor, of not ratting out no matter what. So when he adopts his profession during the depression, he carries with him his loyalties. The structure is unique -- his past is made up of internal memories as he is taken around New York after his pardon by Nelson Rockefeller in the late 60's by two newspaper employees hoping to get answers to a long buried mystery. Each site generates fresh reminiscences, and his two escorts watch as he smiles and cries through the past.
Dylan Baker is the perfect narrator for this audio version. His inflections are spot on, and his humor comes through. I've "read" several books books by this talented actor and sometimes choose an audio because he is the reader.
Dylan Baker is the perfect narrator for this audio version. His inflections are spot on, and his humor comes through. I've "read" several books books by this talented actor and sometimes choose an audio because he is the reader.
November 6, 2012
Absolutely the best book of the year for me, if not the last several years. From the moment I started, I could not stop listening to it. Fantastic story and writing and most enjoyable in the way the telling slowly unfolds. I was completely blown away by the unexpected ending - I sure didn't see it coming, but it was perfect for this particular work of fiction. Intrigue and heartbreak all rolled up into one phenomenal story. Kudos to Mr. Moehringer for making my year.
March 18, 2013
I give very few books a five star rating. Three stars - I liked it. Four stars - I loved it. Five stars - it's either a classic worth reading again or worthy of being a classic. This was one of those books. Well done and so much more than I thought it would be.
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