The Other Dr. Gilmer: two men, a murder, and an unlikely fight for justiceBy Benjamin Gilmer
Ballantine Books, 2022. 292 pages. True Crime Biography
A rural physician learns that a former doctor at his clinic committed a shocking crime, leading him to uncover an undiagnosed mental health crisis in our broken prison system--a powerful true story expanding on one of the most popular This American Life episodes of all time. When family physician Dr. Benjamin Gilmer began working at the Cane Creek Clinic in rural North Carolina, he was following in the footsteps of a man with the same last name. His predecessor, Dr. Vince Gilmer, was beloved by his patients and community--right up until the shocking moment when he strangled his ailing father to death and then returned to the clinic for a regular day of work. Dr. Benjamin Gilmer, the author, tells of how a caring man was overcome by a perfect storm of rare health conditions, leading to an unimaginable crime. Rather than get treatment, Vince Gilmer was sentenced to life in prison--a life made all the worse by his untrustworthy brain and prison and government officials who dismissed his situation. A large percentage of imprisoned Americans are suffering from mental illness when they commit their crimes and continue to suffer, untreated, in prison. In a country with the highest incarceration rates in the world, Dr. Benjamin Gilmer argues that some crimes need to be healed rather than punished.
This is one of the best non-fiction books I have read in a long time! I highly recommend listening to the audiobook, because it is read by the author which gives it an authentic feel. I enjoyed how Dr. Gilmer was able to take the reader on the same journey he went on, without spoiling the ending for those of us that weren't familiar with the news stories. The compassion and love that these two doctors have for their patients is beyond compare; that's why Dr. Vince Gilmer's crime is so shocking. If you like true crime podcasts, this book is definitely for you!
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The Sun Does Shine: how I found life & freedom on death rowBy Anthony Ray Hinton
St. Martin's Press, 2018. 255 pages. Biography
In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder in Alabama. Stunned, confused, and only twenty-nine years old, Hinton knew that it was a case of mistaken identity and believed that the truth would prove his innocence and ultimately set him free. But with no money and a different system of justice for a poor black man in the South, Hinton was sentenced to death by electrocution. He spent his first three years on Death Row at Holman State Prison in agonizing silence--full of despair and anger towards all those who had sent an innocent man to his death. But as Hinton realized and accepted his fate, he resolved not only to survive, but find a way to live on Death Row. For the next twenty-seven years he was a beacon--transforming not only his own spirit, but those of his fellow inmates, fifty-four of whom were executed mere feet from his cell. With the help of civil rights attorney and bestselling author of Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson, Hinton won his release in 2015. Destined to be a classic memoir of wrongful imprisonment and freedom won, Hinton's memoir tells his dramatic thirty-year journey and shows how you can take away a man's freedom, but you can't take away his imagination, humor, or joy.
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By Keri Blakinger
St. Martin's Press, 2022. 322 pages. Biography
An elite, competitive figure skater growing up, Keri Blakinger poured herself into the sport, even competing at nationals. But when her skating partnership ended abruptly, her world shattered. With all the intensity she saved for the ice, she dove into self-destruction. From her first taste of heroin, the next nine years would be a blur--living on the streets, digging for a vein, selling drugs and sex, eventually plunging off a bridge when it all became too much, all while trying to hold herself together enough to finish her degree at Cornell. Then, on a cold day during Keri's senior year, the police stopped her. Caught with a Tupperware container full of heroin, she was arrested and ushered into a holding cell, a county jail, and finally into a state prison. There, in the cruel "upside down," Keri witnessed callous conditions and encountered women from all walks of life--women who would change Keri forever. Two years later, Keri walked out of prison sober and determined to make the most of the second chance she was given--an opportunity impacted by her privilege as a white woman. She scored a local reporting job and eventually moved to Texas, where she started covering prisons. Now, over her career as an award-winning journalist, she has dedicated herself to exposing the broken system as only an insider could.
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