A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun: The Autobiography of a Career Criminal - Softcover

Noel Smith

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141015799 ISBN 13: 9780141015798

Publisher: Penguin Books, 2005

Synopsis

A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun is the autobiography of convicted felon Noel Razor' Smith. An extraordinarily vivid account of how a tearaway kid from South London became a career criminal, it is both a searing indictment of a system that determinedly brutalized young offenders and a frank, unsentimental acknowledgement of the thrills of the criminal life. Shocking, fascinating and frightening by turns, it also reveals Razor Smith to be a remarkably talented writer.

About this title

About the Author

Noel 'Razor' Smith was born in London in 1960. He has 58 criminal convictions and has spent the greater portion of his adult life in prison. Whilst in prison he taught himself to read and write, gained an Honours Diploma from The London School of Journalism and an A-Level in Law. He has been awarded a number of Koestler awards for his writing and has contributed articles to the Independent, the Guardian, Punch, the Big Issue, the New Statesman and the New Law Journal. He is currently serving a life-sentence for armed robbery. A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun is his first book.

From Publishers Weekly

The brief biographical blurb about Smith on the dust jacket, describing his "58 criminal convictions," as well as his gaining "an Honors Diploma from the London School of Journalism" while in a U.K. prison, captures the irony and waste of the author's life. Despite above average intelligence and countless opportunities for rehabilitation, Smith chose to lead the life of a vicious thug, and this often inappropriately irreverent memoir will engage the sympathies of few of his readers. Smith, who abandoned his given name of Noel for a street nickname derived from his weapon of choice, presents himself as a slightly wild but basically normal London adolescent whose descent into crime was fueled by police brutality. While his graphic depictions of that brutality, as well as the horrific conditions inside the British penal system, ring true, his own appalling sadism and callousness leave more of an impression. Tragically, Smith's choices devastate his family as well, and he belatedly realizes the toll his life of crime imposed on them. His indifference toward the countless people he terrorized in bank robberies or wounded with his razor blade is summed up in the book's concluding sentiment: "I never slashed a face that wasn't looking at me, and I never robbed a bank that wasn't insured." (Apr.)
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Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0141015799
• ISBN 13: 9780141015798
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 496