I enjoyed the book as the storytelling was excellent. The ending was not what I expected and definitely not boring. ( )

It starts out in 1934 with the Famous, Bank Robing Firefly Brothers waking up in a rural police morgue. A very compelling novel; great characters within an excellent story, hard to put down.
My only complaint is that it's third person POV tended to meander while taking the reader on a ride through memory lane; this left me wanting a time stamp within the chapters to keep the sequence of events straight. ( )

Well, I thought this was just fabulous. The "magic" of the brothers' immortality is very nicely done -- it adds to the story without overpowering it. The characters were well-drawn and not sentimentalized in any way.

Also, it is the second book this year that would make a fantastic Coen brothers movie (the first was [b:The Sisters Brothers|9850443|The Sisters Brothers|Patrick deWitt|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1291999900s/9850443.jpg|14741473]). ( )

The writing is okay, not brilliant. I was naively hoping for something like [b:The Sisters Brothers|9850443|The Sisters Brothers|Patrick deWitt|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1291999900s/9850443.jpg|14741473] but this is not nearly as witty. On the one hand, this is a book about two brothers trying to make sense of their apparent resurrections, their family, and their life as bank robbers in the face of their strong personalities. On the other hand, this is a book about the depression and how people tried to make sense of life after the financial catastrophe that destroyed their normal way of living, a time when "working hard and doing good" did not get a person anything, creating space for people to become heroes for alternative avenues. Seen in this second light, the book has more to offer than just a zany story about two men who don't stay dead. But it still works as fun fiction about bank robbers. Take what you like. ( )

When the colder, darker weather of autumn comes along, I seem to gravitate towards stories with a slightly darker feel to them, be it Gothic, noir or something a bit on the gritty side. Mullen’s Depression-era story is the perfect read to go along with rainy, wind-swept days. The title is an apt one, and provides the reader with a bit of insight into the story considering the story starts out with the Fireson brothers resurrection. One may throw their hands up in frustration at this but Mullen uses this “spoiler” of his own disclosure to build a wonderful story around the fact that the Fireson brothers have no memories of the events that lead to them “waking up” in the police morgue with their bodies altered by what looks like bullet holes. The story takes the reader on a Depression-era crime adventure in keeping with the myth, legend and lore of outlaw celebrities the likes of the Dillinger Gang and Bonny and Clyde. The story has everything – bank heists, bumbling cops, fedora-wearing Tommy-gun toting men, shoot-outs, a car chase, an intrepid young Bureau of Investigation agent, crooked business men and even a “damsel in distress”. While reading this one, I was able to see the story play out, like watching a flickering old black and white gangster movie.

The story has a decidedly noir feel to it, in part due to the gloomy Depression setting. Even with that gloom, the story provides glimpses of Robin Hood style flair as the Firefly Brothers become folk heroes of the destitute populous. There is a noticeable divide between the hard-core villains and the “charming gentlemen” criminals (hence that Robin Hood angle I mentioned earlier). Yes, the story has a phantasmagorical aspect to it in the resurrection of the Firefly Brothers and some of the story comes across as a bit of a cliché but, the heart of the story is really about a family (the Firesons) and the lies that people tell themselves and the people they love. The deep dive Mullen does into the past lives of his characters makes it stand out, for me anyways, from other bank heist-styled stories I have read to date. Outside of that core family piece, [The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers] is a wonderful escapism read where even the criminals are not “cut and dry” characters. As one reviewer has mentioned, “the story wonderfully illuminates why 1930’s America spawned so many dark heroes”. Everyone needs an idea or an individual to look up to, even if the attention is focused on an antihero. Under Mullen’s pen, one can easily see why antiheros can be so popular. ( )