For Geoff and Irene - not forgetting Sarah, Kate and Rebecca

Also known as: Thunder at noon.

Think Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Think John Dillinger, who robbed banks at a time when Americans thought banks were robbing them. Think March 1934, with Dillinger in an escape-proof jail in Indiana. Escape-Proof? He's out and off to Mexico in a white Chevy convertible that he loves the way a cowboy loves his horse. In Mexico he's out of reach of American lawmen, but not of Rivera, a rich SOB who owns a gold mine and denounces Dillinger to the Mexican police, who want their rewards short of heaven. To complicate manners, Dillinger, who left grateful women behind in Illinois and Indiana, falls for a beautiful half-Spanish, half-Chinese woman who may or may not be escape proof. When Dillinger finally gets back over the border, he makes his famous phone call. J. Edgar Hoover's secretary says, "Mr. Hoover, it's John Dillinger calling collect."

With many thank to Bigblueben@aol.com who sorted out how the book was published twice:

"Thunder at Noon" (1964, Harry Patterson) was revised and issued as "Dillinger" (1983, Harry Patterson).