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.” —Jeff Maysh, Los Angeles Review of Books
“True crime from a radically different perspective.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Brilliantly written…Smart literary non fiction.” —Jon Ronson, author of The Psychopath Test
“Powerfully and claustrophobically effective.” —London Review of Books
“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.” —Will Self
“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.” —The Observer
“A remarkable book…[which] gives the reader the chilling, dreadful impression of being inside Moat’s head. Nothing less than compelling.” —Irish Independent
“Immersing the reader in Moat's self-justifications, this 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.” —Louis Theroux, author of Call of the Weird
“Brilliant, gripping and important. Fans of Gordon Burn have found a new favourite writer.” —Will Storr, author of The Heretics: adventures with the enemies of science
“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.” –Benjamin Myers, author of Beastings and Pig Iron
“We all know how the story ends, but this balled fist of a book reads like a thriller.” —Dan Rhodes, author of When the Professor Got Stuck in the Snow
“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.” —Dan Davies, author of In Plain Sight
“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.” —Tom Gatti, New Statesman
“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.” —Benjamin Myers, New Statesman
“An extraordinary study of violence, in all its bathos and banality.” —Sarah Ditum, The Spectator
“[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.” —Anthony Cummins, Metro
“A powerful portrayal of the banality of violence…a trigger finger of a book: taut, tense and on edge.” —Helen Davies, Sunday Times
“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.” —Philip Maughan, Financial Times
“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.” —Rob Doyle, Irish Times
“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.” —Gavin Knight, The Guardian
‘“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.” —The Times
“Chilling…A very unsettling read.” —The Herald
“Impressive…A powerful, intimate account of a ruined mind.” —Sam Jordison, 3:AM Magazine
“I strongly recommend this book. Brilliantly written.” —John Niven, author of Kill Your Friends
“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.” —The Saturday Paper
“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 —Weekend Press
“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.” —Crime Review
“[Hankinson] takes us inside the killer’s head without giving the reader the privilege of distance from which to judge him.” —The Guardian
“[A] gripper, a powerful literary experiment written in the voice of the killer.” —Jessie Burton, The Guardian
“A remarkable journey through the last days of a confused and aggressive mind.” —Robin Ince
“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.” —Foul Play Magazine
“An extraordinary document; you really see madness from the inside. A very powerful, sobering book.” —Will Storr, The Ezra Klein Show
“…haunting and deeply unsettling…” —Mystery Tribune
‘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.’
New Statesman - Tom Gatti
‘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 remarkable book … [which] gives the reader the chilling, dreadful impression of being inside Moat’s head. Nothing less than compelling.’
‘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.’
Los Angeles Review of Books - Jeff Maysh
‘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.’
The Guardian - Gavin Knight
‘[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.’
‘We all know how the story ends, but this balled fist of a book reads like a thriller.’
‘Impressive … A powerful, intimate account of a ruined mind.’
3:AM Magazine - Sam Jordison
‘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.’
‘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.’
‘I strongly recommend this book. Brilliantly written.’
‘Immersing the reader in Moat's self-justifications, thisis both an experiment inempathy and an exploration of the limits of empathy—holding the reader hostage inthe echo chamber of an angry and confused man's head.’
‘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.’
‘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.’
‘Brilliantly written … Smart literary non fiction.’
‘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.’
New Statesman - Benjamin Myers
‘[A] gripper, a powerful literary experiment written in the voice of the killer.’
The Guardian - Jessie Burton
‘Powerfully and claustrophobically effective.’
‘[Hankinson] takes us inside the killer’s head without giving the reader the privilege of distance from which to judge him.’
‘Brilliant, gripping and important. Fans of Gordon Burn have found a new favourite writer.’
‘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
‘A remarkable journey through the last days of a confused and aggressive mind.’
‘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.’
‘An extraordinary study of violence, in all its bathos and banality.’
The Spectator - Sarah Ditum
‘Chilling … A very unsettling read.’
‘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.’
‘A powerful portrayal of the banality of violence … a trigger finger of a book: taut, tense and on edge.’
Sunday Times - Helen Davies
‘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’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.’
Financial Times - Philip Maughan
‘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.’
The Observer - Rachel Cooke
‘Powerfully and claustrophobically effective … [Hankinson] generates just enough sympathy and pathos to make sense of the situation, but no more.’
2018-01-09
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