The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers

The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers
Thomas Mullen

Jason and Whit Fireson, the notorious, bank-robbing duo known as the Firefly Brothers, wake to find themselves lying on cooling boards in a police morgue. Riddled with bullet wounds, the reality is inescapable: they've been killed. But they're alive.It is August of 1934, in the midst of the Great Depression but in the waning months of the great Crime Wave, during which the newly-created FBI killed such famous outlaws as John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and Pretty Boy Floyd. Across the nation, men are out of work and families are starving, and Americans are stunned and frightened by the collapse of their country's foundations.The Firesons' lovers Darcy and Veronica struggle between grief and an unyielding belief that Jason and Whit have survived, while their stunned mother and straight-arrow third brother desperately try to support their family and evade police spies. And through it all the Firefly Brothers themselves race to find the women they love, and make sense of a world that has come unmoored.Complete with kidnappings and gangsters, heiresses and speakeasies, The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers combines the stark realism of a troubled time with all the myth-making magic of the American Dream itself. It is an imaginative and breathless story about being hopelessly outgunned – and tells a tale of danger, redemption, and love that transcends death.

The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers

Thomas Mullen

FOURTH ESTATE • London

For my parents, brothers, and sister

Men’s memories are uncertain, and the past that was differs little from the past that was not.

—CORMAC McCARTHY, BLOOD MERIDIAN

It seemed a little too pat. It had the austere simplicity of fiction rather than the tangled woof of fact.

—RAYMOND CHANDLER, THE BIG SLEEP

Table of Contents

Cover Page (#ub6e8e6fe-15c6-5229-a454-dbaebba098a1)

Title Page (#ub853ea29-fd26-5398-a4e8-966c97527df9)

Dedication (#u43ba7e60-5a96-53b7-b0d5-b7e7eb29239e)

Epigraph (#uad278274-8b19-56dc-ba93-637225efe3fa)

THE FIRST DEATH OF THE FIREFLY BROTHERS (#u071c9dfd-b488-51fb-ba9f-83d279cf3df3)

It all began when they died (#ub396e00f-9fb8-50d6-9f87-ac09df28a232)

I. (#ub2ac580d-04b9-58ad-8976-87e42cbfd095)

II. (#ua869ce61-f2d2-55d2-8f19-94eb8fa0b495)

III. (#u700bb2cd-02f3-5465-9796-7332108ff97b)

IV. (#uf2af81e8-c4d5-5454-b5b0-1aa3a4a2e0d4)

V. (#u03f07129-60a7-5eeb-b2c9-84b772c505ff)

VI. (#uc4649e9d-4461-5752-82bc-c7620b713dbd)

VII. (#ub5c2c00d-e1bf-5230-83f9-47ac265a9aa2)

VIII. (#litres_trial_promo)

IX. (#litres_trial_promo)

X. (#litres_trial_promo)

XI. (#litres_trial_promo)

THE SECOND DEATH OF THE FIREFLY BROTHERS (#litres_trial_promo)

Already the stories were coming to life (#litres_trial_promo)

XII. (#litres_trial_promo)

XIII. (#litres_trial_promo)

XIV. (#litres_trial_promo)

XV. (#litres_trial_promo)

XVI. (#litres_trial_promo)

XVII. (#litres_trial_promo)

XVIII. (#litres_trial_promo)

XIX. (#litres_trial_promo)

XX. (#litres_trial_promo)

THE THIRD DEATH OF THE FIREFLY BROTHERS (#litres_trial_promo)

As more time passed (#litres_trial_promo)

XXI. (#litres_trial_promo)

XXII. (#litres_trial_promo)

XXIII. (#litres_trial_promo)

XXIV. (#litres_trial_promo)

XXV. (#litres_trial_promo)

XXVI. (#litres_trial_promo)

XXVII. (#litres_trial_promo)

XXVIII. (#litres_trial_promo)

XXIX. (#litres_trial_promo)