Alone among the Living: A Memoir of the Floyd Hoard Murder

by G. Richard Hoard

The son of a Georgia prosecutor killed by a car bomb offers a “compelling” account of the crime and its effect on his life (Booklist).  When I was twenty I came face to face with the old man convicted of paying five thousand dollars for the murder of my father. From the gripping first line of this true story, you will follow a young man’s journey through grief and despair to acceptance and forgiveness. On August 7, 1967, prosecutor Floyd “Fuzzy” Hoard was killed by a car bomb in his own front yard in Jackson County, Georgia. Summoning the memories of the events surrounding that day, Alone among the Living is G. Richard Hoard's remembrance of the father he lost on that day, and of his subsequent struggle to come to terms with the murder.   “A chronicle of grief and anger and confusion as Hoard tries to come of age without his father's help…A compelling story of loss, acceptance, and forgiveness.”—Booklist “He writes of the universal struggle to make sense of a world that often seems ruled by chaos and to find one’s place in it.”—Athens Banner-Herald

Genres: True Crime, Memoir, History

272 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 1994

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting memoir from a man whose father, a district attorney, was the victim of a car bomb planted by a contract murderer hired by an accused bootlegger. The author is a teenager at the time and must adapt to life without his father and to growing up under such circumstances. I read it as a selection of the Rest of the Story Book Club which is sponsored by UGA. This event happened in the 1960's in small town Georgia (near Athens) and is also a picture of growing up at that time in this area.

[Di · Rating 4 out of 5]

"There aren't enough people in the world who can say they love you often enough to make you start loving yourself, if you don't love yourself to begin with. And I realized that my heart would always ache for my father's approval. And that the shallow applause of people would not make him proud, not when he, a great athlete himself, had said 'there comes a time when you realize there are more important things in life than playing ball, son.'"
Chapter twenty-one, page 176

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

An honest and thoughtful memoir.

[Trey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book for anyone that lives or lived in the North Georgia area.

[Lane · Rating 4 out of 5]

rhonda rich recommended the book in her column. since it was a local event, i thought i would read it. it is an excellent book about growing up. easy to read and interesting.

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating account of the murder of Floyd Hoard told through the eyes of his son who finds himself wrestling with bitterness, anger, and all the challenges of high school.