You Could Do Something Amazing with Your Life [You Are Raoul Moat]
Overview
An award-winning true-crime story about a fugitive on the run, told from his point of view. Winner of the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger Award for Nonfiction.
Callous murderer, outlaw hero or victim of the system? The subject of Andrew Hankinson’s book defies all such labels.
After killing his ex-girlfriend’s new lover, shooting her in the stomach, and blinding a policeman, Raoul Moat disappeared into the woods of Northern England, evading discovery for seven days. Moat captured the public imagination; he soon had an online following. Eventually, cornered by the police, Moat shot himself.
Drawing on extensive research—including many hours of tapes Moat recorded whilst he was at large—Hankinson tells Moat’s story using Moat’s own words, and those of the welfare agencies which engaged with him. The result is an unprecedented examination of violent breakdown; an electrifying nonfiction narrative in the tradition of Hunter S. Thompson and Norman Mailer.
Details
- Format
- Size
- Extent
- ISBN
- RRP
- Pub date
- Paperback
- 5.88in x 8.25in
- 224 pages
- 9781925106558
- USD$17.95
- 13 February 2018
Categories
Awards
- Winner of the null New Writing North
- Winner of the 2016 CWA Non-Fiction Dagger
- Shortlisted for the 2017 Australian Book Design Awards, Non-Fiction
Praise
“One of the most original true crime books to emerge from Britain in the last decade…A tradition in British crime writing is to begin with the shootout and then whizz back to the perp’s childhood to pore over clues that might explain his behavior. Instead, Hankinson keeps us in the eye of the storm—creating what Hollywood calls a “contained drama” that confines the reader inside the protagonist’s unhinged mind. The result is devastating: we see how Moat justifies his actions and ignores those who try to help, with no pesky analysis to interrupt the events…While the author does deftly fact-check Moat’s unreliable narration with clever parentheses, his immersive second-person approach was a brave storytelling decision that has won the book awards in England…[a] grim, high-definition, virtual-reality portrait.”
“True crime from a radically different perspective.”
About the Author
Andrew Hankinson is a journalist who was born, raised, and lives in Newcastle upon Tyne, northern England. He started his career at Arena magazine and is now a freelance feature writer who has contributed to publications including GQ, The Observer, The Guardian, and Wired. His first book, You Could Do Something Amazing With Your Life [You Are Raoul Moat], won the CWA Non-Fiction Prize in 2016.
