5 stars

This is a very good book. It is filled with facts, personalities and some very audacious crimes.

At the inception of the FBI (only later renamed to FBI), the agency did not have arrest powers. They did not catch violent criminals or kidnappers. They were empowered to investigate white collar crimes.

However, that changed in 1933 when a “War on Crime” was proclaimed by the government. During the years between 1933 and 1936, the FBI chased, captured and killed (and were killed), many, many “public enemies.” Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, Ma Barker, Bonnie & Clyde and John Dillinger were just a few of the miscreants and killers the FBI caught and/or killed. They also worked and solved some high profile kidnappings.

The Bureau had arrived. They made the front pages of newspapers, they were the subjects of radio programs. They were proclaimed heroes in pulp fiction. As a group the men (no women allowed at that time), were intelligent, dedicated and wholly devoted to their jobs. My feelings for Hoover aside, they were a group of individuals to be admired.

Mr. Oller tells a good story. The book is not at all dry or difficult to follow. The author takes the reader on an informative and fascinating journey. I liked this book very much and recommend it to anyone who enjoys the history of law enforcement, true crime, or American history.

I want to thank NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton/ Dutton for forwarding to me a copy of this very entertaining book for me to read, enjoy and review. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.

4.5/5 stars. John Oller's 'Gangster Hunters' was a fascinating account of the FBI's War on Crime, which served as the inception of the FBI as we know it today. Oller details the critical few years in which the bureau necessarily evolved in order to track down and apprehend famous gangsters like Bonnie & Clyde, Baby Face Nelson, and Pretty Boy Floyd.

Perhaps this is well-known, but the FBI began as an organization riddled with young, middle/upper-class, law-school graduates who had zero qualifications to serve as FBI agents (at least those we're familiar with in present-day). Contextualized by the Great Depression, the FBI served as an ideal opportunity for a well-paying desk job with a prestigious title - yet these young men were met with quite the surprise when J. Edgar Hoover turned the FBI into a frontline crime-fighting organization. What was most fascinating, to me, was reading these accounts of ill-equipped young men fumbling investigations - particularly when compared to modern day stories of the FBI, like those portrayed through shows like Criminal Minds.

Despite being a non-fiction, Oller's writing style allows this book to read more like a fiction. I'm generally a fan of non-fictions, but am able to recognize that many non-fictions can be difficult to get through. Instead, I found myself drawn to this book, unable to put it down.

I would definitely recommend this book to others, especially history buffs - in fact, I'm planning to gift this book once it's published. Thank you, NetGalley and Penguin Random House for this ARC!