The January 2025 issue of the review magazine
“Library Bookwatch” features a review of “Meet the Kellys”.
Synopsis: How did a small-time, hip-pocket bootlegger become one of the most notorious gangsters in the country? For George “Machine Gun” Kelly, the answer was simple: a woman.
Her name was Kathryn Thorne, a charming, strong-minded beauty who had family connections in the crime world — and big ambitions for the tall, handsome bootlegger. By the time she met Kelly, she was already an experienced criminal herself, divorced twice, and ready to marry a man who could give her the posh life she always dreamed of. With that in mind, she bought Kelly his first machine gun. And the rest is Prohibition era history…
George Kelly wasn’t a natural-born gangster and never carried a weapon bigger than a revolver. But Kathryn changed all that. Like a mobbed-up Lady Macbeth, she pushed her husband to commit greater crimes, introducing him to her friends in the underworld and convincing him to join in a series of bank robberies. Soon, the Kellys were living large, with a house in Texas, expensive jewelry, the works. But it wasn’t enough, and eventually the couple hatched a daring plot to kidnap oil tycoon Charles Urschel. Their plan worked. They collected the ransom — in doing so captured the attention of the nation, the world… and the FBI.
A shocking story of ambition and greed, crime and punishment, with the publication of “Meet the Kellys: The True Story of Machine Gun Kelly and His Moll Kathryn Thorne” by Chris Enss offers a fascinating portrait of a reluctant gangster named after a machine gun and a scheming moll as driven as Bonnie Parker and Ma Barker.
Critique: A meticulously documented history and biography that reads like an action/adventure novel from start to finish, “Meet the Kellys: The True Story of Machine Gun Kelly and His Moll Kathryn Thorne” will be of particular appeal to readers with an interest in the outlaws that made headlines during the ‘Roaring Twenties’ era of the Great Depression, Prohibition Bootlegging, Notorious Bank Robbers and Kidnappers. An inherently fascinating and riveting read from start to finish, “Meet the Kellys” by Chris Enss is especially and unreservedly recommended for community and college/university library True Crime and 20th Century American History/Biography collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that this hardcover edition of “Meet the Kellys” from Citadel Press is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.54).
