Three Weeks in October : The Hunt for the Washington Sniper - Hardcover

Charles Fleming

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0752861069 ISBN 13: 9780752861067

Publisher: Orion Publishing, 2004

Synopsis

Wednesday evening 2nd October 2002, a man is suddenly shot dead in a parking lot in Maryland, Washington DC. There are no witnesses. The killing fails to make the following morning's papers. As Montgomery County Police Chief, Charles Moose notes this, and rues the cheapness of modern life, another call comes in -- a man has been shot dead mowing a lawn; half an hour later a taxi driver lies dead on the forecourt of a Mobil station. Chief Moose's worst nightmare is about to unfurl -- a serial sniper is on the loose in the affluent Washington suburbs. Three Weeks In October is the inside story of America's worst sniper case on record. Chapters detailing the tense, day-by-day unfolding of the killing -- there were ultimately 13 victims before John Allen Muhammad and his young nephew Lee Malvo were arrested asleep in a beaten up car -- are intercut with the life story of one of America's most high-profile police chiefs. Moose worked his way up the ranks against the backdrop of the mean streets of Portland, Oregon. Shy, often unorthodox in his methods, but ultimately very popular in the force -- a cop's cop -- Moose's story is all the more remarkable given the colour of his skin.Or, in the words of a psychiatrist Moose was once referred to after one outburst too many: 'You are a black policeman, and the police department is a racist institution. The history of police departments in America is a racist history. You better get used to it, or get out.You cannot get angry.'

About this title

About the Author

Charles Fleming is the author of High Concept: Don Simpson and the Hollywood Culture of Excess (Bloomsbury 1999). He's written on Hollywood for Newsweek and Vanity Fair, among other publications.

From Publishers Weekly

During the first three weeks of October 2002, 14 random people were gunned down in the suburbs outside Washington, D.C., setting off the largest manhunt in American history. Through it all, Montgomery County Police Chief Moose was the face America watched. He was comfortingly there, on television, before people went to work in the morning and when they got home at night. But as soon as the snipers were no longer generating news, Chief Moose began making news himself. And when he decided to write a book about those three notorious weeks, a full-scale controversy erupted over the propriety of "exploiting" these events for financial gain. Eventually, he decided to resign from the police department. Written in short, awkward sentences, his book lacks polish, but its raw honesty and idiosyncratic charm more than compensate for the hurried prose. Despite the title, Moose adds very little to the story of the shootings he lets you know what he did and how he felt about it, but there are no sizzling revelations. Most of the book tells his own remarkable story in a gutsy, endearing, no-nonsense way, from growing up in an all-black neighborhood in North Carolina in the 19TKs to his unlikely entry into law enforcement and his even more unlikely rise to the top of the profession. Moose writes unapologetically about his mistakes and personal hardships, his views on leadership and his struggles with racial prejudice, and about his loving wife and how he keeps his uniform looking so sharp. Moose also takes up his own defense, cutting through all the hubbub to show that behind the provocative headlines was little more than a simple, heartfelt man just trying to do the best job he could.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Orion Publishing
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0752861069
• ISBN 13: 9780752861067
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 322