WANTED: DEAD OR IN LOVE

Bonnie and Clyde have languished in Limbo for decades, but thanks to a teenage girl on probation who touches the bullets that mowed them down, they have a chance to rekindle their romance.

Monroe’s father has added to his collection of gangster memorabilia five slugs from the outlaws’ final shootout. After pocketing two of the slugs, Monroe hears a voice in her head with a Southern accent and becomes convinced that she’s possessed by Bonnie. Monroe meets Jack at a party and lets him hold the slugs; soon, he’s possessed by Clyde. Chapters alternate between Monroe, who’s trying to keep Bonnie from taking over, and Clyde, who’s more successful at controlling Jack and restarting his crime spree—a technique that meets with only mixed success. Monroe’s foulmouthed, bad-girl persona and snarky attitude are unconvincing, as are the shallow characterizations of high school life. Clyde’s more compelling narrative, written in dialect, is rich in humor and colloquialisms from the 1930s as he confronts life in 21st-century Chicago. Plot points arise and are dropped without ceremony, like a skateboarder with an otherworldly message for Monroe and a stereotypical deer-hunting redneck who nearly sidetracks Monroe’s efforts to get to Bonnie and Clyde’s memorial in Louisiana.

Four personalities in two bodies (and plenty of sexual tension) make for a wild ride in one stolen vehicle after another, but uneven quality in the writing weakens the overall effect.