Late one night in August 1934, following a yearlong spree of bank robberies across the Midwest, the Firefly Brothers are forced into a police shootout and die . . . for the first time.   In award-winning author Thomas Mullen’s evocative new novel, the highly anticipated follow-up to his acclaimed debut, The Last Town on Earth , we follow the Depression-era adventures of Jason and Whit Fireson—bank robbers known as the Firefly Brothers by the press, the authorities, and an adoring public that worships their acts as heroic counterpunches thrown at a broken system. Now it appears they have at last met their end in a hail of bullets. Jason and Whit’s lovers—Darcy, a wealthy socialite, and Veronica, a hardened survivor—struggle between grief and an unyielding belief that the Firesons have survived. While they and the Firesons’ stunned mother and straight-arrow third son wade through conflicting police reports and press accounts, wild rumors spread that the bandits are still at large. Through it all, the Firefly Brothers remain as charismatic, unflappable, and as mythical as the American Dream itself, racing to find the women they love and make sense of a world in which all has come unmoored.   Complete with kidnappings and gangsters, heiresses and speakeasies, The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers is an imaginative and spirited saga about what happens when you are hopelessly outgunned—and a masterly tale of hardship, redemption, and love that transcends death. Amazon Best Books of the Month, January 2010 : Set against the bleak backdrop of Depression-era America, The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers is the story of Jason and Whit Fireson, a fictional pair of bank-robbing siblings, and their flirtation with immortality. Famous for daring heists and impossible escapes, the brothers are regarded as either scourges or saviors by followers across the country, but after narrowly surviving a botched ambush, the duo is forced to rely on larger-than-life rumors if they hope to keep themselves (and their legacy) alive. With the American way of life seemingly on the brink of extinction, the dramatic exploits of the Firefly Gang are all that anyone can truly believe in. "Facts make only so much sense on their own," explains the narrator, "when they are laid bare...with nothing to animate them." With characters that practically beg for sepia tone treatments, author Thomas Mullen provides an exciting and provocative tale about the vagaries of justice and truth. -- Dave Callanan Shades of Bonnie and Clyde and John Dillinger with a little science fiction thrown in for good measure. Mullen, author of The Last Town on Earth (2006), wraps up this evocative Depression-era gangster tale in an unexpectedly surrealistic package, elevating it far above recycled melodrama status. Jason and Whit Fireson (aka the Firefly Brothers) cheat death three times as they indulge in a Midwest-based crime spree that captures the collective imaginations of a downtrodden public desperate to glorify a romanticized pair of antiheroes. After Jason and Whit literally rise from the dead in an Indiana morgue, they capitalize on their amazing good fortune by indulging in more macabre mayhem, which includes two more deaths and resurrections. Whether you buy into his risky premise or not, Mullen is to be commended for taking literary risks in this genre-bending crime thriller. --Margaret Flanagan " The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers is a rollicking and smart novel—mythic, mysterious and utterly compelling. Thomas Mullen shows us ourselves in his speculative historical fiction, and for readers who love great stories told beautifully, his books can’t come fast enough."—Jess Walter, author of The Financial Lives of the Poets " The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers is an ambitious and big-hearted book, as lively and full of surprises as the Brothers themselves. The Depression-era world that Mullen conjures in its pages is satisfyingly real-and startlingly reminiscent of the America we inhabit today."—Jon Clinch, author of Finn "Thomas Mullen’s obvious intelligence and soaring imagination have come together to create this remarkable mythic tale. The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers is a story that reminds us that adventure, heroism, magic, and love can survive—and, in fact, thrive—in times of economic collapse and harrowing social uncertainty." —Dean Bakopoulos, author of Please Don’t Come Back from the Moon "If there’s any justice in the world, Thomas Mullen’s searing, thrilling novel will have as many lives as the Firefly Brothers. It’s a thoughtful exploration of celebrity worship and the border country between lore and despair; it’s also a crackling good yarn that never loses its getaway-car momentum. This is gangster fiction for grownups—from a writer who brings history vividly and bruisingly to life." —Louis Bayard, author of The Black Tower "Fast-talking gents with gats, swell dames falling for the wrong fellas, car chas