Customer Reviews

Infamous

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Infamous is my first Ace Atkins novel and I must report that Atkins is a breath of fresh air. Infamous is a tightly woven story based on a real incident and involving real perps and victims. He is another of a growing list of authors that fictionalize historical events to produce marvelous fiction.

Its 1933 and oil magnate Charles Urschel is kidnapped and held for ransom by George Kelly and his wife Kathryn. Background material for Atkins is not hard to find. He relied on an array of period documents, details supplied by family members, and abundant newspaper articles. All Atkins had to do was to put the story together which he does admirably.

In total the adventure lasted an astounding 56 days and resulted in the capture of the now infamous Machine Gun Kelly. What is interesting is that Kelly isn't exactly the hardnosed, heavy trigger finger villain that we've come to believe. In fact, Atkins makes it pretty clear that Kelly's wife Kathryn was the real hard case in the family. It seems likely that without Kathryn's influence Kelly would have been anything but famous or infamous. Kelly was more interested in the clothes he wore or the cars he drove than in making a name for him self. Kathryn was as likely to deal her husband a curve ball to save her own skin as not.

Infamous is Atkins first novel following his last effort Devils Garden. I always comment on characters but characterization is less of an issue with Infamous because Atkins is writing about people who actually lived and breathed. However, I need to say that he does a great job in making both Kelly and Kathryn three dimensional. They seem to spring off the page and take on the robust warmth that is reflective of good authorship. Atkins does such a good job reporting the story that even the supposed good guys are full of character blemishes when examined under magnification.

Infamous is a terrific read and though the story's climax really isn't much of a climax, its still worth your while to read. If you're at all curious, Infamous will spur you to investigate the story on the Internet.

Peace to all.

My 12-year-old daughter came home from school recently with the news that historical fiction is now defined as any book that is set prior to the Vietnam War. This bothers me, primarily because I remember the Vietnam War. For me, history (at least at this point in time) is what happened before, or at least shortly after, I was born. By either standard, however, Ace Atkins has been writing wonderful, addicting and unforgettable historical crime fiction for the past few years. His latest novel, INFAMOUS, is about Machine Gun Kelly, a Depression-era outlaw who became a household name both in spite of and because of his own ineptness.

My knowledge of Kelly prior to reading Atkins's fictionalized account of him in INFAMOUS was from a low-budget 1958 film directed by Roger Corman and starring Charles Bronson. One of James Taylor's best and most underappreciated songs was titled after and about Kelly, who was one of the first of the FBI's notorious Public Enemies. Yet, as Atkins demonstrates, Kelly's ineptness in both his professional and personal life was almost comedic.

Professionally, Kelly (born George Barnes) and his partner in crime had a knack for successfully robbing small banks for little payoff. It was Kelly's one chance at the "big time" --- the kidnapping of Oklahoma oilman Charlie Urschel --- that captured the public's imagination and led to Kelly's downfall. As far as his personal life was concerned, Kelly's wife, Kathryn, was a fireball of a woman who cuckolded him every chance she had, hedging her bets and often playing her husband off against law enforcement so that she could move in whichever way the wind was blowing.

The man in charge of the kidnapping investigation --- and the pursuit of Kelly --- was FBI Special Agent Gus T. Jones, a former Texas ranger and an "old school" law enforcement officer who looked in quiet bemusement at the younger agents with whom he was frequently called upon to serve. The story of Jones's pursuit of Kelly, taking place over the course of just a little less than two months, is chronicled with an over-the-shoulder narrative concerning all of the parties involved. Atkins, as he has been with his three previous historical works, is nothing less than phenomenal. Comparisons with Elmore Leonard and James Ellroy are understandable and inevitable, but Atkins is a talent apart but equal of those two grandmasters.

In the course of his research for INFAMOUS, Atkins drove the roads, rode the rails, and visited the hotels that Kelly and the pursuing Jones traveled and utilized during the course of their cat-and-mouse romp through the west, and his prose is informed by the dirt and dust that he picked up along the way. I have said this before, but it bears repeating: Atkins is one of those very few authors whose prose is so riveting that the reality of it supplants the world around the reader's own.

This is especially true of INFAMOUS; set within the first third of the 20th century, it makes our modern conveniences --- cell phones, cable television, mp3 players, and yes, computers --- seem like anachronisms. It is not only Atkins's penchant for historical accuracy that makes the book such a joy to read. He is also a master storyteller, switching scenes during the course of the narrative to build suspense, which reaches a hair-raising pitch even though one knows what ultimately occurs. The best element, however, is Atkins's ability to turn a sharp phrase. The man is, quite simply, one of our best contemporary writers. If you underline your favorite passages while reading, you will find at least one per page here.

INFAMOUS is a book of such quality that readers unfamiliar with the author will add his name to their must-read list. If you've read him before, he's already on your list and will stay there --- carved in stone --- after you read his latest.

I have read virtually everything the author has written. The last two books have represented in my opinion a falling off of the quality of the books. I lost interest in this book and stopped reading after the first 100 or so pages. I just couldn't bring myself to care about the characters and could not focus my attention enough to follow the historical context and the plot.

SunPost Weekly April 7, 2011 | John Hood
[...]
Ace Atkins Gets Infamous

Of all the outlaws to have roamed the back roads of American history, none is perhaps more menacingly named than Machine Gun Kelly. Born George Kelly Barnes, in Memphis, Tennessee, at the tail end of the 19th century, Kelly was one of Prohibition's most illustrious bad men, and like many of that era's ilk, he got tagged with a suitably sinister sobriquet. Unlike most colorfully-pegged criminals however, this bad man's moniker came from neither law enforcement or the press -- it came from his dame, one Kathryn Thorne, a media-savvy gun moll of the very first order.

In fact, it's Kathryn who seems to be behind both the man and the myth that would come to be known as Machine Gun Kelly. That means, of course, it is she who is primarily responsible for the legend as well. In Ace Atkins' kickass chronicle of the cagey couple's dark and seemly run, all that legendary mythos is brought back to hard life -- and the resulting mayhem reads like something from a tarnished silver screen.

The book is called Infamous (Berkley $15), and it puts Atkins back on the racks of the reeling, just where he belongs. I had the great good pleasure of connecting with the Alabama-born, Mississippi-based crime scribe right after spending a wild night with Machine Gun Kelly and the rest of his unspooled string of gun-toting enemies of the public. Here's how the Q&A went down:

John Hood: Which came first, the name Ace or the spot as a Tampa Trib reporter?

Ace Atkins: Ace is my given name. I had tried to use a different name to sound more professional when working for the St. Petersburg Times. My first editor there gave me a job on the condition I'd never use another name. Sure enough, an editor at the [Tampa] Trib wanted me to to change it before my first story ran. Good to my word, I used my real name.


Speaking of which, didn't you work with Tim Dorsey at The Trib?

Yes, Tim and worked together for many years at The Tribune. He was the editor on the night desk and I worked days, so our schedules sometimes overlapped. We used to grab coffee together a lot and talk about writing books. We both were really into crime lit and admired the same authors. After leaving The Trib, Tim and I have kept in touch and remain close friends.


What made you choose to ink the rather dark doings of Machine Gun Kelly?

Infamous is really more of a comedy than a dark crime novel. Kelly never killed anyone. He was bossed around by his wife. And everyone who ran into him -- including a bank teller I once met -- said he was a hell of a nice guy. That banker was 102 when I met him and still recalled the robbery of '32 with great clarity.


Seems Kelly was accused of more crimes than he actually committed; what were some of the most egregious acts that he didn't do?

Most egregious? Maybe the Lindbergh baby kidnapping. In 1933, he was Public Enemy #1 and really started the whole gangster craze across America. For a while, he was like a rock star.


How `bout of the crimes he did commit, was there one or two that stand out above all others?

The Charles Urschel kidnapping in OK City.


His string, as it were, reminds me a bit of Stark's Parker series, without of course Parker's amoral core. Who were some of Kelly's most colorful co-conspirators?

Albert Bates. Verne Miller. Harvey Bailey.


Any chance of you putting any/either of them to book?

Maybe. Infamous was a hell of a lot of work in the research department. I may wait a few years before taking on such a large historical novel.


What's coming up for Ace Atkins anyway?

My new novel The Ranger hits stores on June 9. It's a contemporary crime novel set where I live in Mississippi. This novel kicks off a new series for me and I'm already working on the sequel.


Before we go, I've gotta ask: What is it about the dark side of the street that you find so compelling?

I wrote about crime for a long time as a reporter. But I don't really write really dark stories. Most of my stuff is pretty humorous and unexpected. More in line with Elmore Leonard. But it's absolutely true and real. As they say in the biz, you just can't make this stuff up.


Think you'll ever cross over to the sunny side of the street?

Not a chance.

Nobody does "faction" better than Ace Atins. Nobody.

"Faction," of course, is fiction based on fact--"faction."

This is the story of Machine Gun Kelly, the notorious outlaw from the 30s. And it reads like a true crime novel, which it is.

One learns a lot about Kelly, his fellow gangsters and the times in which they lived. Good stuff here, good stuff told in a most delightful and entertaining way.

Ace Atkins' stories are like parables, and, as we know or should know, there is more truth in parable than in fact. Ace may have changed a date, name or a situation or two to make the story flow, and flow it does, all within the true context of the event and the people involved.

Young Ace Atkins is the master of this genre...

"Infamous" is the first novel I read by author Ace Atkins and after this I intend to read more. The subject of this historical fiction book is the kidnapping of oil magnate Charles Urschel by George "Machine Gun" Kelly and his wife Kathryn.

The year is 1933, George Kelly is "just" another bank robber until he gets involved, with some prodding from Kathryn, in the kidnapping of Mr. Urschel. The act of kidnapping itself was a comedy of errors, the kidnappers ran out of gas, got lost, couldn't find the safe house, etc. - and it's all true.

Mr. Atkins breaths life into these characters, George is not the hard nosed gangster we all thought he was, but a big lug who likes the Sunday funnies and Buck Rogers. Kathryn Kelly is using George to live the lifestyle she always wanted, pushing him to do things he doesn't necessarily want to do, feel comfortable or doesn't dare. The novel makes it pretty clear that George Kelly, who is more interested in being shaped dressed than famous, would not be the legend he is today without his pushy, seductive and manipulative wife. Kathryn even made sure George had a nickname ("machine gun") like every respectable gangster should.

Along with the Kellys we follow their pursuiters, mainly FBI Special Agent Gus T. Jones, a tough "old school" man. Over the course of about two months Jones and his team of young agents follow every lead they have to the grand finale.

The cast of characters ranges from FBI agents (G Men), other gangsters and Mr. Urschel's family. They are all well drawn, I suppose most of them were real people (if not all), and Mr. Atkins wonderfully plays off the contrast between the rich and the poor - pitting the rich oil barons against the criminal element of the bank robbers who have more honor among thieves than they would ever know.

Even though the ending of the story is not much of a climax "Infamous" is still a great read.
The story is told through the eyes of an invisible observer, a fly on the wall. We, the readers, do not hear what any of the characters think but we observe them from a close distance.The storytelling is riveting and exciting; the characters are interesting, engaging and dimensional. I don't know if Mr. Atkins meant to make George Kelly a likable figure, but to me he was the most likeable person in this unique cast of characters.

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Ex-bootlegger and small-time bank robber George Kelly never wanted to be known as `Machine Gun' Kelly. In 1933, largely at the urging of his wife Kathryn, he kidnapped Oklahoma oilman Charles Urschel for what was then the largest ransom in U.S. history. Infamous recounts the crime and its aftermath as the Kellys go on the lam, pursued by federal agents led by former Texas Ranger Gus T. Jones and some of George's old running buddies eager for a cut of the score.

Atkins effortlessly evokes the exhausted spirit of the Depression with telling details. Too often when I read historical fiction I'm reminded of a scene in The Simpsons sending up Alec Baldwin's speech in Glengarry Glen Ross, when a self-help guru boasts, "You see this watch? It's jammed with so many jewels the hands can't move." Authors are so determined to pack in as much of their research as possible that the story never takes off.

Not Atkins. He sets the scene beautifully, then steps back and gives his rich cast of characters run of the joint. Jones, trying to blend his old school approach to law enforcement with J. Edgar Hoover's new methods. Kelly, a basically good-natured big ape beleaguered by his reputation. And above all Kathryn, the movie-besotted Lady Macbeth desperate to escape her hardscrabble upbringing. ("You could be anyone in a movie house and dream as big as you wanted without feeling like a sap.") Other famous faces pop up en route, including one that's a lovely nod to Atkins' debut Crossroad Blues.

Late in the action a character asks, "What's the matter with some company in this coldhearted world?" You'll find no better no company than Infamous, the best novel I've read so far this year.

Most of us have heard stories about the criminals in the 1930's, like Machine Gun Kelly. The author writes a very good book discribing the kidnaping of a wealthy tycoon of the times, which is provided in other reviews above. I won't go into any more details, but the fictional diologue along with the true stories makes this a very good read. I seldom give a book five stars, but this one is worth it!

Terribly disappointed in the way this book continued to use the "N" word when referring to African Americans. I know it was acceptable in the past, but it is no longer politically correct. I was not offended by the reference in his other books, (all of which I have read). In this book it seemed that he uses the derogatory term freely in real life as well. Other than that, I enjoyed the plot.

I will buy at least one more Ace Adkins book to see if he continues to come across as a bigot.