Peter Houlahan Books In Order

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Peter Houlahan is a published American author as well as a book review contributor and a freelance writer.

You may have seen his work published in places such as CrimeReads, the Los Angeles Times, Salon, Police1, L.A. Magazine, Hearst Newspapers, Criminal Element, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Orange County Register, and The Daily Mirror.

Peter’s first novel was Norco ‘80, which tells the true story of the most spectacular bank robbery in American history (this is also included in the title). It came out in 2019 and was a finalist for multiple awards, including the Hammett Prize, the Edgar Award, and the Macavity Award. It was selected as a favorite by many publications, making it to a NPR Favorite Book of 2019, an Amazon Best Book, a New York Times Summer Pick, a Wall Street Journal Readers Pick, and a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. It has been produced as a multi-episode podcast by NPR in addition to being optioned for film.

His second book is nonfiction and is titled Reap the Whirlwind: Violence, Race, Justice, and the Story of Sagon Penn. It has received prestigious starred reviews from Booklist and Publisher’s Weekly and was named an Apple Books best New Release and an Amazon Editor’s Pick for best nonfiction.

Norco ‘80: The True Story of the Most Spectacular Bank Robbery in American History is a true crime account novel written by Peter Houlahan. It is all about one of the most violent bank heists to ever go down in the history of the United States.

This is the story about five young men who were heavily armed and led by an apocalyptic born-again Christian decided to try and take on a bank robbery that would end up turning into one of the most violent events in the history of the United States, forever changing what the face of American law enforcement looks like.

Partially an action thriller and partially a courtroom drama, this novel will take the reader back to southern California in the seventies. This was a time of doomsday predictions, predatory evangelical gurus, megachurches, and high crime rates, with the threat hanging over everyone’s head of nuclear obliteration the entire time.

Just like that, a group of landscapers becomes a murderous gang of bank robbers who are fully armed with military grade weapons. Their getaway ended up transforming the towns around them into war zones. When all of it was done, there were three people dead and nearly twenty people wounded. A police helicopter came out of the sky, and 32 police vehicles were completely destroyed thanks to thousands of rounds of ammo.

The trials that came after shook the community to the core, bringing up a lot of issues that keep on plaguing society today. These include racism and the epidemic of post-traumatic stress disorder within law enforcement to religious extremism and the militarization of local police forces. Read this book to find out more about this intriguing story!

Reap the Whirlwind: Violence, Race, Justice, and the Story of Sagon Penn is a 2024 novel by Peter Houlahan. If you liked the first book by this author, you may like this one too. This is the story of San Diego in the middle of the 1980s that put one young Black man at the center of a whirlwind of crime and punishment that greatly affected southern California.

The year is 1985 and the date is March 31st. Two white patrol officers were looking for a gang member when they followed a pickup truck up a dirt driveway. Located in the Encanto neighborhood of Southeastern San Diego, the truck was carrying seven young Black men.

It was just minutes later that there were gunshots ringing out. The driver of the truck, Sagon Penn, ended up fleeing the scene in the patrol car of an officer. The incident was shocking to the city and what came after would end up having an impact on everyone and changing the city forever.

Penn was an idealist who even believed in the power of Buddhist chants to be able to bring about the oneness of humanity. The two police officers were coming up and doing well in one of the most progressive police departments in the country, and also one that had dealt with more of its officers being killed in the line of duty than any other.

While the facts of the case were never being disputed, what still seemed unresolved was what could justify the confrontation being so violent. For more than two years, a determined prosecutor and a charismatic defense attorney were engaged in a sensational courtroom drama that was revolving all around the various matters of racial biases, mental health, and the self image of a beach town that used to be sleepy now having to contend with its transformation into a major metropolitan area.

This incident forever changed how San Diego would respond to various incidents that involved the police and communities of color. Based on court transcripts, archival police reports, and personal interviews, this is an engaging true crime narrative set in Southern California that you won’t want to miss out on!