Shot in the Heart Review

If the name Gary Gilmore doesn't ring a bell, then you were not a child of the 1970s. Gilmore was the first man put to death in the United States after a 10 year break. He killed two young Morman men without blinking an eye. He was sentenced to die. While others tried to block the execution, he insisted that the sentence be carried out.

Some may know the Gilmore story through Normal Mailer's book The Executioner's Song - and excellent true crime book to be sure.

Shot in the Heartis about Gilmore and his crimes, but it's much more than just a true crime murder book about the murderer. The book was written by his younger brother, Mikal Gilmore, and traces the family back to the beginning or as far back as Mikal could remember or had been told stories about.

One thing to keep in mind is that Mikal was born later than Gary and Frank and did not bear the brunt of the home abuse. Mikal is clear about that. Also, Mikal was his father's pet which buffered him. Still, he could see what was going on, and in some strange way he felt left out with having a world different in terms of years and experience.

The Gilmore boys were treated awful. It's little wonder Gary was mad and acted out. Frank, on the other hand, went the other way. He tried to be perfect and just took the beatings and abuse and then spent his whole life living with and caring for his nutty mother. So - it can go either way.

Gary was given chances a couple of times, but I guess if you get used to jail and that life, then maybe you can't just walk out the door and be a new person with a new life. Or, maybe he just didn't want to. Why he had to take it out on perfectly innocent people is a mystery to me. One Mormon man with a new baby, Gary had him roll over and shot him in the back of the head. Just to do it I guess. So, while I do feel bad about the horrible things done to Gary, it's hard to muster up much compassion when he did awful things like he did.

I don't know that shooting Gary Gilmore in the heart (and that's what they did up in Utah - the firing squad) accomplished much. It did make Gilmore infamous as the first to be put to death after a long break and the last to go before the firing squad (his choice).

This is a well written book. Mikal Gilmore wrote for other major publications including The Rolling Stone.