Review – The Wheelman Takes You for a Wild Ride
Duane Swierczynski Breathes New Life Into the Heist Novel
Sep 28, 2009
Patrick Selway Lennon is a wheelman. He doesn't rob banks – he drives the getaway car. And he's about to help pull a bank job in Philadelphia that will be the worst mistake of his career.
The Set-up
Lennon's perfect plan for stashing the money and laying low until the heat's off goes awry when someone tries to horn in on the action. This sets a string of events in motion that pits the Russian Mob against the local Mafia, inflames the greed of a crooked ex-cop and brings a woman named Katie, waiting for Lennon in Puerto Rico, to Philly searching for answers when he fails to show up on schedule.
To discuss the plot in any great detail creates the risk of spoilers. Suffice it to say that it's set in motion by a double cross on the part of two trusted individuals, one of whom, ironically, is acting based on a mistaken impression about Lennon.
A Roller Coaster Ride
The double cross lying at the heart of this tale quickly escalates into a series of cons, misunderstandings and still more double crosses among the various bizarre players. The story – a roller coaster ride that vacillates between the heights of funny and the depths of darkness – doesn't so much unfold as explode off the page. It's like a Donald Westlake caper novel, written on crack and LSD.
Swierczynski writes about violence and treachery in lean, matter-of-fact prose (reminiscent of Elmore Leonard) that can make you simultaneously laugh and cringe. Lennon is so calculating, he plays everything cool on the surface. (He has the interesting quirk of feeling his pulse to judge how bad a situation is. Things eventually get so disastrous, he stops doing this.) Yet you can feel his increasing panic and disillusionment as his situation grows ever more desperate at every turn. And all he wants is to get the cash, leave Philadelphia and never come back.
But too many complications and people conspire to thwart this goal. And no one is quite what they seem. Even Lennon and Katie have secrets, from the world and each other, that create even more surprises for the reader. And Katie is no shrinking violet. Frankly, Lennon and Katie make most hard-boiled protagonists look like cream puffs.
Violent and Hilarious
Violent and hilarious, the book has characters so unhinged and seemingly impossible to kill, it reaches cartoonish proportions. The plot is almost perfect – with the exception of one essential aspect of the heist that's necessary for the story, but seems unlikely for professional thieves to rely upon. Otherwise, each piece of the puzzle falls into place, right up to the book's darkly funny finish. Clearly, Duane Swierczynski is a name destined to stand out for more than just its unusual spelling.
The Wheelman St. Martin's Minotaur (November 2006), ISBN: 978-0-312-34378-1
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