On page xiii of the introduction, the author states that he is "just trying to tell as good a story about George Leslie as I could possibly tell" and that this book is an example of fictional realism. The author goes on to compare himself to [a:John Dos Passos|4778|John Dos Passos|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1234455298p2/4778.jpg]. ROTFL. Comparing this book with works by [a:John Dos Passos|4778|John Dos Passos|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1234455298p2/4778.jpg] and [a:George MacDonald Fraser|14220|George MacDonald Fraser|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1234739655p2/14220.jpg], fiction with footnotes, King of Heists came up short.

This book is just acceptable as a novel. I might have enjoyed the book more if the newspaper clippings, photos, and other additions had not continuously interrupted the story. They became so intrusive that they drew unwanted attention to the places where the story and reality parted company and went their separate ways. In real life, the "King of Heists" was dead before the bank robbery of 1878 was carried out and it seems that we have only heresay from the people who actually did rob the bank that he was involved in planning that robbery or any other. The gimcrack called "Little Joker" that was the secret to his bank robbing success was never seen by anyone and there are only conflicting descriptions that ultimately make no sense. ( )