The Wheelman: A Novel

by Duane Swierczynski

Book Overview

Nonstop action, twists and turns, and as hardboiled as they come, don't miss Duane Swierczynski 's thrilling The Wheelman.Meet Lennon, a mute Irish getaway driver who has fallen in with the wrong... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312343787
• Release Date: November 2006
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 247 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.6" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Very entertaining book

I really enjoyed this book. So much that I passed it onto my brother and he really really enjoyed it too.

If you think Richard Stark's Parker is tough, then meet Lennon!!!

I've been fortunate during the past few months to discover several excellent writers in the action/suspense/mystery genres, whose work I'd never read before (Don Winslow, Charlie Huston, and Brent Ghelfi), and I'm happy to announce that I'm now adding Duane Swierczynski to my list of must-read authors. These are writers who know how to tell a great story with strong, solid characters in them that you either love or hate, and enough surprises to keep you sitting on the edge of your La-Z-Boy recliner right up till the last page. The Wheelman by Duane Swierczynski is the novel that made me an instant fan of this relatively unknown author. Like Charlie Huston's "Hank Thompson" series, the lead character (Patrick Lennon) in this fast-paced novel quickly discovers just how bad a day can get when one simple mistake causes a bank heist to head south in a big way. Lennon, an Irish Mick who came over to the States as a child, is a wheelman, who drives for crews that take down banks. He's probably the best wheelman in the business and never enters an unknown situation that he can't get out of. The clock starts ticking for Lennon in downtown Philadelphia at a Wachovia Bank the moment Holden and Bling find themselves trapped inside a bank's vestibule with $650,000.00 in stolen funds, and unable to get out before the police arrive. Lennon knows exactly what to do to save his cohorts and hammers the gas petal of the getaway car and then drives the rear end of it straight into the bank's entrance, shattering the glass door and enabling the two robbers to get out through a gap and into the car for the getaway. Then, as Lennon, floors the accelerator and shoots the car across the street to their escape route, a lady with a baby carriage magically appears in front of him. To suddenly stop means a long prison term for all three of the men in the car, so Lennon hits the lady, but just manages to miss the carriage, giving the child a chance at life. Lennon now only has a short span of time to make it to a long-term parking lot several blocks away where they can exchange cars and get the hell-out-of-Dodge before the city's law enforcement agencies converge on them like hound dogs cornering a fox. They temporarily leave the money in the trunk of the getaway car, hop into a different vehicle that the police won't be looking for, and hightail it to the airport where the three of them have tickets for safer destinations. Unfortunately, they never make it as a double cross shifts into play and the Russian and Italian Mafia become involved. That's when Lennon's day goes from bad to worse and he has to become a stone-cold killer in order to stay alive long enough to retrieve the money and get out of the city, all in one piece. Before it's over, Lennon will be beat up, tortured, shot, almost blown up in a fireball, have acid poured down his throat, lose someone he loves, find himself betrayed more than once, and stuffed down the same pipe twice as the bad guys

A superlative thriller with a unique noir flavor

If you like your noir dark, sharp and compelling, you'll love Duane Swierczynski's "The Wheelman." This slim volume is a delight from first page to last. Much to Swierczynski's credit, not a word is wasted. This author, in his first fiction novel, establishes himself as a major talent. Lennon, far from his native Ireland, is sitting outside a Wachovia Bank in Philadelphia waiting for his two colleagues, who are inside the bank, robbing it. Lennon is the wheelman and when his compatriots run into a slight impediment as they exit the bank, Lennon proves his skills as a getaway driver in a stunning, startling manner. A great start to ma great book. The $650,000 in loot is stashed and the three robbers are off to the next stage of their escape - when everything unexpectedly goes to pieces. From this point on, "The Wheelman" is one meticulously plotted, beautifully crafted surprise after another. As a result of this exceptionally tight plotting and his storytelling skill, every twisted character he creates is believable. There aren't any boring "9 to 5-vers" in this story: not a one of the characters need fear being offered as a candidate for sainthood, which makes "The Wheelman" even more fun. I make it a practice never to reveal much of a story in my reviews, preferring to let the reader know they're in for a treat without spoiling it in any way for them. With "The Wheelman," you want to start almost clean from page one and let Swierczynski work his wonders. This guy is simply great and I'm looking forward to seeing more of his work in the future. Jerry

Crackling story of a heist gone wrong

This slim gem of a crime novel is a great heist story in the rich tradition of Richard Stark's Parker novels and Stanley Kubrick's classic film "The Killing." The target is a downtown Philadelphia bank, filled with $650,000 of redevelopment money. The team is two strong-arm guys plus Lennon, the best wheelman in the business. The mute Irish getaway driver is very good at what he does, but even his skills aren't enough when the job goes suddenly and horribly wrong. Just as they're about to get away with the loot, someone pulls a double-cross, leaving Lennon's partners dead and him nearly so. Swierczynski writes with an economy of language that hones his prose to a razor's edge. He doesn't waste words, doesn't spend time with superfluous details or flowery description. He just hunkers down and focuses on what he does best: writing a crisp, taught and active story that keeps readers holding their breath to see what's going to happen next. Despite the dark, noir undertones, "The Wheelman" is also a surprisingly funny book, not the least because the title character views the world and the terrible things it contains with such wry, sardonic detachment. (And the author uses that comic relief to good effect, partially offsetting the gravity of the nasty events that keep taking place.) The author has said in interviews that over six years elapsed between the writing of his first novel and his second. It shows in the improved quality of his work. While "Secret Dead Men" was a quirky and entertaining read, "The Wheelman" is much better. It is clearly the work of a maturing writer who is possessed of keen style and abundant talent. After two books as rich and different as these, it is exciting to anticipate what he will accomplish with the third.

left me breathless and chuckling

Everyone I know is getting a copy of Wheelman for the holidays. I picked up this book thinking it was going to be a quirky read because the protagonist is a mute getaway driver named Lennon, which sounds goofy at first. But instead I was treated to the most fun any media - book, tv show, movie, etc. - has provided me all 2005. Sleepy, charismatic Philadelphia is the perfect backdrop for the non-stop action and violent twists and turns. It reads like a film, except it never stoops to the predictability and hokiness of Hollywood flicks. It's authentic and funny as hell.

Excellent heist novel

The Richard Stark tradition crossed with Douglas E. Winter's "Run". Great ending. The whole book has real style. I don't think most popular present-day crime novelists take enough chances--too often they seem to trying to score a movie deal. No problem with that here. (A movie version would be great, but it is just too dark for Hollywood).