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A review by grimamethyst
Dannemora: Two Escaped Killers, Three Weeks of Terror, and the Largest Manhunt Ever in New York State by Charles A. Gardner
4.0
In spite of having been a full-fledged, news-watching adult who is obsessed with True Crime and also deeply, deeply passionate about criminal justice reform, I was apparently living under the biggest of rocks in 2015 when two felons from Dannemora prison in upstate New York escaped and spent 3 weeks evading capture. After watching Ben Stiller's Showtime production of the story, I got fixated on the story and wanted to find as much detail about the escape as possible.
Cue the lovely folks at Netgalley, Kensington Books and author Charles A Gardner. I was offered a free advanced copy of the book Dannemora for review and it gave me exactly what I was after.
Gardner did a fantastic job of covering every stage of the breakout. The book is divided into sections that focus respectively on everything that contributed to the escape (including the MANY critical administrative failures that create an environment where escape is possible), the escape itself, the 3 week long manhunt and the fallout. I think he succeeds in all this because of his personal experience as a corrections officer in the NY prison system and also his focus on fact. No dig at the TV show, because I did enjoy it, but we all know TV is hyper focused on the salacious details and not really interested in policy failures and budget cuts.
The depth and breadth of the event is presented in a very readable, very engaging narrative. I was never bored, never uninterested and never confused. It had all the detail and crazy, gaspy, "can you freakin' believe it" moments that I was hoping for without having to wade through unnecessary souped-up scandal.
If you have interest in true crime, the penal system, or crime and punishment, definitely check this out.
Cue the lovely folks at Netgalley, Kensington Books and author Charles A Gardner. I was offered a free advanced copy of the book Dannemora for review and it gave me exactly what I was after.
Gardner did a fantastic job of covering every stage of the breakout. The book is divided into sections that focus respectively on everything that contributed to the escape (including the MANY critical administrative failures that create an environment where escape is possible), the escape itself, the 3 week long manhunt and the fallout. I think he succeeds in all this because of his personal experience as a corrections officer in the NY prison system and also his focus on fact. No dig at the TV show, because I did enjoy it, but we all know TV is hyper focused on the salacious details and not really interested in policy failures and budget cuts.
The depth and breadth of the event is presented in a very readable, very engaging narrative. I was never bored, never uninterested and never confused. It had all the detail and crazy, gaspy, "can you freakin' believe it" moments that I was hoping for without having to wade through unnecessary souped-up scandal.
If you have interest in true crime, the penal system, or crime and punishment, definitely check this out.