Gone Boy: A Walkabout : A Father's Search for the Truth in His Son's Murder

by GIBSON, GREGORY

• ISBN13: 9780385720045
• ISBN10: 0385720041
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2000-10-03
• Publisher: Anchor

Summary

With a New Afterword When Greg Gibson's oldest son, Galen--eighteen, bright, unique, full of promise--was shot and killed by a fellow student at his school, Gibson found himself undertaking an unusual, highly personal investigation to discover the truth about his son's murder. He felt he owed it to his son, and he knew the process would help save his own sanity. Gibson's journey begins with a visit to the man who sold the killer the gun and builds to an astonishing interview with the killer's parents--hardworking Taiwanese immigrants as anguished as the Gibsons about their own "gone boy." Along the way, he meets investigators, lawyers, psychiatrists, conspiracy theorists, bureaucrats, and more than a few lost souls. An important exploration of gun violence in America, this unforgettable book shows a man talking his way out of grief with toughness, honesty, and a sense of humor as dry and bracing as a shot of good whisky. It also tells the unsentimental story of a family moving beyond rage to an understanding of the human heart.

Author Biography

Gregory Gibson is an antiquarian book dealer who lives in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Table of Contents

Prologue	ix
PART I
Sick of It All	3	(3)
The Man of Words	6	(10)
The Time Machine	16	(16)
The Trial	32	(8)
The Road	40	(4)
Dave	44	(9)
Great American	53	(4)
Clint, Lee, and Me	57	(6)
God's Will	63	(10)
PART II
The Walkabout	73	(25)
Pictures from an Institution	98	(16)
In Which I Stand Corrected	114	(15)
PART III
Superior Court	129	(7)
What About Bob?	136	(7)
The Collector	143	(12)
My Own John Doe	155	(8)
Wayne's Gun	163	(7)
The Awful Truth	170	(6)
The Un-Gun	176	(15)
PART IV
Department of Correction	191	(10)
The Battle of the Shrinks	201	(16)
Jeremy	217	(15)
A Narrow Madness	232	(13)
Lo!	245	(15)
La Vita Nuova	260	(6)
Hibernating Stoats	266	(5)
Afterword to the Anchor Edition	271	(4)
Acknowledgments	275