Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Shot in the Heart
    Unavailable
    Shot in the Heart
    Unavailable
    Shot in the Heart
    Audiobook (abridged)3 hours

    Shot in the Heart

    Written by Mikal Gilmore

    Narrated by Will Patton

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER

    WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE

    Haunting, harrowing, and profoundly affecting, Shot in the Heart exposes and explores a dark vein of American life that most of us would rather ignore. It is a book that will leave no reader unchanged.

    Gary Gilmore, the infamous murderer immortalized by Norman Mailer in The Executioner's Song, campaigned for his own death and was executed by firing squad in 1977. Writer Mikal Gilmore is his younger brother. In Shot in the Heart, he tells the stunning story of their wildly dysfunctional family: their mother, a black sheep daughter of unforgiving Mormon farmers; their father, a drunk, thief, and con man. It was a family destroyed by a multigenerational history of child abuse, alcoholism, crime, adultery, and murder. Mikal, burdened with the guilt of being his father's favorite and the shame of being Gary's brother, gracefully and painfully relates a murder tale "from inside the house where murder is born... a house that, in some ways, [he has] never been able to leave." Shot in the Heart is the history of an American family inextricably tied up with violence, and the story of how the children of this family committed murder and murdered themselves in payment for a long lineage of ruin.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJul 5, 2000
    ISBN9780553755817
    Unavailable
    Shot in the Heart
    Author

    Mikal Gilmore

    Mikal Gilmore has written about rock and roll music for many publications including Rolling Stone. Picador has published a collection of his essays, profiles, reviews and cultural criticism.

    Related to Shot in the Heart

    Related audiobooks

    Murder For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Letters

      Nov 26, 2019

      Letters
      3 min read

    • Article

      Reviews

      Nov 23, 2023

      Reviews
      6 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Mar 1, 2019

      Letters
      2 min read

    • Article

      In ‘The Opium Prince,’ The Personal Plays Out Amid The Political

      Jan 13, 2021

      In late-1970s Afghanistan, an agent of America's war on drugs must grapple with his conscience after committing an unforgivable act.

      2 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Allende, Smith, Eisenberg, Cummins, Chayka, and More

      Jan 21, 2020

      Here’s a quick look at some notable books—new titles from the likes of Isabel Allende, Danez Smith, Emma Copley Eisenberg, Jeanine Cummins, Kyle Chayka, and more—that are publishing this week. Want to learn more about upcoming titles? Then go read ou

      5 min read

    • Article

      Fred Khumalo Goes Story-gathering In Hammarsdale

      May 8, 2021

      HAMMARSDALE, his home town, is one of the settings of veteran journalist and author Fred Khumalo’s latest book of short stories that feature contemporary life warts and all and look into issues ranging from xenophobia, human trafficking and rape to c

      2 min read

    • Article

      Listening to M.I.A., Finally

      Mar 30, 2018

      Listening to M.I.A., Finally
      5 min read

    • Article

      FILM & TELEVISION The Best Of The Month

      Jun 9, 2019

      Don’t be put off by the fact this work of “metafiction” draws attention to its own artifice, because it’s very good indeed – and not a difficult read. The author and the narrator are both Colombians called Juan Gabriel Vásquez: both previously wrote

      3 min read

    • Article

      The 10 Best Books Of February Reckon With The Past – And Present

      Feb 27, 2024

      Float Up, Sing Down, by Laird Hunt In Laird Hunt’s collection of stories, residents of an Indiana farming community in 1982 go about their routines, with secrets and regrets roiling beneath the surface. “Things grew where they grew and flew where the

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Kid An ‘Outlaw’?

      Aug 9, 2022

      Your informative magazine has lots of stories about incidents that are not well known, but boy, oh boy, you got it wrong with your December 2021 cover that calls Jesse James and Billy the Kid Iconic Outlaws. As far as Billy is concerned, that’s 180 d

      4 min read

    • Article

      We Love to Be Lied To: On ‘Bunk’ by Kevin Young

      Nov 13, 2017

      Stories write our history. Stories write our culture. Once sewn into that history and culture, the hoax and the lie are almost impossible to separate from the truth. The post We Love to Be Lied To: On ‘Bunk’ by Kevin Young appeared first

      3 min read

    • Article

      Graphic Novels

      Dec 15, 2023

      Graphic Novels
      2 min read

    • Article

      WIN, LOSE or DRAW

      Nov 1, 2018

      WIN, LOSE or DRAW
      4 min read

    • Article

      James Baldwin 1924-87

      Mar 16, 2023

      James Baldwin 1924-87
      2 min read

    • Article

      Peak Peaky

      Mar 4, 2022

      Peak Peaky
      6 min read

    • Article

      Must See, Must Read

      Jan 22, 2019

      (2018, by Rod Macleod): Born with a name dime novelist Ned Buntline might have made up, Samuel Benfield Steele was among the founding fathers of the North-West Mounted Police, and his own exploits helped make it legendary. Macleod’s extensive researc

      13 min read

    • Article

      The Best Podcasts Of 2023 So Far

      Jun 9, 2023

      Anyone who was glued to Jamie Bartlett’s previous hit podcast, The Missing Cryptoqueen, will race through this multi-layered mystery. It digs into the story of Megan Bhari who, inspired by her own cancer diagnosis, launched a charity when she was 16

      5 min read

    • Article

      Page Turners

      Apr 25, 2023

      How’s this for a plot twist? After a successful first year, the Santa Fe International Literary Festival returns—but with a new name and broader reach. With the addition of “international” to its moniker, the festival hopes to emphasize the universal

      2 min read

    • Article

      Book

      Jul 18, 2019

      Book
      3 min read

    • Article

      An Aneurism of Axe Murders: On ‘The Man from the Train’

      Oct 9, 2017

      You can’t help but read these murders as a parable of alienation. The lone drifter stalking the country by train, itself a mode of transport from a bygone era, to literally smash apart families with an instrument that evoked America’s timbered fronti

      6 min read

    • Article

      Mind Of Myown

      Jun 16, 2020

      One of the most moving pieces of television recently was This Morning star Alison Hammond talking about the awful death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. He was the – already handcuffed – black man who died after a police officer knelt on his neck for

      2 min read

    • Article

      Hip-Hop’s Fiercest Critic

      Sep 6, 2023

      Hip-Hop’s Fiercest Critic
      21 min read

    Reviews for Shot in the Heart

    4/5

    150 ratings16 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      A great companion to "executioner's song" that augments the gilmore story from a family perspective. Re-raises the notion that 23 years in jail doesn't make anyone a better person.
    • 5/5
      I love family dramas like this, with insights into how things came to be. Gilmore's writing is so great and intriguing. His family, particularly his parents, seem like fictional characters. I had to keep reminding myself that this is real. It's just fascinating. It gets you thinking about the "nature v nurture" debate. What creates a killer? This book is one exploration of that question.
    • 5/5
      This nonfiction effort, written by the younger brother of executed murderer Gary Gilmore (of "The Executioner's Song" fame) is one of the best books ever written about the downfall of a family. Gilmore delves into the lives of his parents and brothers. His father, Frank Sr., was an older man who would run scams and con games, moving from town to town. He also married a half dozen times and fathered as many children under different aliases. Mikal's mother, Bessie, was a Mormon who grew up in another strange family, filled with death and belief in hauntings and spirits. Both parents beat their first three sons unmercifully. Frank Jr., Gary, and Gaylen seemed like normal little boys until their parents got done with them.Mikal was the fourth son born, and probably got better treatment than the others. Frank Jr. disappeared after his brother's Gary execution, and was missing from Mikal's life for about ten years. Gary Gilmore spent most of his life in reform school and prison, before murdering two young men in Provo and being executed in Utah by firing squad. Gary's experiences in reform school, especially on his first night, is so horrible it is hard to forget (especially considering this type of behavior is happening to children). Gaylen was the third son, and almost as much of a criminal as Gary. He would end up dying young, the roundabout result of a mysterious stabbing that would not heal.Gilmore's book, coming in at over 400 pages, is a fast paced read. He never tries to explain his brothers' behavior, and he does not defend them, he merely lays out the facts of their family's upbringing, and the reader experiences the shocking life the Gilmores went through. Mikal talks about his own experiences, and how his love of music eventually led to his career as a music journalist, writing for Rolling Stone.There are revelations here that would seem right at home on a daytime soap opera if they were not real. Paternity, babies thought dead, marital affairs, greed, all are covered here, but in a manner that makes these incidents very sad. Television shows like "Jerry Springer" take these same kinds of lives and make them into a big joke and ratings booster, but when Mikal spits a half page venomous paragraph about an offhand comment by Maury Povich of the now defunct "A Current Affair," you realize those shows are put on the air to hurt, not inform or enlighten."Shot in the Heart" is a terrific book, and might be able to help put your own family's problems in perspective. That petty fight with your sister-in-law over the TV remote will definitely pale by comparison. Mikal Gilmore has written a powerful and passionate book about a subject he knows better than anyone. I highly recommend it.This book does contain enough material that it is not appropriate for children or young teens.
    • 5/5
      I really appreciated Mikal's book; he had the courage to open his heart as well as his mind to his readers. Having a family with so much dramatic dysfunction, and living within a culture which unfortunately reinforces some of those dysfunctions, made for fascinating reading. Mikal was born the last of the four sons and did not experience some of the worst physical punishments his other brothers experienced, from both father and mother. Your heart is broken for these children as they are beaten and punished completely out of proportion to any thing the child did, or did not do.And yet Mikal is clear that he knows that this family background in no way justifies the criminal behavior some of the brothers chose. And he also knowns that he believes that society's way of dealing with criminals which includes abuse, physical harm, and complete lack of any understanding of the individual's personal challenges, is one more factor which contributes to the increasing criminality of some of the men after they are set free from incarceration. His brother, Gary Gilmore combined the worst possible responses to all these influences in his life. His response to his father's unreasonable and arbitrary authoritarianism, to the schools' efforts at teaching him some self discipline in arbitrary ways, to the police assumption that once a kid begins to flirt with criminality that the die is cast, to the prisons many abuses, and eventually to anything which he perceived as blocking his desires results in his acts of murder.The heart of the book is Mikal's efforts to understand why his brother insisted on giving up on all legal challenges to his death sentence, and walking to the firing squad with a sense of having finally won. It is a fascinating question which attracted attention from Bill Moyer, and Norman Mailer, as well as much media attention; but, in the end I think Mikal's effort brings real light to a puzzling and dramatic event.
    • 5/5
      Mikal Gilmore has an incredible story to tell. But, here's what I can't wrap my brain around - the fact that his story is about his own brother. True, they didn't know each other very well due to their age differences growing up and the fact that Gary was always either behind bars or on the run. Mikal had to rely on an older brother's memories to fill in the gaps.Everyone knows the story of Gary Gilmore, thanks to Norman Mailer's biography The Executioner's Song (and subsequent made for television movie of the same name). Everyone has heard of the controversy surrounding Gary Gilmore's time on death row. What makes Mikal's account so different is his family bond. This is his history as much as it is his brother's. Gary was born Faye Robert Coffman and from the very start his life was surrounded by rage. Mikal wraps this story inside the history of the bloody beginnings of Mormon Utah. It's as if the Gilmore family was destined to fail. Gary's fame aside, Shot in the Heart is worth reading for Mikal's story. As I mentioned before, it is as much Mikal's history as it is Gary's. Spoiler alert: don't expect a happy ending. Mikal doesn't really tie up his own tale in a neat bow. I found myself asking, what now? Where is Mikal now? More importantly, is he happy? Has he escaped the profound destruction and despair that tortured and ruined the rest of his entire family?
    • 4/5
      I loved this book. After 450 pages I started to read The Execution's Song and at the end I read both books at the same time. Mikal's view and the view of people in Norman Mailers book.

      I highly recommend both books.
    • 4/5
      Years ago, I devoured the gigantic Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer in a weekend. Gary Gilmore's story as Mailer told it was heart-wrenching and involving. I picked up Shot in the Heart to see what Mikal Gilmore could add to the story. The answer is both a lot and not much.Mikal was the youngest of the four Gilmore boys, with a 6-year gap between him and the next-youngest, Gaylen. Mikal's memories start well after Gary's life had started down a hard path; in fact, his first memory of Gary is of a stranger being introduced as his brother (Gary had been away at a boarding school for troubled children). In some ways, Mikal lived in a different world than his brothers. Their father didn't beat Mikal, while the others were subjected to cruel treatment regularly. Mikal traveled with their father, keeping him away from his brothers and their troubles for much of his youth. He lived in a different world, but it wasn't untouched by the family's legacy of violence and chaos.He relies on his oldest brother Frank's memory for many of the things that happened while he wasn't around, and Frank has a way with words. Both brothers are able to look back with unflinching honesty at what it was like for them, and what it may have been like for their lost brothers. This book is less about Gary Gilmore's murders and execution and more about what may have driven him to them, what demons the family had, and the mystery of how those demons affected four brothers differently. I don't know that this book alone would give you much information about Gary's case and his death without having read The Executioner's Song, but it's a powerful look at Gary's origins and surroundings if you have read the other book.
    • 5/5
      This book was fantastic - no holds-barred truth from a family member. Very emotional - my heart went out to this whole family on so many levels. An intimate and revealing look into a tragedy all the way around.
    • 4/5
      Mikal Gilmore is a brother of Gary Gilmore, the murderer whose highly publicized execution was the subject of Norman Mailer's The Executioner's Song. Having read The Executioner's Song, when I heard about this book, I was intrigued by the chance to learn about the brother's side of the story. The story side of the book did not disappoint: reading the book you get to know the whole Gilmore family. It is too facile to boil down 400 pages of description by saying the family is "fucked up," but I don't know how else to summarize it concisely. If you want to know how fucked up precisely they were, you'll have to read the book.But although the book has all the ingredients of a good book -- a compelling story and complex characters spanning multiple generations -- I wouldn't call it a good book, and I think it is because Mikal Gilmore is not a very good writer. At first I thought it isn't Mikal Gilmore's fault that he, as a person whose talents lie in fields other than writing, was the person best situated to tell this story: Gary Gilmore's parents are dead, and of his three brothers one was killed and one is living a somewhat unstable life, so only Mikal is left to tell the story. But as it turns out, Mikal Gilmore is actually a writer by profession. In many cases, I felt the story could have been very powerful in the hands of a better writer or editor. The author uses a somewhat simplistic vocabulary, skips over key events in just a few sentences while spending several pages on unrelated sidelines, makes odd jumps in time that are meant for dramatic effect but appear forced . . . I could go on. I feel a bit mean saying this, when what I'm saying is about an actual person's life, but if you're describing your reaction to a horrifying event, descriptions along the lines of "I felt bad" do not work very well in a book.Having said that, there are some moving parts about what in my mind is the real hero of the book: Frank Gilmore, Jr., Gary and Mikal's eldest brother, who, despite having had his own encounters with the criminal justice system, seems to make up in humanity what Gary and the fourth brother Gaylen lacked.
    • 3/5
      Incredibly sad, dark family story. Found myself hooked into finishing it. Mikal wrote an insightful, honest & gripping memoir. How he & Frank manged to escape the brutality is a story of strength & resilience, Makes me wonder where the rest of the family survivors are.
    • 5/5
      Biography of Gary Gilmore and his family, going back to earliest Mormons, by the murderer's brother. Shows how cruelty is fostered generation by generation, the near-impossibility of surviving abuse, the tragedy and heroism of the author. One of the best biographies I have ever read.
    • 4/5
      Well written, almost poetic, very sad. Reveals much more about Gary Gilmore's home life and pathology than Norman Mailer's huge journalistic piece. You really feel Mikal's pain and intense isolation in this bizarre family.
    • 4/5
      When I was told that induction was a long process, I immediately went on a quest to find an easy to read and entertaining book. Having recently finished Mailer's Executioner's Song, I quickly though of this book - the well review memoir of Gary Gilmore's younger brother. Shot Through the Heart is the story of the Gilmore family - its history and mythology - a perhaps futile attempt for someone to understand how a monster was created. It is much more the story of Mikal, the successful brother left behind, than it is of the notorious Gary (Mikal himself refers the reader to Mailer's masterpiece), and as such is full of ruminations and self indulgences. Understandably, he younger Gilmore maintains less than objective sympathies for some family members, describing deplorable behavior in an apologetic tone. Similarly, he maintains the prejudices of his parents on the pages. In spite of this fact, however, the book, is saved by excellent writing and the fact that Mikal has a very unique story to tell. I do need to mention that this review refers to Shot Through the Heart as a companion piece to the Executioner's Song - which introduces the main characters (including Mikal) in great detail. It is harder to judge the merits of the book in its own if one reads Mailer's first.
    • 1/5
      I really don't understand the positive reception this book has garnered on a number of reader-rating scales. This was so bad, I couldn't finish it...not because of it's horrific content, but because I found it self-indulgent, whiny, uninsightful, and not very well written. I can't imagine that it got any better after the quarter of the book I managed to read. I wish I could give it a "0 star" rather than "unrated." While Gary Gilmore's case is interesting for its historical and social pertinence, the topics of both his execution and the family dysfunction that can contribute to the development of sociopathy have been presented in a more effective and moving manner in numerous other publications.
    • 5/5
      If you have read "The Executioner's Song," then Shot in the Heart is a great follow up. I'm one of those people who has this undying curiousity regarding what makes people (especially "abnormal" people) tick and what makes criminals act the way they do. Mikal Gilmore is the brother of executed killer Gary Gilmore (the subject of the Executioner's Song) and he bares all in this honest and shocking story about his family life and the background of Gary Gilmore.I would definitely read The Executioner's Song first, then this one...not just because the Mailer book is itself excellent and one of my top ten of all time books, but because you wouldn't understand Mikal's book without reading about his brother.
    • 3/5
      I'm not exactly sure what I expected in picking up this book--or even how it got onto my shelf. This is the memoir of Mikal Gilmore, brother of the infamous murderer Gary Gilmore who was killed by firing squad in 1977, later being the focus of Norman Mailer's The Executioner's Song. The memoir focuses especially on the childhood of the brothers and their family situation, and Gary's eventual crimes as an adult are only a small portion of the book, though they haunt the earlier text.This will appeal more to readers of memoir than readers of true crime and books related to crime/violence. Gilmore's a good writer, but has a way of stretching things out, and especially the beginning of the book was a really slow read for me. On a surface level, I suppose one could say that this looks at the psychology of a broken family and how a killer became a killer... but it really is a surface examination. I do think it could be interesting to read The Executioner's Song after reading this work, and plan to one of these days, but I believe this book was really more self-therapy for the writer than anything, and it read as such.