A Rusty Gun - Softcover

Smith, Noel 'Razor'

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0670915491 ISBN 13: 9780670915491

Publisher: Viking, 2010

Synopsis

As a gun-wielding bank robber, Noel 'Razor' Smith was top of the criminal tree, enjoying the excitement and benefits of a dangerous and adrenalin-filled career. But he'd also spent the greater part of his adult life in prison, an environment where respect and basic survival were guaranteed only to those prepared to use the most brutal violence. In his new book, Smith takes the story on from his highly acclaimed memoir A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun, and describes how he came to realize that the game wasn't worth the candle. In his mid-forties he applied to enter Grendon, then the only prison in Britain offering intense therapeutic treatment to hardened criminals. He went from a brutal high-security prison, HMP Whitemoor, to an institution where he was encouraged to investigate just why his life had been given over to violence and crime. Smith paints an unforgettable portrait of the hardened and severely damaged inmates of Grendon, many of them guilty of famous crimes, and their attempts to turn round their lives. And in particular his own arduous five-year journey to re-enter society as a straight citizen.

About this title

Review:

A unique insight into how someone goes about changing the vile and destructive habits of a lifetime. A gripping read (Will Self The Times)

Provocative, funny and thoughtful (Observer)

It's saddening, angering and informative stuff (Metro)

I can't put it down. Smith's accounts of life beyond the windowless walls [of prison] ... are chilling beyond belief (Mark Ellen Word)

From the Back Cover:

'Thoroughly worthy of your time . . . offers erudite insight. Those who want an eye-popping parade of gangster talk and graphic criminal case studies won't be disappointed' Metro

In his acclaimed memoir A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun, Noel 'Razor' Smith told the brutal story of life as a violent, hardened criminal who had spent the near entirety of his adult existence behind bars. Now, in A Rusty Gun, he explains how he not only got out of jail, but also turned his back on crime.

The journey he undertook was overwhelming. Intense therapy designed to uncover the deepest roots of his antisocial behaviour laid him bare. Over five years, he, alongside some of Britain's most-dangerous prisoners, was effectively broken down and rebuilt into a citizen capable of taking his place in society. At long last, Noel was going straight.

One of the most candid accounts of criminal reform ever written, as well as a powerful portrait of the failures, and rare successes, of Britain's penal system, A Rusty Gun is an unforgettable story of life on the inside.

'Provocative, funny, thoughtful' Observer

'I can't put it down. Smith's accounts of life beyond the windowless walls of Wandsworth, Belmarsh, Whitemoor, Dartmoor, Albany, Dovegate, Grendon and countless others are chilling beyond belief' Word

[Thumbnail of A Few Kind Words]

About this edition

• Publisher: Viking
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0670915491
• ISBN 13: 9780670915491
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400