loved this book. Got it at a dollar a bag sale but would have felt it worthwhile if I had paid for a hardcover first edition. The author makes the criminal likable and you almoost find yourself rooting for him
very humorous and a little exotic-for those of us who normally think of Transylvania primarily as Bram Stoker's stomping ground

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Our hero is Attila Ambrus, the Whiskey Robber, and he takes us on a hell of a ride. Tough times as a Hungarian living in Romania, tough times in Hungary during the waning of communism, tough times in the Wild West atmosphere of a newborn democracy. One thing that surprised me was how when our Whiskey Robber hero made his choice, he settled down into an intensely focused state of planning and research. To paraphrase him, this wasn't just walking in with a gun and taking some money, this was WORK! He was thinking about, and recording data on, factors that would never even have occurred to me. The book had me completely hooked.

One more thing: I read an article about the audio version of this book and how it has multiple celebrities giving voice to the story, instead of a single person simply reading the book. Might be a good fit if you like audiobooks, give it a try!

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An engaging amusing listen as an audiobook. Dramatised with great voices and the occasional sound effects this is one of the best executed audiobooks I have listened to. Attila's background and Transylvania & Hungarian history was beautifully told. 4.25/5 ( )

a great editor could have helped rubinstein with pacing, i think. the long middle of the book was a bit tedious because rubinstein recites the details of every single heist. as the whiskey robber had a truly consistent MO, there wasn't much variation between "jobs." i did enjoy this book for everything i learned about post-Soviet Hungary, but the zany material was overworked. ( )

It is so hard to believe that everything happened for real. I had a hard time putting the book down. After I was finished I had to follow up to see if Atilla ever got released. ( )