SUTTON

Gangsters have always held a special place in American literature, and Moehringer’s fictional biography of Willie “the Actor” Sutton is a welcome addition to the genre. Augmented by Dylan Baker’s marvelous performance, the novel is an entertaining story that hypothesizes what Sutton’s life was like when he was released from Attica in 1969. Baker captures the complex Sutton with a credibility not always apparent in books like this, illuminating a major crime figure who never fired a gun and was as comfortable reading literature as he was robbing a bank. In particular, Baker buffers the tone we expect from a criminal by softening his voice to help us understand the complexity of the man. Although the ending is a bit confounding, SUTTON is well worth a listen. D.J.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2012]