by
TUI SNIDER
Genre: Nonfiction / Texana / Texas History
Publisher: Castle Azle Press
Date of Publication: December 8, 2019
Number of Pages: 146 pages + black & white photos
Scroll down for Giveaway!
This bungled bank robbery led to a wild shootout and a getaway with two little girls as hostages. And that is only the beginning!
Tui Snider’s true-crime tale reads like a comedy of errors as the consequences of the Santa Claus Bank Robber’s actions escalate to include a botched car-jacking, one of the biggest manhunts in Texas history, and a jailbreak leading to a deadly conclusion.
Meanwhile, it’s up to readers to decide whether or not a mysterious blonde helped these gangsters escape. And if so, did she get away with murder?
It’s a rare thing for me to pick up a Christmas themed book
and give it a read. It’s not that I don’t like Christmas, because I seriously
LURVE me some Yuletide. It’s just that I usually find Christmas themed books to
be all syrupy and, well, quite frankly …. Bleh.
Y’all know how busy this time of year is, and I just didn’t
have the time to read and review a book. I’ve got shopping to do and prezzies
to wrap, cookies to bake and eat, so I can bake some more and eat them, dangit!
Enter Kristine, the ever-loving, brazen temptress of
bloggers. She had the audacity to post up a call for reviewers for Tui Snider’s
SANTA CLAUS BANK ROBBERY. My nostrils flared, my eyebrows turned into a V (sorta
like Spock's, only sassier), as I clicked on the sign-up link.
Because she knew … oh, she knew good and well that I could
not pass up reading and reviewing one of Tui’s books! “HOW DARE SHE ENTRAP ME
LIKE THIS DURING THE HOLIDAYS!” I shouted whilst filling out the Google sign-up
form. Then I started typing faster, for fear that someone else would get higher
on the list (and boot me out of getting a review copy), faster and faster I
typed until I looked like this:
I hope Kristine is happy!
But I digress.
Y’all, it’s no secret that EVERYTHING is bigger in Texas.
This story is no dadgum exception, with the exception that it’s a mere
140 pages long. Size doesn’t matter (in this instance), because the story that
lies betwixt the covers of this book is the absolute most Texas-y (pronounced “Texasie”
– I just made that word up) story I have ever read in my entire cotton-pickin’ life.
SANTA CLAUS BANK ROBBERY by Tui Snider is the true story of
the craziest bank heist I have ever heard of … and y’all … it includes a dude
dressed up like Old Saint Nick! GAHHHH! This is the first time I have ever
wanted to give spoilers in a book review, because this book is simply marv-to
the-lous! Look, I’m not going to give y’all
any spin here. I’m gonna shoot straight from the hip. Y’all have simply got
to read this book! I freaking devoured it.
This book has every single solitary thang (yes, I said “thang”)
in a book that you could possibly want. There’s a Santa who’s officially on the
naughty list for all eternity, there’s a group of dummies who had no business
plotting a robbery, and there’s a reward that had just been instituted that promised
to pay thousands to whomever managed to kill a bank robber. The latter, y’all …
oh, my gosh … the latter added to the craziest mayhem I’ve ever heard about in
my entire life, and I write science fiction!
Tui starts the book out by telling the reader about a homey
restaurant she and her husband came across during their travels in West Texas
where she happened upon the most outlandish tale you’ll ever read. From there,
it’s as if the reader is sitting at the table in the tightly packed café,
listening to Tui recount all the wildest, craziest events surrounding a
Christmastime heist gone terribly wrong.
This author has quickly become one of my faves. Seriously. I’ve
reviewed a couple of her books before, and I simply adore her talent for
storytelling and for, quite frankly, her skill at researching and uncovering
the truth … and that’s exactly what she’s done in this book. Tui even discovers
that there was an unknown blonde headed woman involved in the whole crazy
business on that fateful day, and the heifer got off scot-free!
Another thing that I totes geeked out over about this book was there
are photos of the guilty and innocent who were involved in this crazy-arse
story. She even added a diagram of where the witnesses and Santa (with his
helpers) were located in the bank when the whole thing went down (in a very bad,
wildly rabid, unbelievably cray-cray sorta way).
And, I’ll admit, y’all, to LOLing (out loud, waking the dog)
like a madwoman during the part where Santa meets his demise. Not that I was
happy about it, but because of the downright irony of where and how it
happened. Seriously, it had to be more than a coinky-dink. There is no way in
heck it was by accident! No stinking way! No way was it on purpose. It was one
of those strangely cosmic events that adds to the outright oddity of this
story.
Seriously, if someone would PLEASE take Snider’s book and
turn it into a movie, it would be a dadgum blockbuster of a thing, and I will personally write her and ask to be included in the movie (even as an extra)!
One thing I want to make sure to mention is that prior to receiving my review copy of this book, Tui sent me a lovely postcard letting me know that the book was on the way and thanking me for reading and reviewing her book. It included a sweet picture of her kitty cat with her book. So, I shall forthwith return those sweet sentiments with this picture of Sascha Marie (who you can follow on Facebook by clicking here) with said marvelous book.
Tui Snider’s ability to take an actual historic event, with
all its twists and turns, and compose it into a chronological tale is
deliciously fabulous! I’m in love with her writing!
And that’s why I hereby grant
SANTA CLAUS BANK ROBBERY
By Tui Snider
5 GLORIOUSLY CHRISTMAS BROOMS
◆ AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE ◆ GOODREADS ◆
---------------------------------------
GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!
GRAND PRIZE (US only):
Signed Paperback +$10 Amazon Gift Card
+ Thank You Post Card
2ND PRIZE (US only): Signed Copy + Thank You Post Card
3RD PRIZE (International): Kindle eBook
December 12-22, 2019
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