I had the privilege of reading Duane Swierczynski's THIS HERE'S A STICK-UP, his non-fiction tome of bank robbery facts and figures, a few years back when it first came out. In THE WHEELMAN, Mr. Swierczynski takes fact, mixes it up with a whole lot of fiction, and comes up with a thrilling crime debut that's well worth the read!

We first meet Lennon, a wheelman or get-away driver, waiting outside a Wachovia bank in Philadelphia as his two associates, Bling and Holden, get caught on their way out of the bank with the $650,000 take. Somehow, Lennon, a mute Irishman who knows nothing more about robbery than how to get away, manages to retrieve his buddies and hightail it out of the city. Unfortunately, someone--in the form of a black SUV--manages to stop Lennon and the get-away car in its tracks.

Cue to Lennon, supposedly dead, in the process of being dumped into a pipe at a Philadelphia Children's Museum construction site. Thankfully, Lennon's not as dead as he looks, and he manages to outsmart his two body-dumpers. Not so fortunate for them when they realize what a pissed-off Irish mute can do for revenge.

Suddenly, getting out of Philadephia isn't as easy a trick as it was supposed to be. Bling and Holden appear to be dead at the bottom of said pipe, the $650,000 is missing, there's a few retired ex-cops on his butt, and both the Russian Mafiya and some old-time Philadephia mobsters are after him--and everyone wants a piece of the bank take.

As things go from bad to worse, with blown-up buildings, lots of gunfire, knife torture, and some really cool close calls, THE WHEELMAN leads us on a chase to find the money from the bank heist and get the heck out of dodge.

Besides being an action-packed, edge-of-your-seat crime thriller, THE WHEELMAN is just pure fun. With interesting facts thrown in--I hadn't realized that it was DilLINger, not DillinGER--and some laugh-out-loud moments--trademark "Scratch-Your-Balls-Until-The-Feds-Arrive"--this is one book you really don't want to miss. ( )

Patrick Selway Lennon is a wheelman. He doesn't rob banks – he drives the getaway car. And he's about to help pull a bank job in Philadelphia that will be the worst mistake of his career.

Lennon's perfect plan for stashing the money and laying low until the heat's off goes awry when someone tries to horn in on the action. This sets a string of events in motion that pit the Russian Mob against the local Mafia, inflames the greed of a crooked ex-cop and brings a woman named Katie, waiting for Lennon in Puerto Rico, to Philly searching for answers when he fails to show up on schedule.

To discuss the plot in any great detail creates the risk of spoilers. Suffice it to say that it's set in motion by a double cross on the part of two trusted individuals, one of whom, ironically, is acting based on a mistaken impression about Lennon.

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Hard-boiled mystery type book about a bank robbery and how Murphy’s Law gets its claws into the whole operation and not only rips it to shreds but gives it a few twists, too. Focuses primarily on the story of Lennon, the wheelman (getaway driver) for a bank job done in downtown Philadelphia. The heist was well-planned and the parties were professionals, so what went wrong? Obviously, someone sold them out. At least one someone, if not more. Fast-paced, violent, with just enough sick and twisted humor to appeal to those who enjoy sick and twisted (like me), the book was hard to put down. Several of the plot twists I didn’t see coming, but I did anticipate some of them. Will definitely be reading more by this author! ( )

Lennon isn't a bank robber, he's the getaway car driver. So when the robbery goes pear-shaped and his crew is double crossed, he finds his battered and near-dead body being shoved into a drain pipe for disposal. Fighting his way out, Lennon has to find out who crossed him... the Russian mob? The Italians? Was it the crooked cop, or even his own mentor? This is a wild and ultra-violent pulp noir where the bullets and bodies fly fast and furious and the loot is on the line. Swierczynski keeps the ...more Lennon isn't a bank robber, he's the getaway car driver. So when the robbery goes pear-shaped and his crew is double crossed, he finds his battered and near-dead body being shoved into a drain pipe for disposal. Fighting his way out, Lennon has to find out who crossed him... the Russian mob? The Italians? Was it the crooked cop, or even his own mentor? This is a wild and ultra-violent pulp noir where the bullets and bodies fly fast and furious and the loot is on the line. Swierczynski keeps the action moving at a breakneck pace, and it never lets up. Fans of dark crime authors like Ken Bruen and Rickard Stark will find a lot to enjoy here. ( )

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