A Violent Act

by Alec Wilkinson, Alce Wilkinson

Early on the morning of September 22, 1986, Mike Wayne Jackson - age forty, a drifter, in and out of jail for almost twenty years, exhausted, filthy, at the end of his rope - entered the annals of major crime. Stepping out of his house on a quiet residential street in Indianapolis, he shot and killed the man who was approaching: his newly appointed probation officer, a man he barely knew, a much-loved husband and father named Tom Gahl. Before the day was over, Jackson would twice again commit murder. By nightfall he would be the most sought-after criminal at large in America. Bringing us close to Jackson, his world, and his victims, Alec Wilkinson carries crime reportage to a new level in a book that combines the pace, range, and intricacy of a novel with scrupulously authentic fact as it tells a riveting story that is profoundly emblematic of American violence, with its great burden of grief. We follow Jackson from the moment of the first shooting through his frantic rampage in stolen trucks and cars - his victims robbed, killed, kidnapped, or frightened nearly to death - to a small town outside St. Louis. We see him pursued by local police, state troopers, and F.B.I. agents, hiding out in or around the town - no one is ever quite sure where he is - for many long days. We enter the lives of the terrorized local residents and the dogged, tireless, working days and nights of the people, from sheriffs to Indian-style trackers, whose work is the chase and capture of dangerous criminals. We come to know Jackson through the eyes of his mother and his wife as they struggle to understand the disordered, needy, terrifying, yet sometimes touching man whose fate is entangled with their own. And, most deeply, we come to know Nancy Gahl, the young widow of the murdered probation officer. Wilkinson evokes the very nature and shape of grief as he tells, in quiet and almost overwhelming detail, what Nancy experiences from day to day as she and her two sons try to cope with th

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published February 9, 1993

Reviews

[Matthew Eisenberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

On September 22, 1986, Mike Wayne Jackson killed his probation officer and 3 others in Indianapolis before seemingly disappearing. In A Violent Act, author Alec Wilkinson recounts both the killing spree and subsequent manhunt in great detail.

The book is separated into 5 segments:
1. The crime spree/Jackson’s background
2. The manhunt
3. The tracker who finally catches Jackson
4. The effect on the probation officer’s family

Parts 1, 3, and 4 are excellent. Part 2 is not. Unfortunately, Part 2 is the longest segment of the book. It’s 120 pages of nothing happening, and it’s exhausting. “This person thought they saw him, but they didn’t.” “They thought this might’ve happened, but it didn’t.” Uggh. I wanted to stab myself in the eye with a fork. Fortunately for you, having read this review, you can read the first 20 pages of the manhunt segment and then skip ahead 100 pages to where something actually happens.

The writing is superb. Wilkinson writes in a simple, sparse manner that is remarkably direct and unsparing. This is black and white reporting, just the facts—Wilkinson offers no explanation for what happened, nor any lesson to be learned. Basically it says, “This is the world we live in. Bad shit happens. The probation officer visited the wrong ex-con on the wrong day and got his head blown off, and as a result his wife is a widow and his kids don’t have a father, and their pain and suffering do not abate with time.” My takeaway was “life can really suck, so count your blessings.”

Bottom line—this was a quick and pretty good read. Skip the last 80% of the manhunt section, and you’ll probably greatly appreciate it (I use the word “appreciate” instead of “enjoy” because the subject matter is pretty dark and depressing).

[Nate Hendrix · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have enjoyed all of Wilkinson's books. This book chronicles a tragedy you have probably never heard of. It started as a story for the New Yorker about the tracker, a man who trails law enforcement personnel from around the nation, but then expanded to involve this horrible crime and its aftermath.

[Olga Vannucci · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many people passed the buck
To restrain him. Then he struck.

[Amy Bairstow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just OK, a really sad story of mental illness given to my daughter by a pool friend..

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a little afraid that this book would focus a little too much on graphic violence, kind of like Helter Skelter, but it didn't. While it does go into the violent crimes, it focuses a lot more attention on the repercussions for the victims and their families. These interviews with the victim's families were by far the most touching and important parts of the book. In particular, interviews with the wife of one of the victims, even ten years later, were devastating.