The Confessions of Al Capone
A Novel
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3.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Multiple award-winner Loren D. Estleman has produced a major biographical novel on the infamous Mobster known as Scarface, rigorously researched and deftly nuanced to offer an intimate portrait of the gangster whose terrible crimes and larger-than-life persona have both fascinated and appalled the world for nearly a century; whose legacy is still widely debated; and whose brutally ambitious career in the Mafia continues to inspire filmmakers and writers to plumb its excesses and its contradictions.
In 1944, after Al Capone has been released from prison, J. Edgar Hoover assigns an FBI junior agent to insinuate himself into Capone's life and gain his trust so that Hoover can nail as many of Capone's Mob confederates as possible. Capone, suffering from the neurological effects of syphilis, is alternately lucid, full of the passion and energy that fueled his rise to the pinnacle of American crime…and rambling or ranting, the broken shell of a man released from prison so he could die at home with his family.
With the superb narrative gifts honed in dozens of novels, Estleman has captured the essence of this American icon as never before. With subtly nuanced portrayals of those in Capone's circle—his underrated wife Mae Capone, members of the Chicago Outfit including the deadly Frank Nitti—as well as his nemesis, J. Edgar Hoover, Hoover's secretary Helen Gandy and others, The Confessions of Al Capone is a major literary achievement.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Edgar-finalist Estleman (Burning Midnight) presents a nuanced and compelling fictionalized portrait of the best-known gangster of them all, Al Capone. In 1944, J. Edgar Hoover pulls Peter Vasco off a desk job for a special undercover assignment. Capone is in Florida, dying of syphilis, and Hoover hopes the right person can get information from him that would enable the bureau to make cases against successors to his criminal throne. As Vasco's father was acquainted with the mobster from a long-ago incident, the young investigator is tapped to pose as a priest and work his way into Capone's inner circle to elicit what useful information he can. The book alternates between third-person description of Vasco's efforts and a convincing first-person narration by Capone as he shares some of his secrets. Estleman captures his lead's ambivalence at deceiving others for a greater good perfectly, and the directions the plot takes aren't always foreseeable.
