This is an interesting look at the life and times of one of America's most famous and infamous criminals, John Dillinger. Author William J. Helmer used the research and writings of a Dillinger contemporary, G. Russell Girardin, to create a readable story of Dillinger's meteoric rise to fame and predictable flame-out. Much of Girardin's research comes from interviews with Dillinger's attorney, Louis P. Piquett as well as other primary source material from those close to the gangster.

An in-depth look at Dillinger's daring escape from the Crown Point (Ind.) jail with just the use of a wooden gun is especially good. The book covers a variety of the Dillinger gang's bank heists during the early 1930s. Dillinger's set-up by his girl friend, Anna Gage, and then demise at the hands of FBI agents and members of the East Chicago (Ind.) police force as he left the Biograph Theater in Chicago are well-described with drawings. Also included in the book are some terrific pictures of Dillinger, members of his gang, and reproductions of a variety of newspapers and other source material.

All in all, this is a riveting book about a well-publicized bandit whose exploits and daring made him both a charming rogue in the eyes of many Americans as well as Public Enemy Number One during the first third of the 20th Century. ( )