Noogie's Time to Shine Book

ATM thief hits the road with 350 pounds of $20 bills.

Ned “Noogie” Krapczak grew up in rough circumstances in Jersey City, New Jersey. Movies were his only escape, and he dreamed of becoming a filmmaker. But by the time he hits 30, things haven’t worked out the way they were supposed to. Instead of making movies, Noogie has a job restocking ATM machines in delis and drug stores.

One day he sees a way out of it all, in the form of a slow-motion heist, siphoning $20 bills a few at a time out of the machines he is supposed to be filling. When his scheme is finally uncovered, he hits the road with his Siamese cat, Dillinger, and 350 pounds of $20 bills totaling $5 million.

In that instant, he finds himself not watching movies, but living them. He’s pulled off a great caper and is on the lam cross-country, a life worthy of Edward G. Robinson or Steve McQueen.
Noogie works his way down the east coast on this great escape, disguising himself by using the names of characters in some of his favorite movies.

In telling the stories of Noogie’s final days, Knipfel’s novel captures the tragic end of a broken man who, however briefly and however unseemly, managed to live the American dream—he became a movie star.

Publishers Weekly

Memoirist Knipfel (Slackjawand Ruining It for Everyone) here presents Ned "Noogie" Krapczak, a friendless, 35-year-old schlub who works as an ATM re-stocker and repairman, lives with his mother and is obsessed with old movies. It's clear from the beginning that Knipfel is knowingly drawing on affable loser stereotypes, particularly when he has Noogie steal his first $20 from one of the cash machines entirely by accident. The magnitude of Noogie's theft, however, soon sets him apart: working piecemeal, Noogie steals close to $5 million in $20 bills before being forced on an elaborate road trip with his cat, Dillinger. The book's first half traces Noogie's haphazard flight through unremarkable American towns and has an oddball charm: the possibility that Knipfel's sad creature might have gotten away with such a simple, substantial crime provides real renegade pleasure. In the second half, however, Knipfel shifts focus to the cops and FBI agents trying to track Noogie down: their crews feel thin and underrealized in comparison. Nevertheless, Knipfel's talent for empathizing with the underdog, evident is his earlier work, makes Noogie's adventures poignant and funny. (Oct.)