Even though I am a big fan of crime and thriller fiction, I was not looking forward to the challenge of reading a True Crime book - I'm strangely happy with bad things happening to people, but only if I know it's not real! Whenever I searched for True Crime, the options that came up were, primarily, books about serial killers ... urgh! So, when I happened upon On The Brinks, by Sam Millar, which was about a famous robbery, I grabbed it with both hands. It is, in effect, the autobiographical account of Sam Millar, from his childhood growing up in Belfast, to his unexpected involvement with the IRA, followed by a long incarceration in the notorious Long Kesh prison. On his release, he goes to America and starts a new life and a new family. Unfortunately for him, he just cannot resist the chance to make a lot of money in one go by stealing from the Brink's Armored Car Depot in Rochester, New York, and manages to get away with $7.4 million. This book is a great read from start to finish. The funny details of childhood and the grim realities of the treatment meted out on political prisoners in Northern Ireland are put before the reader in the same chatty style. There is humour alongside heartache and you keep having to remind yourself that this story is true. The people who populate this book are so well observed that you feel yourself empathising with the most unlikely of characters. I found myself disappointed when I finished, not because I didn't enjoy it, but because it was over too soon! I can heartily recommend this book - yes there are sweary bits, yes there are violent bits, but the journey the author goes on is so incredible, that all is forgiven.
POPSUGAR Challenge 2018 prompt 2: True Crime.
My STAR rating: FOUR.
Length: 464 print pages.
Price I paid: free, borrowed from library.
Formats available: print, ebook.
No comments:
Post a Comment