Historical Figures - Fiction, Thrillers, Crimes - Fiction, Historical Fiction

Infamous

Name: Infamous
Author: Ace Atkins
ISBN: 9780425239018

by Ace Atkins

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Overview

"Compelling...[Atkins] captures the imminent end of the gangster heyday."
-Booklist

In July 1933, the gangster known as George "Machine Gun" Kelly staged the kidnapping-forransom of an Oklahoma oilman. He would live to regret it.

Once again Ace Atkins transforms real-life events into riveting, thrilling fiction. Infamous is a passionate blend of historical novel and crime story-set in the first days of the modern FBI, featuring an unexpected hero, some of the most colorful supporting characters in recent crime fiction, and the unforgettable Kathryn Kelly (George Kelly's wife), the Lady Macbeth of Depression-era crime.

Synopsis

From "one of the best crime writers at work today" (Michael Connelly) comes a fast,f unny, violent new noir crime classic-a Coen Brothers movie come to life. He has been compared to Lehane, Ellroy, and Pelecanos, but Ace Atkins's rich, raucous, passionate blend of historical novel and crime story is all his own and never more so than in Infamous. In July 1933, the gangster known as George "Machine Gun" Kelly staged the kidnapping-for-ransom of an Oklahoma oilman. He would live to regret it. Kelly was never the sharpest knife in the drawer, and what started clean soon became messy, as two of his partners cut themselves into the action; a determined former Texas Ranger makes tracking Kelly his mission; and Kelly's wife, ever alert to her own self-interest, starts playing both ends against the middle. The result is a mesmerizing tale set in the first days of the modern FBI, featuring one of the best femmes fatales in history-the Lady Macbeth of Depression-era crime-a great unexpected hero, and some of the most colorful supporting characters in recent crime fiction.

Publishers Weekly

Set in 1933, Atkins's winning fourth history-based novel focuses on two figures who, as the author explains in an introduction, have been undeservedly “lost in the shuffle of Depression-era gangsters”: George Kelly, who ironically gets saddled with the nickname “Machine Gun,” and his wife, Kathryn. The fast-moving narrative spans a three-month period, starting with a fatal ambush in a parking lot outside Kansas City's Union Station in which hoods gun down several lawmen and the prisoner they were about to drive to Leavenworth. This massacre leads to the FBI obtaining the authority to make arrests and carry weapons. The bulk of the action concerns the Kellys' kidnapping of Charles Urschel, a wealthy Oklahoma oilman, and its aftermath. Atkins (Devil's Garden) brings to vivid life the henpecked George and the bloodthirsty Kathryn as he convincingly conjures up a past era. Not just for crime fans, this should appeal to a wide readership. (Apr.)

About the Author, Ace Atkins

Ace Atkins is a Pulitzer Prize nominee and the author of eight novels.

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Editorials

Library Journal

A premier writer of historical thrillers, Atkins (Devil's Garden; Wicked City) takes his readers back to the 1930s in this mad romp through the South and Midwest following George "Machine Gun" Kelly (1900–54) as he plans and executes his ultimate caper. A moonshine runner-turned-bank robber, Kelly plans a final job: the kidnapping and ransom of Oklahoma oil magnate Charles Urshel. Neither the meanest nor the cleverest of gangsters, Kelly nevertheless pulls off the perfect abduction, only to see it fall apart at the seams as his gangster friends manipulate to cut themselves into the action, his wife undercuts him for her own ends, and a persistent FBI agent stalks him relentlessly, closing the net ever tighter. It is a precocious 12-year-old who ultimately provides the key to Kelly's capture and conviction. VERDICT This tough, boisterous, lustful tale of a would-be playboy miscast as villain compares to the best of Max Allan Collins or Elmore Leonard and will appeal to adult readers who like their gangster stories based on fact.—Thomas L. Kilpatrick, formerly with Southern Illinois Univ. Libs., Carbondale

Kirkus Reviews

In his compulsively readable latest, Atkins (Devil's Garden, 2009, etc.) takes a revisionist look at the life and times of Machine Gun Kelly and the very bad woman who stood behind him. "Poor George Kelly," commiserates the author in a sort of preamble to his novel. Overshadowed by such Depression-era icons of iniquity as John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson, he's been consigned to the dustbins of gangster history. But the truth is Kelly never had much gangster in him. Yes, he liked the ill-gotten gains part, the loot that could be lavished on fast cars and flashy women. What he lacked was the ambition and, for that matter, the meanness required for world-class wickedness. His beautiful wife had that in spades. Kelly's "one big score," for instance, was conceived, planned and, to all intents and purposes, carried through by the iron-willed Kit Kelly. To George, the kidnapping of oil magnate Charles Urschel was the kind of caper he relished reading about in the true-crime magazines while knowing in his timorous heart of hearts that he lacked the capability. To Kit, though, whose thirst for headline ink was unquenchable, snatching a multimillionaire was merely the means to a destined end. "Jean Harlow is famous," an admiring friend tells her. "Kit Kelly is infamous." Sweet music, but there are active anti-choristers. Among them, count a pair of stone killers quick to consider $200,000 worth of ransom money-a mighty large ticket in those hardscrabble days-as targets of opportunity. Bullets fly, gore puddles and, as the denouement approaches, oh how those pages turn. Atkins, who loves his characters colorful, makes readers love them too, and it doesn't much matter whether they're naughty ornice.