Gangster Hunters by John Oller

Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Gangster Hunters:

Whole lotta crime in a short amount of time.

Quick synopsis:

The story of the FBI taking down the most famous gangsters in American history.  

Fact for Non-History People:

During a particularly laborious search, the FBI considered asking the Boy Scouts for help. Cooler heads prevailed.

Fact for History Nerds:

Baby Face Nelson is responsible for the deaths of more FBI agents than any other individual.

My Take on Gangster Hunters:

Can you even have a bad book which contains John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, Machine Gun Kelly (the criminal, not the musician), and Baby Face Nelson? We won’t know the answer to whether or not that is possible because John Oller’s Gangster Hunters has all of these characters and is a fantastic read.

Oller’s stated purpose is to highlight the rise of the FBI and, more specifically, the agents who never got their due because J. Edgar Hoover was a spotlight hog while also being a huge weirdo. To tell the story of these agents, you have to tell the story of the criminals they are hunting. These types of books can be very challenging to read in the wrong hands. You need to introduce a litany of names and connections while keeping the narrative well-paced. I’ve enjoyed previous books from Oller and this is no exception. He makes characters memorable while using very little page count. He makes you care about each of them by giving the reader just enough insight to give them a hook.

Meanwhile, Oller presents the political circumstances of how the FBI grew during this time period without drowning the book in extraneous information. The fact that all the criminals listed above met their ends (both literally and figuratively) in about a two-year period is astonishing. Luckily for us, the book is, too!

(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Dutton Books.)

Verdict:

A great, fun read. Buy it here!

If You Liked This Try:

• Julian Rubinstein, The Holly and Ballad of the Whiskey Robber
• David Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon