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Diamond Trump: Events Surrounding the Great Powder-House Blowup by the Man Who Lit the Fuse
A fortune in gems, star-crossed lovers, the sole survivor of a ferocious blast- these are the ingredients of a deadly game played out on the same Midwestern checkerboard where Dillinger, "Baby-Face" Nelson, and Bonnie and Clyde made their moves. To the roll-call of depression-era desperadoes add the name of Raymond "Preacher" Hardokker, a safe-cracking wizard lured into a "Big Score" which turns out to be a bloody fight for life. Diamond Trump* travels along the dusty roads and mean streets of the dirty thirties, encountering along the way humor, suspense, mystery, lust, and the tragedy of "hard diamonds and soft hearts." "Ron Robinson has given us one of American Literature's unforgettable characters---Preacher, a basically good, but deeply flawed depression-era safecracker.
"So adroitly does Robinson limn the mind and soul of Preacher that in spite of ourselves we are swept up in his struggles---and against our better judgment we find ourselves rooting for him to make it."
---William X. Kienzle, author of The Rosary Murders.
"Diamond Trump is a delightful and entertaining visit to Depression-era crime. It has all the pleasures of a caper story, a rich sense of character, and the freewheeling spirit of Bonnie and Clyde."
---J. Madison Davis, author of And the Angels Sing.
"You can't help but like Raymond "Preacher" Hardokker, the reluctant safecracker who lit the fuse in Ron Robinson's latest suspense novel Diamond Trump. You have to pull for a man who is trying to go square, especially when every step he takes carries him deeper into a deadly quagmire of underworld intrigue and he ends up with a gun at his head and a match in his hand and half the dynamite in South Dakota at his feet.
"And if you pull hard enough and can read the signs, you may track Preacher all the way from prison to "the whole truth" that the shot-down and blown-up powderhouse woman never told the authorities in those days after the blast. One truth, most assuredly, is that the 1930s in Siouxland had no more startling cataclysmic event than the 1936 New Year's Eve detonation of the Larson Hardware powder-house east of Sioux Falls. But the whole truth is that the 1990s in Siouxland had no more startling revelation than the story behind the blast, buried until now in the notes of Argus Leader reporter Alice Marie Sutherland.
"In Diamond Trump Robinson has produced a prize winner, a tale of suspense with one of the most intriguing yet disturbing endings in American fiction."
---Arthur R. Huseboe, Western American Literature.
Though it's categorized as crime fiction, Diamond Trump easily holds its own outside that genre; it's a great story, period. . . . Robinson's characters talk the talk and walk the walk of Depression-era criminal safecrackers so authentically and convincingly that you'd swear he was there with them sixty-plus years ago. . . . Highly recommended.
--- Ken Dunckel, Boxman.
"So adroitly does Robinson limn the mind and soul of Preacher that in spite of ourselves we are swept up in his struggles---and against our better judgment we find ourselves rooting for him to make it."
---William X. Kienzle, author of The Rosary Murders.
"Diamond Trump is a delightful and entertaining visit to Depression-era crime. It has all the pleasures of a caper story, a rich sense of character, and the freewheeling spirit of Bonnie and Clyde."
---J. Madison Davis, author of And the Angels Sing.
"You can't help but like Raymond "Preacher" Hardokker, the reluctant safecracker who lit the fuse in Ron Robinson's latest suspense novel Diamond Trump. You have to pull for a man who is trying to go square, especially when every step he takes carries him deeper into a deadly quagmire of underworld intrigue and he ends up with a gun at his head and a match in his hand and half the dynamite in South Dakota at his feet.
"And if you pull hard enough and can read the signs, you may track Preacher all the way from prison to "the whole truth" that the shot-down and blown-up powderhouse woman never told the authorities in those days after the blast. One truth, most assuredly, is that the 1930s in Siouxland had no more startling cataclysmic event than the 1936 New Year's Eve detonation of the Larson Hardware powder-house east of Sioux Falls. But the whole truth is that the 1990s in Siouxland had no more startling revelation than the story behind the blast, buried until now in the notes of Argus Leader reporter Alice Marie Sutherland.
"In Diamond Trump Robinson has produced a prize winner, a tale of suspense with one of the most intriguing yet disturbing endings in American fiction."
---Arthur R. Huseboe, Western American Literature.
Though it's categorized as crime fiction, Diamond Trump easily holds its own outside that genre; it's a great story, period. . . . Robinson's characters talk the talk and walk the walk of Depression-era criminal safecrackers so authentically and convincingly that you'd swear he was there with them sixty-plus years ago. . . . Highly recommended.
--- Ken Dunckel, Boxman.
261 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 1, 2025
Ever read one of those books you wish wouldn't end?
November 6, 2014
Over-all it was very well written, and if you enjoy crime stories, you'll love this one. I recommend it because it's written from the point of view of the criminal, and he has a unique viewpoint on the world. Enjoy. John
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews