About the Book
Winner of the CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction.
A letter arrives. You’ve got an appointment with a trainee clinical psychologist on April 29, 2008.
You don’t attend.
Another letter arrives. It says they don’t normally reschedule appointments, but they know this is hard for you, so they’re offering you another appointment. It’s on May 13, 2008.
You don’t attend.
Two years later you shoot three people and shoot yourself. You will be called a monster. You will be called evil. The prime minister, David Cameron, will stand up in Parliament and say you were a callous murderer, end of story. You have nine days and your whole life to prove you are more than a callous murderer.
Go.
Raoul Moat became notorious one hot July week when, after killing his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend, shooting her in the stomach, and blinding a policeman, he disappeared into the woods of Northumberland, evading discovery for seven days. Eventually, cornered by the police, Moat shot himself. Here, Andrew Hankinson re-tells Moat's story using Moat’s words, and those of the state services which engaged with him, bringing the reader disarmingly close, at all times, to the mind of Moat.
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.
Review :
‘Immersing the reader in Moat’s self-justifications, You Could Do Something Amazing With Your Life [You Are Raoul Moat] is both an experiment in empathy and an exploration of the limits of empathy — holding the reader hostage in the echo chamber of an angry and confused man’s head.’
‘Brilliantly written … Smart literary non fiction.’
‘The media love the idea that a killer’s mind is somehow “impenetrable”, because it gives them carte blanche to fill it up with their sensationalised bullshit … This book does the commendable job of demystifying evil yet again, and showing us the rainy-Tuesday-afternoon-dullness and grinding frustration that can lead some unbalanced people to topple into the abyss.’
‘What sets this book apart is the fact that Hankinson’s narrative, written in the second person, is formed entirely of Moat’s own words. The result is a desperately sad book about masculinity, deprivation, and loss.’
‘Andrew Hankinson’s You Could Do Something Amazing With Your Life [You Are Raoul Moat] is an account of Moat’s last days that, written in the second person and drawing on diary entries and previously unheard tapes, reads like a novel.’
‘Writer and reader squat inside a mind that moves from irrational anger and self-pity to despondency … Hankinson deftly assembles [Moat’s] inner workings, lending credibility to his portrait while, beyond the myopic commentary, we know, although we don’t see it, that the outside world is closing in.’
‘Brilliant, gripping, and important. Fans of Gordon Burn have found a new favourite writer.’
‘We all know how the story ends, but this balled fist of a book reads like a thriller.’
‘A powerful portrayal of the banality of violence … a trigger finger of a book: taut, tense, and on edge.’
‘Claustrophobic, tense, and truly original, this gripping account of Raoul Moat’s last days is impossible to put down. Andrew Hankinson has done a superb job in marshalling the source material and presenting it in such a way that the reader sees an unravelling world through Moat’s eyes. The result is utterly unexpected, leaving one torn between feelings of disgust, fear and pity. This is a book that stays with you for a long time.’
‘A claustrophobic true-crime account in the tradition of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood … [Hankinson’s] purpose is to show Moat as a product of our culture and society … Moat is presented as an intriguing case study in disintegration, making bad choices then devoting all his intelligence to justifying them in his own head.’
‘Hankinson’s approach, a descendant of the literary non-fiction favoured by fellow Northerners Gordon Burn, Blake Morrison, and David Peace, allows us to inspect Moat’s bitter logic up close.’
‘An extraordinary study of violence, in all its bathos and banality.’
‘Masculinity, media, and life on the margins of modern Britain are all put under the microscope via the true and sorry story of outlaw Raoul Moat … His very public disintegration is captured perfectly by Andrew Hankinson.’
‘[Hankinson’s] bold non-fiction debut puts you in the gunman’s shoes by weaving an urgent second-person narrative from his on-record thoughts … Intelligently done.’
‘Taut, uncomfortably thrilling … An unvarnished reconstruction of Moat’s murderous rampage, which allows the facts — and the perpetrator — to speak for themselves … Moat was a tormented man with little mastery over his violent urges. His testimony lays bare a retarded moral sense: right until the end he was largely unrepentant of his actions, elated even, and indifferent or oblivious to the pain he had caused. He was a destroyer, not a hero.’
‘In less skilful hands, telling the story through Moat’s eyes could have burnished the outlaw “legend” of Moat. Hankinson does not do that, even though he shows us flashes of humanity … His book does its bit in demystifying evil.’
‘A remarkable book … [which] gives the reader the chilling, dreadful impression of being inside Moat’s head. Nothing less than compelling.’
‘[A] gripper, a powerful literary experiment written in the voice of the killer.’
‘Chilling … A very unsettling read.’
‘Impressive … A powerful, intimate account of a ruined mind.’
‘Powerfully and claustrophobically effective … [Hankinson] generates just enough sympathy and pathos to make sense of the situation, but no more.’
‘I strongly recommend this book. Brilliantly written.’
‘The second-person voice is a notoriously tricky one to maintain and Hankinson uses it to great effect … Another strength is the overwhelming sense that Moat is not in control of his own narrative.’
‘Hankinson has pulled off a singular journalistic feat, filtering the sequence of events following Moat’s release from prison through his own eyes. What Moat knows, we know. This is fact, with gelignite at its core.’ BOOK OF THE WEEK
‘[Hankinson] takes us inside the killer’s head without giving the reader the privilege of distance from which to judge him.’
‘Being in Moat’s angry, paranoid head is an uncomfortable and gut-churning place to be, yet Andrew Hankinson never lets Moat off the hook, challenging his victim mentality and denials of wrong-doing with bald statements of fact. This is a powerful and disquieting book.’
‘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.’
‘Brilliant.’
‘A remarkable journey through the last days of a confused and aggressive mind.’
‘Readers see and experience only what Moat saw, which helps to paint a terrifying picture of a man who was suffering from acute mental health problems … The style of writing naturally makes you empathise with the villain in a way that other books would not, but Hankinson manages to tell the story with impressive objectivity.’
‘Haunting and deeply unsettling.’
