Two Men, a Murder, and an Unlikely Fight for Justice
June 1, 2022
Gilmer, who first told this story on an episode of This American Life, lures listeners in with a gruesome murder and an unlikely event--a new doctor with the same last name as (yet no blood relationship to) his murderous predecessor, who replaces him as a small-town family doctor. He's aware his name may cause some concern, but what shocks him is the fond feelings many hold for the original Dr. Gilmer. This leads to the true thrust of the book--an exploration of mental illness, the U.S. penal system, and the true meaning of justice. The second Dr. Gilmer writes and narrates the book. The advantage of this is that all the emphases are in the correct spots. Listeners will know exactly what is important to the author and how much he cares about reform. Additionally, he makes it easy to follow the complicated journey to the cause of the crime and the places our justice system failed the first Dr. Gilmer. VERDICT Listeners will be moved by the emotional journey that serves as the backbone of this important, difficult exploration.--Matthew Galloway
Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
January 24, 2022
Family physician Gilmer’s gripping debut starts out as a murder tale, morphs into a medical mystery, and lands as a heartbreaking account of how poorly the American prison system treats the mentally ill. When the author joined a rural North Carolina clinic, he became fascinated with the clinic’s founder, Vince Gilmer—no relation—who was in prison for murdering his mentally ill father in 2004. At first, after hearing an unfounded rumor that the other Gilmer was being released, he was fearful the man would come after him for taking his practice, but he soon set out to reconcile the murderer with the person the clinic’s patients revered. Working with a radio journalist, the author discovered Gilmer had a number of medical problems, including antidepressant withdrawal and head trauma from a car accident, that could have made him violent enough to kill his father. In the process, the two Gilmers became friends, and after the radio journalist aired a story about the other Gilmer languishing in prison with various neurological disorders, the author fought to have him released on a clemency plea while becoming an advocate for prison reform for the mentally ill. (The other Gilmer remains in prison.) The author does a fine job humanizing everyone involved. This painful look at a terrible social injustice deserves a wide audience. Agent: Lara Love Hardin, Idea Architects.