What do you think?
Rate this book
Rook
Rook is based on the true story of Al Nussbaum. To his unsuspecting wife, Lolly, Al is a loving, chess playing, family man. To J. Edgar Hoover, he is the most cunning fugitive alive. Al is the mastermind behind a string of east coast robberies that has stumped law enforcement. After his partner, one-eyed Bobby Wilcoxson, kills a bank guard and wounds a New York City patrolman, Al is identified as one of the robbers and lands on top of the FBI’s most wanted list. He is forced to flee his hometown of Buffalo, New York as the FBI closes in and Lolly learns of her husband’s secret life. One million wanted posters are printed and The Reader’s Digest offers a ten-thousand-dollar reward for Al’s capture. While Al assumes another identity and attempts to elude the police, Lolly is left alone to care for their infant daughter and adjust to her new life as ‘The Bank Robber’s Wife’. Friends, family, and federal agents all pressure Lolly to betray Al. While Lolly struggles at home financially, with unrelenting FBI agents, and her conscious, Al and Bobby continue to rob banks, even as Bobby grows more mentally unstable and dangerous. Al has only two avoid capture and steal enough money to start a new life with his family. Returning to gather his wife and baby is suicidal, but as Al said, he’d only stick his neck in the Buffalo noose for Lolly.
- GenresHistory
251 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 28, 2022
1 person is currently reading
39 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 23, 2022
3.5★
“The word echoed in her skull. Manhunt—to hunt a man. She knew every successful hunt ends in a kill.”
Surprise, Lolly! Your beloved, clever husband, father of the baby adored by you both, is a bank robber on the run.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. The publishing blurb explains that this is based on a true story, which you can find on Wikpedia or, indeed, in the FBI files here.
https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-ca...
The author has written a fictionalised account of young Al and Lolly Nussbaum’s life together and apart. They were high school sweethearts, but he was in trouble early, stealing cars and the like. The story opens after he’s served prison time, when he and Lolly are married and living with their baby daughter in the top half of her parents’ home.
Lolly has decorated for Christmas and is waiting nervously for Al’s return from a ‘business trip’. The blizzard outside in Buffalo, NY, is getting worse. Meanwhile, Al has dropped his wild sidekick, Bobby, off at his place and is anxious to see his own family – except for his mother-in-law, with whom he is in a mutual hate relationship. She has a pretty good idea of his ‘business’.
“He sat behind the wheel, afraid to step out of the station wagon, imagining a dozen pairs of headlights snapping to life, a bullhorn voice telling him to raise his hands, and the winter air filled with the sound of weapons being locked and loaded. Lolly would be above him, watching it all from an upper window, the Christmas candle showing the horror on her face as they led him away or shot him dead where he stood.”
When and how is he going to tell her he isn’t running an electronics business and that the police scanner in his car isn’t a model he’s testing to see whether he’ll add it to his line?
I assume the author has invented the entire family story, although he’s done as much research as he could. He’s created a couple who are devoted to each other. Nussbaum was known for being amazingly bright and inventive.
Here, Al is as devoted to his wife as she is to him. He just needs to make enough money to set them up in a new life. Right? Of course. Then he will retire. Sure.
He begins with a couple of ex-cons he met in prison, and it’s immediately clear that Bobby is a loose cannon. He has a nervous disposition and a short fuse. He also has one eye, which makes him easily identifiable if he’s seen without sunglasses.
This is the early 1960s, so fingerprints are an issue, but there’s no DNA testing and not nearly the number of cameras we have today. Of course, Bobby won't wear gloves in a stolen car - the weather is too hot. Duh.
The story is told in the third person from both Al’s and Lolly’s points of view. Al is a chess whizz, so chess moves are used in describing some of his moves, and you just know he may find himself checkmated.
“The stolen Olds crept to the corner and then turned left on Utica Avenue towards the side entrance of the bank as Al knew it would. Kings Highway became a chessboard, and he studied it, seeing three moves ahead and knowing where pieces would slide and when. He knew other things, too. He knew that Bobby, still standing in front of the bank in the falling snow and awaiting his signal, carried a Thompson submachine gun under his raincoat, had a live hand grenade in each pocket, and a two-way radio clipped to his belt.”
It's a good story with a few wild rides and shootings, but there is also a lot of tenderness between Al and Lolly. She is torn between him and her bitter mother, whom she relies on to care for the baby.
I think the 1960s are shown pretty realistically, but I could have done without the lengthy section about a baseball game.
[OK, I looked it up for any baseball fans. It was 30 June 1962, and Sandy Koufax’s first major league no hitter – against the Mets. The men listening to the game are still mad about the Brooklyn Dodgers moving and leaving them with the Mets. I get it. But it didn’t need to be so many pages.]
As well as the baseball, there were many pages about a house Lolly fell in love with and about a Greek wedding she went to. I found myself skimming a fair bit in the last part of the book - not a great sign.
At the end, the author says Al Nussbaum’s crime story intrigued him so much that he wrote three novellas and eventually turned them into a novel. And it's a pretty good one. I do think some tighter editing around the baseball and wedding would make it even better.
It intrigued me enough to look up Nussbaum and Koufax, anyway. That has to be worth something. 😊
Thanks to NetGalley and Unsolicited Press for the copy for review.
“The word echoed in her skull. Manhunt—to hunt a man. She knew every successful hunt ends in a kill.”
Surprise, Lolly! Your beloved, clever husband, father of the baby adored by you both, is a bank robber on the run.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. The publishing blurb explains that this is based on a true story, which you can find on Wikpedia or, indeed, in the FBI files here.
https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-ca...
The author has written a fictionalised account of young Al and Lolly Nussbaum’s life together and apart. They were high school sweethearts, but he was in trouble early, stealing cars and the like. The story opens after he’s served prison time, when he and Lolly are married and living with their baby daughter in the top half of her parents’ home.
Lolly has decorated for Christmas and is waiting nervously for Al’s return from a ‘business trip’. The blizzard outside in Buffalo, NY, is getting worse. Meanwhile, Al has dropped his wild sidekick, Bobby, off at his place and is anxious to see his own family – except for his mother-in-law, with whom he is in a mutual hate relationship. She has a pretty good idea of his ‘business’.
“He sat behind the wheel, afraid to step out of the station wagon, imagining a dozen pairs of headlights snapping to life, a bullhorn voice telling him to raise his hands, and the winter air filled with the sound of weapons being locked and loaded. Lolly would be above him, watching it all from an upper window, the Christmas candle showing the horror on her face as they led him away or shot him dead where he stood.”
When and how is he going to tell her he isn’t running an electronics business and that the police scanner in his car isn’t a model he’s testing to see whether he’ll add it to his line?
I assume the author has invented the entire family story, although he’s done as much research as he could. He’s created a couple who are devoted to each other. Nussbaum was known for being amazingly bright and inventive.
Here, Al is as devoted to his wife as she is to him. He just needs to make enough money to set them up in a new life. Right? Of course. Then he will retire. Sure.
He begins with a couple of ex-cons he met in prison, and it’s immediately clear that Bobby is a loose cannon. He has a nervous disposition and a short fuse. He also has one eye, which makes him easily identifiable if he’s seen without sunglasses.
This is the early 1960s, so fingerprints are an issue, but there’s no DNA testing and not nearly the number of cameras we have today. Of course, Bobby won't wear gloves in a stolen car - the weather is too hot. Duh.
The story is told in the third person from both Al’s and Lolly’s points of view. Al is a chess whizz, so chess moves are used in describing some of his moves, and you just know he may find himself checkmated.
“The stolen Olds crept to the corner and then turned left on Utica Avenue towards the side entrance of the bank as Al knew it would. Kings Highway became a chessboard, and he studied it, seeing three moves ahead and knowing where pieces would slide and when. He knew other things, too. He knew that Bobby, still standing in front of the bank in the falling snow and awaiting his signal, carried a Thompson submachine gun under his raincoat, had a live hand grenade in each pocket, and a two-way radio clipped to his belt.”
It's a good story with a few wild rides and shootings, but there is also a lot of tenderness between Al and Lolly. She is torn between him and her bitter mother, whom she relies on to care for the baby.
I think the 1960s are shown pretty realistically, but I could have done without the lengthy section about a baseball game.
[OK, I looked it up for any baseball fans. It was 30 June 1962, and Sandy Koufax’s first major league no hitter – against the Mets. The men listening to the game are still mad about the Brooklyn Dodgers moving and leaving them with the Mets. I get it. But it didn’t need to be so many pages.]
As well as the baseball, there were many pages about a house Lolly fell in love with and about a Greek wedding she went to. I found myself skimming a fair bit in the last part of the book - not a great sign.
At the end, the author says Al Nussbaum’s crime story intrigued him so much that he wrote three novellas and eventually turned them into a novel. And it's a pretty good one. I do think some tighter editing around the baseball and wedding would make it even better.
It intrigued me enough to look up Nussbaum and Koufax, anyway. That has to be worth something. 😊
Thanks to NetGalley and Unsolicited Press for the copy for review.
February 16, 2022
Enjoyed the fictional account of a seemingly normal guy who just happens to make his living by robbing banks. When one robbery goes awry, the FBI catches one member, and the other turns on the leader/protagonist. Meanwhile the leader’s wife discovers what he does for a living, and he must run for everyone’s safety. I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher and voluntarily provided an honest review.
February 10, 2022
Based on a true story, this book takes the reader right back to the era in which it was set and paints the setting and characters so clearly in those colours. A bit like a hard boiled detective story in tone and writing style, this book gives weight to the perspective of those impacted by the crimes of a person they love.
February 26, 2023
Rook by Stephen G. Eoannou will have readers unable to stop reading. As soon as you open the book you are lost in the story of Al, his partner in crime Bobby, his wife Lolly and the web of lies and secrets among them.
In Rook Al and Bobby along with Curry are bank robbers. Al is actually the brains behind the crime, planning and staking out the bank they will be hitting and then he sits in the getaway car while Bobby and Curry go inside the bank and rob it. Afterwards they get in the getaway car with Al driving and he drives them to safety where they count up the money and split it.
Al tells his wife Lolly that he is going away on a business trip with Bobby so that she knows nothing about the robberies. Lolly is left home living in the apartment above her parents raising their baby daughter Alison completely unaware of what Al does on these business trips.
All of that changes when during one of the robberies a security guard is killed and a police officer responding to the robbery is shot and injured. Soon after that Curry is caught and rats out the other two. It is right before Christmas and Lolly is snooping in the closet for her Christmas presents from Al and instead finds the duffel bag he hid that has the money from the last robbery along with a gun. That night he packs a bag and leaves with Bobby and his girlfriend leaving Lolly and Alison. Shortly after Al leaves the FBI shows up and questions Lolly all about Al but luckily for Al, she cannot tell them anything.
In the beginning of Rook readers get to know Al, Lolly and Bobby as the bank robberies are commited but when their identities are learned and they flee, the book changes into separate chapters dedicated to Al and Lolly and their lives of living apart. Lolly is left to try to deal with the fact that her husband, the father of her child, is a criminal….again. She had to move in with her parents and go out and get a job so that she can pay the bills and take care of her daughter. Al also has to adjust to living in a dingy apartment, hiding from the law, constantly living in fear of being caught.
Readers will love this story and wonder what in the story is real and what Eoannou has embellished. Readers may even find themselves feeling sorry for Al but especially for Lolly as she had to pick up the pieces of the mess Al left behind. And readers will have strong feelings of Lolly’s mother….but I will leave that to the reader.
I highly recommend grabbing your copy of Rook and getting lost in the story……
In Rook Al and Bobby along with Curry are bank robbers. Al is actually the brains behind the crime, planning and staking out the bank they will be hitting and then he sits in the getaway car while Bobby and Curry go inside the bank and rob it. Afterwards they get in the getaway car with Al driving and he drives them to safety where they count up the money and split it.
Al tells his wife Lolly that he is going away on a business trip with Bobby so that she knows nothing about the robberies. Lolly is left home living in the apartment above her parents raising their baby daughter Alison completely unaware of what Al does on these business trips.
All of that changes when during one of the robberies a security guard is killed and a police officer responding to the robbery is shot and injured. Soon after that Curry is caught and rats out the other two. It is right before Christmas and Lolly is snooping in the closet for her Christmas presents from Al and instead finds the duffel bag he hid that has the money from the last robbery along with a gun. That night he packs a bag and leaves with Bobby and his girlfriend leaving Lolly and Alison. Shortly after Al leaves the FBI shows up and questions Lolly all about Al but luckily for Al, she cannot tell them anything.
In the beginning of Rook readers get to know Al, Lolly and Bobby as the bank robberies are commited but when their identities are learned and they flee, the book changes into separate chapters dedicated to Al and Lolly and their lives of living apart. Lolly is left to try to deal with the fact that her husband, the father of her child, is a criminal….again. She had to move in with her parents and go out and get a job so that she can pay the bills and take care of her daughter. Al also has to adjust to living in a dingy apartment, hiding from the law, constantly living in fear of being caught.
Readers will love this story and wonder what in the story is real and what Eoannou has embellished. Readers may even find themselves feeling sorry for Al but especially for Lolly as she had to pick up the pieces of the mess Al left behind. And readers will have strong feelings of Lolly’s mother….but I will leave that to the reader.
I highly recommend grabbing your copy of Rook and getting lost in the story……
July 31, 2022
Magnificent tale
What a magnetic story in Rook by Stephen Eoannou. This is the first book of this authors that I've read, and his debut novel. Eoannou writes this fictionalized story of a real man Al Nussbaum. In his day, Al Nussbaum, was a thorn in J. Edgar Hoover's side. Nussbaum was a mastermind. He planned and enforced east coast bank robberies. Nussbaum is a legend in his hometown of Buffalo, NY. It's a very interesting story, and I can tell a lot of research went into this story, to share it with the world. I live in upstate NY and never heard of Nussbaum, and I find while it's not a True Crime tale, it is intense and compelling, all the way to the end, especially when Nussbaum needs to go in hiding, and retrieve his family, still in Buffalo. This author brings the story to life. It’s definitely un-put-downable! The story brings the reader on a superb journey. This is a magnificent story that kept this reader turning the pages. A definite attention grabber, so much I couldn't put it down. Both thrilling and intriguing, all the way to the end. The characterizations are engrossing and dynamic. Very impressive story telling. I hope to read more books by this author. Rook is a definite recommendation by Amy's Bookshelf Reviews. I read this book to give my unbiased and honest review. Amy's Bookshelf Reviews recommends that anyone who reads this book, to also write a review.
What a magnetic story in Rook by Stephen Eoannou. This is the first book of this authors that I've read, and his debut novel. Eoannou writes this fictionalized story of a real man Al Nussbaum. In his day, Al Nussbaum, was a thorn in J. Edgar Hoover's side. Nussbaum was a mastermind. He planned and enforced east coast bank robberies. Nussbaum is a legend in his hometown of Buffalo, NY. It's a very interesting story, and I can tell a lot of research went into this story, to share it with the world. I live in upstate NY and never heard of Nussbaum, and I find while it's not a True Crime tale, it is intense and compelling, all the way to the end, especially when Nussbaum needs to go in hiding, and retrieve his family, still in Buffalo. This author brings the story to life. It’s definitely un-put-downable! The story brings the reader on a superb journey. This is a magnificent story that kept this reader turning the pages. A definite attention grabber, so much I couldn't put it down. Both thrilling and intriguing, all the way to the end. The characterizations are engrossing and dynamic. Very impressive story telling. I hope to read more books by this author. Rook is a definite recommendation by Amy's Bookshelf Reviews. I read this book to give my unbiased and honest review. Amy's Bookshelf Reviews recommends that anyone who reads this book, to also write a review.
August 5, 2024
Stephen Eoannou's novel
Rook
is a thoughtful literary debut wrapped in a tension-filled page-turner. Based on the life of bankrobber-turned-author Al Nussbaum, the book, in its opening pages, drops the reader into the middle of a robbery-in-progress, then proceeds to deftly build out the intriguing and endearing characters of Al and his devoted wife Lolly. Nussbaum is a criminal who enters the life of a writer in the most unexpected way, and in telling his story, Eoannou challenges readers to reconsider our sense of morality, to ask ourselves whether a person can pursue a life of crime for reasons that may not be principled, exactly, but could nonetheless be free of evil intent. The result is that rare book that is both thought-provoking and a lot of fun to read. Why not that fifth star? you may ask. To which my response is, the title led me to believe the game of chess would play a larger role than it does. A small thing, yes, but they don't have half-stars, so there it is.
August 8, 2022
A fictional story based on the life of bank robber Al Nussbaum. Rook is an exceptional account of time and place with believable dialogue between its main characters. It's more than bank robbing action scenes. Rook gives a glimpse into what made Al Nussbaum, a seemingly normal guy, rob banks, and those impacted by his choice of a "second job."
August 27, 2022
This is a deftly written, perfectly felt, fascinating work that explores the Buffalo of its time and the timeless complexity of marrying and loving an imperfect person. This is a quick, rewarding read.
September 21, 2022
excellent!
I am not familiar with the history that inspired this story. But it, to me, is of no matter. I couldn’t put the book down. A really great read by an author who can make you feel like you’re right there in the room with the characters.
Well Done!
I am not familiar with the history that inspired this story. But it, to me, is of no matter. I couldn’t put the book down. A really great read by an author who can make you feel like you’re right there in the room with the characters.
Well Done!
June 25, 2023
Brilliant examination and development of the two main characters, yet still a page turner.
June 26, 2022
A well researched and well written account of the criminal career of master bank robber Al Nussbaum. While living a quiet family life at home, Nussbaum planned and executed a number of daring robberies up and down the east coast. He was very bright, and always several steps ahead of the police.
Unfortunately, criminals, however smart, often keep bad company. Nussbaum's gunman, the violent and increasingly psychopathic Bobby Wilcoxson, was a hard guy to manage. His presence becomes more and more chilling as the story progresses.
The tension in this one keeps going up as the talented Nussbaum tries to juggle heist logistics, escape plans, a psychotic partner, an increasingly suspicious wife, in-laws who want to destroy him, and a massive FBI dragnet. This is a great read for anyone into true crime, noir, and classic old-school crime fiction.
If you're interested, I posted at lengthier review at https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/rook/
Unfortunately, criminals, however smart, often keep bad company. Nussbaum's gunman, the violent and increasingly psychopathic Bobby Wilcoxson, was a hard guy to manage. His presence becomes more and more chilling as the story progresses.
The tension in this one keeps going up as the talented Nussbaum tries to juggle heist logistics, escape plans, a psychotic partner, an increasingly suspicious wife, in-laws who want to destroy him, and a massive FBI dragnet. This is a great read for anyone into true crime, noir, and classic old-school crime fiction.
If you're interested, I posted at lengthier review at https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/rook/
May 6, 2024
In film, noir is defined by elements such as “cynical heroes, stark lighting effects, flashbacks, intricate plots, and an underlying existentialist philosophy.” While the lighting is a challenge on the page, ROOK delivers the rest of it in spades, particularly Al Nussbaum’s belief that he is writing the script of his own life. Al is whip-smart, cunning, and, surprisingly, real. Eoannou inhabits this actual person stunningly well. This is an excellent crime novel. The action sequences and the planning of Al’s heists alone make it worth reading, but the author’s handling of his characters raises it above the noise of a standard procedural. Al thinks he is smarter than everyone else, and we find ourselves pulling for this anti-hero even as we (and probably he) can see the approach of the inevitable tragic end. The title of the book is perfection; Al is powerful but, like a rook, he is locked into only certain moves on the board. His path has hard edges, 90 degree changes of direction followed by charging ahead. Hubris is a part of it, but the main downfall of his crime spree is that he loves his family, a position at odds with the hard-bitten criminal he wants to be.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews