Customer Reviews

The Wheelman

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This slim crime debut from Philadelphia City Paper editor Swierczynski, starts with an awesome Michael Mann-like set piece, proceeds at breakneck pace through some rollicking Quentin Tarantino-like pulp fiction turf, before petering out with a bit of a whimper in a rather unsatisfying ending. Having previously written a non-fiction book (This Here's a Stick-Up) about bank heists, Swierczynski is primed with plenty of info about how they go down. This shows in the opening portion of the story, where a pair of thieves and the titular getaway driver knock over a Wachovia in downtown Philadelphia. The writing is simple, crisp, and intensely cinematic, as their carefully laid plan hits a speed bump or two, but seemingly comes off.

But sudden reversals are the running theme of the book, and all does not go quite as expected. We next find the driver, Lennon, in a body bag, about to get tossed into a construction project pit, along with his fellow dead heisters. In a comical and bloody scene somewhat reminiscent of Elmore Leonard, he manages to free himself and get away, setting off a chain reaction of double and triple-crosses, as all manner of people start chasing after the missing money. A drunken ex-cop, remnants of the Italian mafia, the new Russian mafiya, dirty cops, half of a bad cover band, a fixer (like the Jon Voight character in Heat), an annoying college girl, Lennon's lady, and a mysterious man in black. All get into the dizzying mix, and at the center of it all Lennon, a mute Irishman who knows cars, books, and survival, and that's about all. (Rather oddly though, there are no car chases, and other than the very beginning, Lennon's driving expertise is left untapped.)

The story is built on fast pacing and pulling the rug out from under characters and the reader. Swierczynski loves to engage in misdirection, and although he sometimes repeats himself a little too much (an overused plot device is that those who appear dead may not actually be dead), and the relationship between Lennon and Katie isn't as camouflaged as he might wish, but the story still has more tricks up its sleeve than any ten average crime stories combined. A corollary to this is how Swierczynski often kills characters very suddenly and unexpectedly, which somehow feels more true to the genre than what one usually finds. And there's plenty of sparse, laconic style, as the body count rises in gruesome fashion. Everything is handled so well that the way everything climaxes in the last ten pages is somehow a letdown. Still, it's a completely entertaining book that will almost certainly be made into a movie, and I will definitely be looking for Swierczynski's next book.

The Wheelman is a great example of how the publishing industry feels about eBooks. Swierczynski has written a fantastic, roller-coaster crime novel that is actually deserving of it's blurbs, but the publisher MacMillan has completely ruined it with an inexcusably bad eBook edition.

The story itself is excellent. As a long-time fan of crime fiction, I have been more than anxious to pick up one of Swierczynski's books. I found The Wheelman to be very deserving of the hype ti has received. The author has crafted a story that contains all of the best elements of crime fiction - a likable anti-hero, a big score, and plot that twists and turns unlike anything I've read the past couple of years. Every time you think you have this book figured out, Swierczynski drives the plot off of another cliff and you soon realize you're not even halfway though it yet. Five Stars for the writing!

The eBook/Kindle version is a mess, though. It's obvious human eyes had never laid eyes on it before getting put up for sale. Whatever software was used to import/scan the book did an incredibly poor job. The insanely large number of errors makes the book nearly unreadable. For example, the first chapter is in all italics. Whatever was used to do the conversion could not distinguish the letter p from f so you end up with sentences like "Had he been a smoker, Lennon would have savored the last few fuffs before fressing the window button and and fliffing out the butt." This was the first paragraph of the book. Did ANYONE read this before selling it!? Other errors include dozens of misspellings, random letters and numbers appearing in the middle of words, and incorrect capitalization. Every chapter apparently opened with a dropped capital letter, but instead we get a single over-sized character on it's own line to begin each chapter. One chapter begins:

F
or a good two weeks, Lenno n has studied...

No, the extra space in "Lennon" was not added by me. It's bad enough that several friends I showed the book to said that they would have complained and asked for a refund. It's obvious zero effort was put into this by MacMillan. They could have hired a high-school kid to edit the Kindle version, but instead dropped this awful version on us. With the rapidly growing eBook market, you would think that publishers would put just a little bit more effort into something they are selling at a premium price. Swierczynski has a new fan here, but one that sadly won't be buying anymore eBooks from his publisher until they show a little bit more respect to the consumer.

UPDATE: 5/6/11 - I received an email from Amazon this week stating that this eBook had been updated and I could re-download it. Out of curiosity I obliged and was pleased to find that the formatting and typographical errors I previously complained about have been fixed.

I am happy to see that the publisher is actively fixing some of these older books. If you're looking to purchase The Wheelman for your Kindle, rest assured that my negative comments no longer apply!

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.

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.

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 try to do away with his body. And, all this does is piss him off to no degree!

What the author has created here is a rollercoaster ride of pure adrenaline that literally shakes the brain cells in one's head as the reader attempts to keep pace with the multitude of surprises that zap the lead character every time he turns around to take a quick breath. I don't think it would be a far cry to say that before the story is finished, Lennon finds himself in a hell with no exit doors and a clearer understanding that no one who participates in a life of crime can be trusted, even if that person is your closest friend. Another understanding that comes through for our Irish wheelman is that anyone can be killed, and in this novel, the body keeps growing right to the very end. Along with the above, the characters of Katie, Saugherty, Wilcoxson, Fieuchevsky, and Perelli, as well as many others, are all colorfully drawn with their own distinct personalities that seem to come alive on the written page in a way that reminds you of a bad dream that stays in the back of your memory long after daylight has seeped through the curtains. The ending, however, leaves you with your mouth hanging over, saying to yourself, "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Let's back up. This can't be happening!" But, it is happening, and the author pulls no punches in leaving you with an ending that shocks and delivers the goods in a way that few books do.

Clearly, The Wheelman is the type of novel with regards to sheer craftsmanship and undeniable talent that every beginning author dreams of writing, and Duane Swierczynski has clearly hit a home run right out of the park his first time at bat. If you enjoy reading top-of-the-line crime fiction like Richard Stark and Max Allan Collins, then this is the book to pick up. After that, you'll want to get the author's other two novels, The Blonde and Severance Package. Happy reading!

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).

For those of you familiar with Richard Stark's anti-hero thief Parker, Philadelphia writer Duane Swierczynski's Irish mute Lennon may strike a familiar chord. Lennon might not be a riff off of Stark's original, but in many ways he's certainly cut from similar cloth, and that certainly makes him interesting.

Vying with Lennon for top billing in a field stuffed with memorable characters, is the City of Brotherly Love herself. She is a setting lovingly (if unblinkingly) rendered by the Phildelphia native Swierczynski. I love books where the setting comes alive so much so that it is yet another character in its own right. Swierczynski does precisely this in "The Wheelman."

The pace on the novel is good, the supporting characters vividly drawn. I defy anyone who reads this to forget either the college student keyboardist, the corrupt ex-cop, or the Russian don who are all involved to varying degrees in this plot. My only reason for giving it four stars instead of five was that the violence was so over-the-top (and perhaps that was the author's point) that I was not able to suspend belief all the way through it. It seemed to me that Lennon ought to have been either dead or in a coma long before the novel's explosive climax.

That said, this is a terrific book, a tour-de-force first offering, and I can't wait to dive into Swierczynski's next book, "The Blonde."

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

Lennon is the wheelman - a career criminal with no regrets, living on the edge, doing what he does best - driving the getaway car in bank robberies. He is no small time punk, but a true professional, refining his craft with no less dedication or diligence than a surgeon or a lawyer. Lennon meticulously plans each caper, staking the city, plotting the routes, mapping his strategy like a battlefield general. So Lennon is a thug, but he is committed, even passionate in his trade.

Author Duane Swierczynski rips this, his first novel, with a similar passion. His prose is rough, jolting, uneven, and jarring, reminiscent of Charlie Huston ("Caught Stealing", Six Bad Things"). Exactly what you'd expect if you were going to chronicle a nightmare in the life of a wheelman. And it takes tough prose to capture this vicious tale as Lennon finds himself facing off Philadelphia mobsters and crooked cops, barely surviving refreshingly unique bouts with sewer pipes and propane tanks. While almost cartoonish in the violence of the increasingly savage beatings Lennon endures, this is nonetheless a white-knuckled thrill ride seen from the back seat of a getaway car. With absolutely no social redeeming value to weigh it down, this is the literary equivalent of Mel Gibson's brutal "Payback", a short and sweet little adrenaline rush of a novel that promises a bright future for rookie Swiercznski.

This book was one hell of a ride. It starts out fast and keeps going; I finished it in four days, the last 100 pages in just a few hours. The author's well-researched background from his first book This Here's A Stick-up has served him very well for this exciting, well-plotted noir. But he takes it up a notch with some quality writing and fairly thorough character development for a book only about 200 pages long. If you are a fan of Richard Stark, Dan Simmons's Joe Kurtz novels, or enjoyed James Sallis's Drive, this book is for you. I was sorry to see it end.