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Hostage for a Hood
Every minute she had was borrowed, and every second ticked off the time for murder.
Joyce was driving along the deserted avenue.
Just ahead on a side street, Cribbins checked the second hand of his watch for the last time.
He swung the heavy Cadillac around the corner. He had a rendezvous with an armored car and a quarter of a million dollars; he had a tommy gun to make sure it all went off smoothly.
Everything was timed, everything was planned down to the most insignificant detail — except for Joyce Sherwood and her eight-year-old Chevy, which crashed deep into the side, of Cribbins' stolen car.
That's how they met—the housewife and the hoods. And terror took over!
Joyce was driving along the deserted avenue.
Just ahead on a side street, Cribbins checked the second hand of his watch for the last time.
He swung the heavy Cadillac around the corner. He had a rendezvous with an armored car and a quarter of a million dollars; he had a tommy gun to make sure it all went off smoothly.
Everything was timed, everything was planned down to the most insignificant detail — except for Joyce Sherwood and her eight-year-old Chevy, which crashed deep into the side, of Cribbins' stolen car.
That's how they met—the housewife and the hoods. And terror took over!
Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1957
2 people are currently reading
50 people want to read
About the author
Lionel White
93 books38 followersLionel White was a crime reporter who wrote around 38 suspenseful thrillers beginning with The Snatchers in 1953 and ending with The Walled Yard in 1978.
Most of his books were translated into a number of different languages and his earlier novels were published as Gold Medal pulp hard-boiled crime fiction, but when Duttons began a line of mystery and suspense books, he also wrote for them.
He was most well known for what a New York Times review described as "the master of the big caper."
A number of his books were made into movies and Stanley Kubrick liked his book 'Clean Break' (1955) so much that he licensed the rights for his film "The Killing" in 1956.
In Quentin Tarantino's film "Reservoir Dogs", Lionel White is listed as an inspiration for the film in the credits.
Gerry Wolstenholme
May 2011
Most of his books were translated into a number of different languages and his earlier novels were published as Gold Medal pulp hard-boiled crime fiction, but when Duttons began a line of mystery and suspense books, he also wrote for them.
He was most well known for what a New York Times review described as "the master of the big caper."
A number of his books were made into movies and Stanley Kubrick liked his book 'Clean Break' (1955) so much that he licensed the rights for his film "The Killing" in 1956.
In Quentin Tarantino's film "Reservoir Dogs", Lionel White is listed as an inspiration for the film in the credits.
Gerry Wolstenholme
May 2011
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 14, 2020
Hostage For A Hood is a top-notch pulp era novel which featured a Ozzie and Harriet type couple accidentally getting mixed up with a crew of armored car robbers. White does a great job of describing everyone involved in the caper which feels like one of the crews from Westlake's Richard Stark novels with each member of the crew playing a vital part. Juxtaposed against the backdrop of this violent professional crew is the newlyweds and their little French poodle who are as straight and innocent as they come. Well-written, succinct, not a wasted paragraph. Precisely what I look for in crime fiction from that era.
June 20, 2019
Young newlywed Joyce has the misfortune of wrecking the get-away car of a quarter-million dollar armored car robbery and is taken hostage along with her poodle. This messes up the carefully planned heist and White expertly plots the criminal’s responses to the unexpected twists that keep popping up. There are no living witnesses to the crash and there is no obvious connection between her disappearance and the robbery, both events under investigation by the police, with a bias towards solving the big heist. The interjection of her loving and relentless husband Bart into the investigation helps to connect the dots leading to an explosive climax. This book works well as a crime caper story, hostage story, and a police procedural. White is a master of crime capers and adding the other elements raise this novel to more than a just a typical heist story. Another superior Gold Medal crime paperback.
June 12, 2018
Excellent 1950s heist-gone-wrong crime drama from one of the masters of heist novels, Lionel White. Author of Clean Break (The Killer) and The Big Caper, White does an excellent job of tossing the balls in the air: an armored car robbery in which an unwitting and unwanted hostage is roped into the action, the distraught husband of the hostage who has a hard time convincing the police his wife has been kidnapped and a band of hoodlums whose flaws make their getaway the usual disaster. White always writes authentic sounding dialog spoken by well-drawn characters and even though we know that things will unravel in the end, the suspense lies in the how and White always has a few surprises.
December 14, 2023
Lionel White (1905-1985) was one of the very best of the crime/noir writers of the fifties and sixties. In addition to being a fine wordsmith, his stories are always clever and suspenseful.
In 1957 he wrote "Hostage for a Hood." It's a nifty little 126-page caper novel. A group of thugs has meticulously planned the broad daylight robbery of an armored car full of cash. Every man has a specific job and split-second timing is going to be required to pull it off. What they don't count on is a young wife and her poodle blundering into their plans and turning the whole operation on its ear. The crooks have no choice but to take her hostage and skedaddle, which is where the title comes from.
Lionel White was a master. His books are fast and fun. They have likable protagonists and truly bad bad guys. And they are exceedingly clever. You can almost always count on some seemingly insignificant detail from early in the book becoming a major factor toward the end. In this case, keep your eye on that poodle.
Mr. White is on my personal Mt. Rushmore of vintage crime/noir authors. I highly recommend his work. The problem is, the original paperbacks are hard to find in the wild and are quite expensive online. Thankfully, some of his works are available in reprint editions.
In 1957 he wrote "Hostage for a Hood." It's a nifty little 126-page caper novel. A group of thugs has meticulously planned the broad daylight robbery of an armored car full of cash. Every man has a specific job and split-second timing is going to be required to pull it off. What they don't count on is a young wife and her poodle blundering into their plans and turning the whole operation on its ear. The crooks have no choice but to take her hostage and skedaddle, which is where the title comes from.
Lionel White was a master. His books are fast and fun. They have likable protagonists and truly bad bad guys. And they are exceedingly clever. You can almost always count on some seemingly insignificant detail from early in the book becoming a major factor toward the end. In this case, keep your eye on that poodle.
Mr. White is on my personal Mt. Rushmore of vintage crime/noir authors. I highly recommend his work. The problem is, the original paperbacks are hard to find in the wild and are quite expensive online. Thankfully, some of his works are available in reprint editions.
October 21, 2020
A suburban hausfrau crashes into a car that just happens to be full of heisters en route to a timed to the split second heist, so they take her along for the ride and then some. While not White as his best--the end is a little silly--the lean narrative still cooks better than most caper novels.
December 23, 2018
It's good.
April 6, 2020
3.5/5⭐️
February 19, 2025
When The Heisting Gets Tough, The Tough Get Heisting
Woman Drivers are NOT a victimless crime.
And I don't wanna hear any blubbering. The whole damn thing is her OWN fault.
Woman Drivers are NOT a victimless crime.
And I don't wanna hear any blubbering. The whole damn thing is her OWN fault.
February 22, 2014
This story features two seemingly unconnected cases that are in fact entwined.
By pure ill luck, Joyce takes her eyes off the road and collides into two criminals that are on their way to play their part in a robbery - a robbery that's been timed to the minute and their partners in crime are waiting for them to turn up in the get-away car. Trouble is, Joyce has written it off, yet her car's okay, meaning the criminals need it and she's now their hostage.
This was first published in 1957 and is well-plotted and features some interesting characters.
By pure ill luck, Joyce takes her eyes off the road and collides into two criminals that are on their way to play their part in a robbery - a robbery that's been timed to the minute and their partners in crime are waiting for them to turn up in the get-away car. Trouble is, Joyce has written it off, yet her car's okay, meaning the criminals need it and she's now their hostage.
This was first published in 1957 and is well-plotted and features some interesting characters.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews