The Big Caper by Lionel White

The Big Caper by Lionel White
Gold Medal #470, Copyright 1955


Flood is a SOB, but he knows how to plan a bank heist. He sends his girl Kay and Frank Harper to Florida to play husband and wife, so they can case the job for a few months. Frank and Kay like the married couple routine, fall for each other and sort of want out of the bank job. But, they know once you're in with Flood, you have to follow it through ...or else. Flood arrives along with a couple of his "nasty" accomplices and things get moving.

In the 50's Lionel White wrote some of the best caper novels and this may be his best. The characters are realistic. The reader can sympathize with Frank and Kay, at the same time really hate everyone else involved in the caper. I always thought White's stories were like smashing two beer bottles against the wall. One bottle being the people stuck in a situation they want out of and the other bottle being the evil guys keeping them in that situation. The reader finds them mixed together dripping to the floor.

Also, Lionel White's cop-turned-bad stories are excellent, especially "To Find a Killer" & "The Money Trap."