The End of the Dream by Ann Rule

Ann Rule does her research, and it shows in each of her books. This one, subtitled "The Golden Boy Who Never Grew Up," deals with a group of childhood friends who eventually fall under the spell of one of their own and end up with a few regrets.

Most boys play cops and robbers. These boys, under the direction of Scott "Hollywood" Scurlock, also played. Except they were robbing banks at well over 30 years old.

Rule traces the personal history of each person involved in the robberies and the eventual bust. She does this in every book. In this one, you'll learn that the kids made their big break into crime stealing pies from a truck. You'll hear about how Kevin named his van after the lion in the Chronicles of Narnia. You'll even find out that the grandfather of Mike Magan (one of the policemen who finally caught the bank robbers) had a sister named Agnes who was a nun. And that's why I don't like to read her stuff.

While I appreciate the time and energy Rule puts into her research, the digressions away from the story are particularly troublesome for me. I admit that she has a talent for bringing a reader back to the real story, but it all just seems unnecessary. She goes through hundreds of cases before she picks one to write about. She looks for that criminal who has everything going for him and then seems to throw it all away. She says she likes to write about the "why" of the crime, not the "how." But then she tells you all of this trivial stuff that happened to each person before they even reach adulthood.

My friend defends her, saying, "But that's how you get to know the characters." I'll give her a nod for that. And then I'll point out that I know when I pick up an Ann Rule book, there's going to be half a book of story and half a book of back story. It's a formula, folks. The first page of every book I've picked up describes a place - and it always includes the weather. In this case, it's a stormy Thanksgiving Day in Seattle. The she introduces the players. And so the formula - er, I mean story goes.

I'm done ragging on Ann Rule. Now, about this book...

I used to think bank robbery was one of those boring crimes, something lazy people do when they need some cash. Not a crime of passion, not exciting. But these guys - Scott, Kevin, Mark, and Steve - aren't lazy. How can you be lazy when you live in a treehouse, like Scott did? The whole crew splits up and re-forms in various combinations several times, each traveling, moving, doing his own thing, and then returning to Scott, who seems to form the core. It's intriguing and a little confusing to keep them all straight. Now bring in a policeman and an FBI agent, who eventually meet up and work together. A task force is formed to bust the bank robbers. The robbers keep robbing. Scott is clever - and manipulative. You don't want him to get caught - and then you do. The seesaw effect is what kept me engaged until the end.

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