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My Life With a Criminal: Milly's Story
John Kiriamiti's best-selling novel My Life in Crime has become a classic. When, as an innocent teenage girl, Miriam met John Kiriamiti, alias Jack Zollo, she found him gentle, kind and considerate. She fell into a passionate, romantic love with this man who claimed to be a car salesman, and who continued to present the image of the perfect gentleman -- for months, running into years, never abusing her trust and for this long period continuing to respect her virtue and her virginity. But finally, with a clean conscience and with the blessing of her own mother, she moved in with this man she loved. And that is when she began to notice that her lover led a double life. It started with the realisation that this man never had an office ... he operated from a noisy bar ... Then there were the little, heavy, sharp-pointed, dull-golden objects hidden in a chalkbox ... and, one day when she came home early from the office, the stumbling on five men in her sitting room conspiratorially sharing out bank notes. Her discovery of her man's double life did not constrain her to run away from him, for her love was the love of a lifetime. But her life and love started to exact a heavy she constantly walked the tightrope of stress as she sat out nights waiting for a man who at such moments was involved in gun fights and car chases with the police. Could she ever hope of settling down with this man, of consummating the love that had consumed her being? Milly was Jack Zollo's (alias John Kiriamiti) girlfriend and her story is told from the criminal's point of view in an earlier book, My Life in Crime . This is now Milly's poignant story about her life with the bank robber.
148 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
137 people are currently reading
3237 people want to read
About the author
John Kiriamiti
6 books188 followersJohn Batista Wanjohi Kiriamiti was born on 14 February, 1950 in Thuita Village, Kamacharia Location of Murang'a District in Central Kenya, he is the second of nine children born to Albert and Anne Wanjiru Kiriamiti, both primary school teachers (now retired) in Murang'a.
Kiriamiti studied for and passed his Certificate of Primary Education (CPE) at the local primary school in Thuita Village. He was privileged to be among the first nine African students to join the dominantly‐white Prince of Wales School (now Nairobi School) at a time when most Africans could not afford the Ksh 1,080 school fees charged. Although Kiriamiti received bursaries as a gifted African student, he joined Prince of Wales school as a day scholar and stayed with his uncle in Bahati Estate in Nairobi's Eastlands where his elder brother Sammy stayed too.
His academic life at the Prince of Wales School was short‐lived though because in his last term as a Form One student, at the age of fifteen, he was expelled from school after being the ring leader in a student's strike. That marked the end of Kiriamiti's formal education in spite of pleas from his parents to take up schooling elsewhere.
Kiriamiti resulted to wayward behaviours, and by the age of twenty, he was already a known robber and in the police "VIP list", as he calls ‘the most wanted' police list. As a criminal, Kiriamiti went by the names John Khamwene, Charles Lukindo, Richard Mwangi, Albert Ngure, Albert Wanjohi, and Jack Zollo (a name which he later used for his fictionalized self in both My Life in Crime and My Life in Prison) among others.
In 1971, after a long cat and mouse game with the police, Kiriamiti was arrested and sent to jail for twenty years with forty-eight strokes of the cane. It is at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison and Naivasha Government Maximum Prison that his first novel, My Life in Crime, was written, and the initial ideas of My Life in Prison born.
Five months after the publication of My Life in Crime (in 1984), Kiriamiti was released on grounds of good conduct, having served thirteen out of his twenty year sentence. Kiriamiti's freedom however did not last long for two years down the line (in 1986), he was sent back to jail by President Moi's regime for allegedly being involved in what the government deemed a seditious movement meant to overthrow the government (Mwakenya).
This time Kiriamiti found himself head‐on with the law after Benga musician‐turned‐soldier, Hajullas Ochieng Kabaselle, implicated him in crime. Having had interacted with most of the brains thought to be behind the Mwakenya movement like Onyango Oloo, Prof. Katama Mkangi, Mwandawiro Mgangha, Joe Ombuor and others, Kiriamiti was a natural suspect to the authorities.
Resultantly, he earned himself a seven‐year sentence for the alleged involvement in a clandestine movement. However, he was released after four years, on 11 February, 1990 (the same day that South Africa's freedom icon, Nelson Mandela was released from Robben Island). As fate would have it, two days later, what was thought to be the political assassination of the Foreign Affairs Minister Hon. John Robert Ouko on 13 February, 1990 linked him to yet another ‘suspicious look' from Kenyans, as rumour had it that he "was released to kill Ouko".
Nevertheless, since his trading of the gun for a pen, and his subsequent release from Kamiti Maximum Security Prison, Kiriamiti has become a renowned philanthropist and social reformist rehabilitating street children and thieves in his rural Murang'a home. Besides writing novels, Kiriamiti also owns and edits a newspaper, The Sharpener, which he established after the government ban on the Gikuyu version, Inooro, in 1995.
Kiriamiti has also embarked on a programme that seeks to counsel the youth in various Kenyan Secondary and College institutions on Behaviour change and role modelling. He is now a committed family man with a wife and 3 daughters.
Kiriamiti studied for and passed his Certificate of Primary Education (CPE) at the local primary school in Thuita Village. He was privileged to be among the first nine African students to join the dominantly‐white Prince of Wales School (now Nairobi School) at a time when most Africans could not afford the Ksh 1,080 school fees charged. Although Kiriamiti received bursaries as a gifted African student, he joined Prince of Wales school as a day scholar and stayed with his uncle in Bahati Estate in Nairobi's Eastlands where his elder brother Sammy stayed too.
His academic life at the Prince of Wales School was short‐lived though because in his last term as a Form One student, at the age of fifteen, he was expelled from school after being the ring leader in a student's strike. That marked the end of Kiriamiti's formal education in spite of pleas from his parents to take up schooling elsewhere.
Kiriamiti resulted to wayward behaviours, and by the age of twenty, he was already a known robber and in the police "VIP list", as he calls ‘the most wanted' police list. As a criminal, Kiriamiti went by the names John Khamwene, Charles Lukindo, Richard Mwangi, Albert Ngure, Albert Wanjohi, and Jack Zollo (a name which he later used for his fictionalized self in both My Life in Crime and My Life in Prison) among others.
In 1971, after a long cat and mouse game with the police, Kiriamiti was arrested and sent to jail for twenty years with forty-eight strokes of the cane. It is at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison and Naivasha Government Maximum Prison that his first novel, My Life in Crime, was written, and the initial ideas of My Life in Prison born.
Five months after the publication of My Life in Crime (in 1984), Kiriamiti was released on grounds of good conduct, having served thirteen out of his twenty year sentence. Kiriamiti's freedom however did not last long for two years down the line (in 1986), he was sent back to jail by President Moi's regime for allegedly being involved in what the government deemed a seditious movement meant to overthrow the government (Mwakenya).
This time Kiriamiti found himself head‐on with the law after Benga musician‐turned‐soldier, Hajullas Ochieng Kabaselle, implicated him in crime. Having had interacted with most of the brains thought to be behind the Mwakenya movement like Onyango Oloo, Prof. Katama Mkangi, Mwandawiro Mgangha, Joe Ombuor and others, Kiriamiti was a natural suspect to the authorities.
Resultantly, he earned himself a seven‐year sentence for the alleged involvement in a clandestine movement. However, he was released after four years, on 11 February, 1990 (the same day that South Africa's freedom icon, Nelson Mandela was released from Robben Island). As fate would have it, two days later, what was thought to be the political assassination of the Foreign Affairs Minister Hon. John Robert Ouko on 13 February, 1990 linked him to yet another ‘suspicious look' from Kenyans, as rumour had it that he "was released to kill Ouko".
Nevertheless, since his trading of the gun for a pen, and his subsequent release from Kamiti Maximum Security Prison, Kiriamiti has become a renowned philanthropist and social reformist rehabilitating street children and thieves in his rural Murang'a home. Besides writing novels, Kiriamiti also owns and edits a newspaper, The Sharpener, which he established after the government ban on the Gikuyu version, Inooro, in 1995.
Kiriamiti has also embarked on a programme that seeks to counsel the youth in various Kenyan Secondary and College institutions on Behaviour change and role modelling. He is now a committed family man with a wife and 3 daughters.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
March 19, 2013
Read it when I was 13...wouldn't mind a re-read!
October 22, 2015
A very educative book on the dating scene.
April 1, 2020
In My Life With a Criminal, we get to know more about Jack Zollo of
My Life in Crime
by John Kiriamiti from Jack's girlfriend, Milly. John Kiriamiti takes you to the underworld, dragging suspense with you.
Milly recounts her life leading up to that fateful day when Jack was waiting outside her school to return her ID that he found on the ground. She discusses the dates that Jack would take her on and how they had to be conscious of her family’s desires for them, such as not having sex before marriage.
Milly and Jack move in together, and Milly begins picking up on signs that indicate that Jack is not a car salesman, as he’s led her to believe, but a criminal. When the realization hits her, she is shocked that she has been lied to by Jack for this long and struggles with her emotions regarding the situation.
Milly tries to put aside her worry over realizing Jack is a criminal and live a normal life with him. She routinely tries to get Jack to admit that he is a criminal, but he always evades her questions and begins accusing her of being mentally ill. She later witnesses Jack in the midst of committing a crime, which greatly upsets her. Jack continues to treat Milly poorly for worrying about his well-being in his line of work.
Milly is present at a bank during one of Jack and his accomplices’ heists. She leaves unharmed, but furious with Jack. Captain comes to inform Milly that Jack has been arrested, and she plans to visit him in jail. Milly visits Jack in jail and he is rude to her. He is sentenced to a couple weeks in jail. Much to Milly's surprise, Jack escapes and is home one evening when she returns from work. Milly pleads with Jack to leave his life as a criminal and threatens to end their relationship if he does not. She also informs him that she is pregnant and that she wants to finally marry, to which he does not agree.
Jack leaves the country, forcing Milly to adjust to life alone. He returns one day and vows to stop being a criminal so that they can marry and have a quiet life, but soon goes back on his word and becomes involved in more bank robberies. The police again capture Jack and after a few days in prison, he is sentenced to twenty years. Milly recounts the trial from her position as a witness and admits that her love for Jack ended there. Milly suffers a broken heart, but visits Jack in prison, sometimes taking their son with her. Milly becomes pregnant again, but with another man, so she stops visiting Jack to keep him from finding out.
Much to Milly's surprise, Jack shows up at the house after six years of not having seen each other, and Jack realizes that Milly is with someone else and has had another child. The two accept that their lives must continue without being together.[12]
Milly recounts her life leading up to that fateful day when Jack was waiting outside her school to return her ID that he found on the ground. She discusses the dates that Jack would take her on and how they had to be conscious of her family’s desires for them, such as not having sex before marriage.
Milly and Jack move in together, and Milly begins picking up on signs that indicate that Jack is not a car salesman, as he’s led her to believe, but a criminal. When the realization hits her, she is shocked that she has been lied to by Jack for this long and struggles with her emotions regarding the situation.
Milly tries to put aside her worry over realizing Jack is a criminal and live a normal life with him. She routinely tries to get Jack to admit that he is a criminal, but he always evades her questions and begins accusing her of being mentally ill. She later witnesses Jack in the midst of committing a crime, which greatly upsets her. Jack continues to treat Milly poorly for worrying about his well-being in his line of work.
Milly is present at a bank during one of Jack and his accomplices’ heists. She leaves unharmed, but furious with Jack. Captain comes to inform Milly that Jack has been arrested, and she plans to visit him in jail. Milly visits Jack in jail and he is rude to her. He is sentenced to a couple weeks in jail. Much to Milly's surprise, Jack escapes and is home one evening when she returns from work. Milly pleads with Jack to leave his life as a criminal and threatens to end their relationship if he does not. She also informs him that she is pregnant and that she wants to finally marry, to which he does not agree.
Jack leaves the country, forcing Milly to adjust to life alone. He returns one day and vows to stop being a criminal so that they can marry and have a quiet life, but soon goes back on his word and becomes involved in more bank robberies. The police again capture Jack and after a few days in prison, he is sentenced to twenty years. Milly recounts the trial from her position as a witness and admits that her love for Jack ended there. Milly suffers a broken heart, but visits Jack in prison, sometimes taking their son with her. Milly becomes pregnant again, but with another man, so she stops visiting Jack to keep him from finding out.
Much to Milly's surprise, Jack shows up at the house after six years of not having seen each other, and Jack realizes that Milly is with someone else and has had another child. The two accept that their lives must continue without being together.[12]
September 21, 2012
WOW this is such a good book,
Read
March 29, 2012reading it can make a difference in my life
July 4, 2014
The book feels rushed in some chapters. Just enough to give you the impression its a work of fiction. Nevertheless, Milly seems to have really loved this man.
January 13, 2025
Miriam was all a man can ever ask for in a wife.
Her patience, commitment, dedication and burning desire for her man, Zollo is unmatched.
May the men of the 21st century be refreshed in the bosom of such women.
Alas! Few they may be, but worth the keeping,
Her patience, commitment, dedication and burning desire for her man, Zollo is unmatched.
May the men of the 21st century be refreshed in the bosom of such women.
Alas! Few they may be, but worth the keeping,
June 22, 2018
We'd sneak this book into class and read the hell out of it in-between an exercise book. Heck, we even fought over who was next in line as the administration would, [in retrospect] , allow as few copies as possible to "sneak" through. Oh, banned books, that's how you get kids to read, ban good literature!
January 25, 2017
This has to be one of the best books i read while growing up. A single read just didn't cut it
September 24, 2019
I want to download this book but he can I do so?
August 6, 2021
When I read "My Life In Crime," I was amazed at the bright mind of the author and his decision making skills.
"My Life with a criminal" which is Milly's
(Jack Zollo's wife) point of view, gives us an in-depth perspective on life in crime.
The end left me with some sad feeling, I couldn't imagine Milly without Jack the end of a beautiful love 😥.
It was such a worthy read, and entertaining as well.
"My Life with a criminal" which is Milly's
(Jack Zollo's wife) point of view, gives us an in-depth perspective on life in crime.
The end left me with some sad feeling, I couldn't imagine Milly without Jack the end of a beautiful love 😥.
It was such a worthy read, and entertaining as well.
July 20, 2019
Got me hoooked from the beginning.
May 18, 2020
I've read alot of books by kenyan authors but this will always be my favorite. My brother came home with this book when i was 14 and i stole it from him so that i could read it😹. I read it more than five times. I decided to go with it at school one day so that my best friend could also read it. She read it and gave it to other people to read too and that's how I lost it😭. My brother has never found out 😹😹
November 6, 2013
re-reading
September 20, 2021
*2 Stars
I picked up this book curious as to why Millie would stay and love a criminal and also hoping to better understand Jack Zollo aka John Kiriamiti and maybe warm up more towards his book A Life In Crime.
Needless to say, as per my rating, I clearly struggled with this book and it too disappointed me.
The story told from Millie's side had quite a number of inconsistencies and misaligned details in the stories as compared to the story as told by Jack Zollo. It too had issues to do with syntax and semantics which completely distorted the meaning of words and sentences due to quite a number of grammatical errors. There were also plot holes that negated the story as told in My Life in Crime.
I am not sure if the stories as told in this and/or My Life in Crime were sensationalized to make the reader enjoy the story more, I just know from my experiences, the inconsistencies really played a huge part in my not enjoying the book.
I picked up this book curious as to why Millie would stay and love a criminal and also hoping to better understand Jack Zollo aka John Kiriamiti and maybe warm up more towards his book A Life In Crime.
Needless to say, as per my rating, I clearly struggled with this book and it too disappointed me.
The story told from Millie's side had quite a number of inconsistencies and misaligned details in the stories as compared to the story as told by Jack Zollo. It too had issues to do with syntax and semantics which completely distorted the meaning of words and sentences due to quite a number of grammatical errors. There were also plot holes that negated the story as told in My Life in Crime.
I am not sure if the stories as told in this and/or My Life in Crime were sensationalized to make the reader enjoy the story more, I just know from my experiences, the inconsistencies really played a huge part in my not enjoying the book.
August 30, 2022
𝘼 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙥𝙝𝙤𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙪𝙢𝙥 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙠 ( 𝙡𝙤𝙡 𝙬𝙝𝙮 𝙖𝙢 𝙄 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙠𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 ) + 𝙢𝙮 𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 “𝙈𝙔 𝙇𝙄𝙁𝙀 𝙄𝙉 𝘾𝙍𝙄𝙈𝙀 “ + #readingupdate 😊🙌🏻
This is a well written book.. it does take you on a beautiful journey of the life of a criminal
After reading some chapters of the book I felt as though my mind was tuned into thinking like that kind of a criminal 😅
This man could change the world if his brains and energy were guided in the proper direction from the start.🤌🏻
I was most impressed by his knowledge and good and quick decision-making abilities.🤯
How does one individual manage to pull himself out of practically every scenario with such bravery, no matter how hazardous or dire the situation appears to be? 👏🏻🗂
This was a fantastic read! Educative, entertaining, and yet 😁
I’m more interested to know that John Kiriamiti is he still a criminal?? 🤔
This is a well written book.. it does take you on a beautiful journey of the life of a criminal
After reading some chapters of the book I felt as though my mind was tuned into thinking like that kind of a criminal 😅
This man could change the world if his brains and energy were guided in the proper direction from the start.🤌🏻
I was most impressed by his knowledge and good and quick decision-making abilities.🤯
How does one individual manage to pull himself out of practically every scenario with such bravery, no matter how hazardous or dire the situation appears to be? 👏🏻🗂
This was a fantastic read! Educative, entertaining, and yet 😁
I’m more interested to know that John Kiriamiti is he still a criminal?? 🤔
March 5, 2024
Back then in 2006 i use to listen to book club in kameme fm, it was a program i use to enjoy and that's when i read my life in crime. The book was interesting and it made me go to the bookshop and buy it. After that i wanted to know the other side of Milly's story and that's when i read my life with a criminal then my life in prison. I love the courage the writer had no matter what happened he always knew what to do next and nobody knew it.
October 24, 2021
Well written & full of intrigue but very confusing ending. It makes one wonder why people continue on in distractive relationships despite all the signs glaring at them!!! It also left me with a lot of questions concerning the guy...like what happened in the end????
September 27, 2018
good
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 1, 2018
Nice book
November 7, 2018
it is a good book
December 2, 2018
Want to read it more and more
May 9, 2019
Ahhh this is awesome book
May 9, 2019
These is an amazing Story.read in 2016 and also My life in Crime by the same author.
Want to read
July 2, 2019I want to read the book
August 17, 2019
The ending for me was unexpected and I feel sad for their love. Smh men ain't shit😂
September 30, 2019
I need to read this book
Currently reading
October 13, 2019Best
Want to read
December 1, 2019Cool
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews