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The novel has pretty good pacing - barreling rather quickly through some approximation of a three act plot structure with an overarching romance tied into it. The three “acts” are each characterized by a burglary job executed by McRay and company. The story starts off with the bank job and ends in a risky burglary at Fenway Park. (Did I mention the book is set in Boston?)
The basics of the story are passably interesting, but the specifics of the plot aren’t terribly original in and of themselves. It’s the details that make Prince of Thieves memorable. Hogan allows Boston a very strong pulse and presence in the novel, but he also pegs the novel pretty squarely in a very, very specific year. In one of the more interesting conversations between the burglars, they’re trying to decide when best to hit a multiplex cinema in early summer of ’96. They’re discussing which film would rake in the most cash - which weekend would be the best to strike. They decide to act somewhere around the opening weekend of Twister. The film alone averaged $17,000 per theatre its opening weekend - quite a draw for a group of guys lying low and making easy money after a bank job. Suffice it to say, things get complicated during the job and there’s something of a shoot-out at the multiplex. Hollywood criminal fantasy mixes with the realities of life in Boston.

In spite of his efforts, Hogan never quite manages to make a larger statement about human nature and the nature of crime. The action thriller/romance works well enough that larger aspirations and deeper meanings don’t feel too terribly missed. The love triangle between the Doug, Claire and the FBI Agent comes close to approximating some kind of deeper theme here. The heart of a victim is torn between a criminal who would give up his life of crime for her and the man who wants to punish him for what he’s done. It’s almost got an interesting depth to it, but the Hollywood, three-act-like rhythm of the plot pries the focus of the novel too far away from deeper themes to achieve anything greater than a solidly entertaining suspense book.


The Movie

The film adaptation of Prince of Thieves makes it to screens with the much less grandiose title of The Town, but in many ways, it’s a far lighter treatment of the subject. Like the book, the film starts off right away with the bank job that finds Doug directly interacting with Claire. As chaotic as director Ben Affleck makes it all look, there’s a clean lack of complexity in the scene. Maybe it’s the editing or maybe it’s the way the shots are composed. Whatever it is, the bank job in the film comes across feeling much less sloppy than it does in the book. It’s an aesthetic that is carried through much of the film.
As the book has a plot structure very sympathetic to a Hollywood-style film, an adaptation of the story would seem to be pretty simple. The screenwriters take liberties with the story that pull it more in the direction of a crime suspense film than a romance. It’s kind of a bold maneuver, as romance mixed with suspense would play really well to the kind of mixed audience that makes for a really good box office draw.

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