Shot in the Heart: One Family's History in Murder [Hardcover]

As someone who grew up in Provo, Utah, the site of one of Gary Gilmore's murders, I was aware of his infamy during my youth in that staunch Mormon community. I faintly remember the hype surrounding his execution, as well as the premiere of "The Executioner's Song" years later. Perhaps it is emblematic of one's youth, but I don't think I took his crimes or emotional composition seriously. In fact, after watching "The Executioner's Song" on television, my friends and I took a drive to the motel where Gilmore murdered a desk clerk; we did it more for the sensation of being at the scene of the past crime than to commemorate the victim or to ponder the mind of the killer.

Fortunately, years later, I was able to read "Shot in the Heart," which still carries a strong emotional impact many years after the reading. Mikal Gilmore's recollections, insight, and unflinching writing create one of the most powerful books I've ever read.

Gilmore opens the door to a home that transcends the labels "dysfunctional" or "abusive." He takes us inside the house--and sometimes the heads--of those who lived a nightmare, and shows, among other things, how that experience caused one of his brothers to bury his emotions and become a lonely wanderer while it pushed another into a life of delinquency, crime, and murder. The book is a fascinating, first-hand study of the impact of the family dynamic, social and religious judgement, and civic injustice on the lives of an unassuming American family.

I sometimes scoff at the preponderance of five-star reviews on Amazon, but I cannot recommend this title more.

Once upon a time, there was a family named Gilmore. This family had four children: Frank, Jr.; Gaylen; Gary; and Mikal, the youngest. Gary became famous in 1977 when he challenged the federal and state capital punishment machinery and forced them to carry out the death sentence imposed upon him for the murders of two young Mormon men in Utah. He wanted death by firing squad and would settle for nothing less. Even the efforts of civil rights groups on his behalf impressed him not: he wanted to die and he scornfully dismissed their legal maneuverings. On January 17, 1977, Gary Gilmore got what he wanted: he was executed by a Utah firing squad, thus ushering in America's active revival of the death penalty.

Yet, Gary Gilmore was a person shaped by the events of his formative years and by the events which took place in his family. The Gilmore family was not a fairy-tale family: rather, it defined the word "disfunctional". The father, Frank, Sr., beat the mother, Bessie, in front of the children on more than one occasion. He beat the boys, too, reserving the worst of the white-hot heat of his inner anger for Gary. Gary's violent acts, and the fate he suffered, prove once more that it is the children who often pay for the sins of the parents. In this case, a child paid the ultimate price.

Today, two of the brothers are living and two are dead (Gaylen died in 1971 from complications from a stabbing in Chicago). In Shot In The Heart, Gary's brother, Mikal, a well-known writer for Rolling Stone magazine, breaks the silence and tells the story of the family's violent, abnormal history. With brutal honesty and candid, painful insight, he speaks for both the living and the dead.

Psychologists say that people doing so-called "grief work" following the death of a loved one must "tell the tale" of the loved one's life over and over in order to come to terms with their loss and what that loss means for those left behind. Mikal Gilmore neither condones the players in this tragic story, nor rationalizes the things they do to one another. He simply tells the tales not only of Gary, but also Frank, Sr., Bessie and the other children, with dignity and compassion, while the sorrow and pain bleed through every word, every page. One is tempted to think that the events related here are the product of some highly creative and immensely gifted writer and, in fact, they are: however, they are all true. Aye, there's the rub.

If there is anything good to be produced from this horrific family tree, it is the author himself. Despite his past, he emerged a survivor with a rare and shining talent - the ability to make you feel each word he writes, whether his subject is himself or another family member. Shot In The Heart should be required reading and I dare anyone to put it down until the last ghostly memory has been read on the last page of the last chapter.

The text is augmented by family photographs and conversations with other players in the saga of Gary Gilmore, including his girlfriend, Nicole. The most touching aspect, however, is the inclusion of some of Gary's own artwork, which often depicted children with huge, mournful eyes staring into space. There is something missing about these children; it's as though they are searching for something they don't have. Self-portraits? Undoubtedly.

Having read several family memoirs (most recently The Liars Club and All Over but the Shoutin', both of which I highly recommend) I feel this book is in a league all its own. Extremely sad and thought provoking, Mikal Gilmore has given us a page-turning saga of a family in crisis and also a glimpse of life within the Mormon church. This is a book that has stayed with me long after I turned the last page.