Bank Robbers
C. Clark Criscuolo. St. Martin's Press, $21 (276pp) ISBN 978-0-312-11750-4
Until its didactic denouement, Criscuolo's second novel, following Wiseguys in Love, is a poignant mystery starring a trio of scrappy urban seniors. Alone, broke and stricken with osteoporosis, a medical condition that Medicaid won't pay for, New York City widow Dottie Weist decides to rob a bank. Her plan is to get caught and be sentenced to a prison where she'll receive proper medical treatment along with food and lodging. A friend, the widowed Teresa, has the name of someone who will sell her a gun; when Dottie arrives at the pawnshop, she comes face to face with Arthur, a former bank robber whom she jilted long ago. Wondering about Dottie's plans for the gun, Arthur tails her out of the shop and into a scheme that both backfires and rewards the lonely, angry threesome. Rough-hewn and gritty, Criscuolo's characters have a distinctive appeal that is ill-served by moralizing at the tale's end. (Feb.)
Details
Reviewed on: 01/30/1995
Genre: Fiction
Mass Market Paperbound - 253 pages - 978-1-57566-088-2
Open Ebook - 276 pages - 978-1-4668-8947-7