Customer Reviews

Noogie's Time to Shine: A True Crime Novel

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A while ago Stephen King tried to bring back the pulp novel genre. I'm not sure what happened to King's project, but this book takes a big step toward reviving pulp fiction. Noogie is a fascinating character and I really enjoyed getting into his weird little head throughout his ridiculously funny run from the law.

The book also serves as an homage to the genre and all those classic film noir movies that we associate with it (Dark Passage, White Heat). Its a smart and funny book, think Dashiell Hammett but with a wicked sense of humor.

Also if you do pick up a copy, remember this as you read it: "Follow the money."

I'll be honest, I HATE the cover to this book. The book was a gift and my reaction when I saw it was, eww. So it sat on my shelf for six months. I finally decided to give it a try and am glad I did. Okay, once you start reading this book, the cover makes sense but still, what a creepy cover. I asked several friends around the office what they thought of the cover and the reaction was universal - bleck. And all told me they wouldn't read the book based on the cover. So my suggestion to the publisher is if they should do a re-print, change the cover!

Enough about the cover. The story is a lot of fun. I found it easy to get wrapped up in Ned, aka Noogie, and his life of crime. Noogie is your basic loser. In his 30s, still lives at home with a nagging, overbearing mother, basically a miserable guy. He works for an ATM company and is relatively happy with his job. Eventually, by mistake, he comes up with a way to slowly steal the cash from the ATMs. The first half of the book (the better half, IMO), follows Noogie's run once he's discovered. The second half follows the police as they track Noogie. It isn't as interesting, but still, it was quick reading as I was interested in finding out what happened to Noogie.

I found this book very entertaining. I was rooting for some kind of redemption for the main character not just an apotheosis of inveterate loser-ness. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this. Anyone who reads this will feel better about themselves because you will be reminded that however extreme your problems in life may be, "Noogie," is far more clueless than you could ever be.

I bought this book because I was looking for something different and wanted a crime novel with literary aspects, not always easy to find. NOOGIE'S TIME TO SHINE paid off and I grew attached to Noogie and is failures. Knipfel also did a really good job showing how tempting a too easy but wrong opportunity can be.