Booknote: Pizza Bomber

Jerry Clark and Ed Palattella, Pizza Bomber: the Untold Story of America's Most Shocking Bank Robbery. New York: Berkeley Books, 2012.  ISBN: 978-0-425-25055-6.

Genre: nonfiction
Subgenre: true crime, robberies, bank heists
Format: paperback
Source: Berea branch of the Madison County (KY) Public Library

Pizza Bomber is the story of a shocking bank robbery in Erie, Pennsylvania in 2003. Brian Well, a pizza delivery man entered a bank to rob it, a bomb collared to his neck. Was he a victim? The bomb went off, and Wells died. But that was not all; soon, it was revealed that Wells was part of a bank robbery scheme that led to a trail of deaths along the way.

Jerry Clark, the FBI agent in charge of the case, wrote the book with Ed Palattella, a local journalist who covered the story. The story is told mainly  through Clark's eyes. Soon, we learn of Marge Diehl-Armstrong, a mentally ill yet highly intelligent woman who already got away with killing a man, and Bill Rothstein, also highly intelligent. Along with other accomplices, and motivated by greed, they implement their plan. It take Clark almost a decade with help from a persistent ATF agent to unravel the story and bring the guilty to justice.

The writers tell the story in a well written way with some suspense. Readers unravel the case as Clark does. Initially, when Diehl-Armstrong was introduced, I wondered what it had to do with anything. We eventually learn Diehl-Armstrong was really running the scheme. However, between her high intelligence, her mental condition, and loud mouth, she is able to deceive and confound Clark for a while. Eventually, investigators' perseverance pays off, and the case is solved. The writing is engaging and draws you in. The only negative to this book is toward the end when Diehl-Armstrong testifies in her own defense at trial. We get a good sampling of her mad rantings that are painful to read. I pitied her defense attorneys having to put up with her.

Overall, the book was interesting and mostly well written. It does include a set of photos. Readers of true crime books will likely enjoy it. The story was picked up by Netflix and made into the documentary Evil Genius. Folks who saw the documentary may be interested in the book too. I really liked it and recommend it.

4 out of 5 stars.