HACKSAW

A former jewel thief-turned-jailhouse folklore talks about his many run-ins with the FBI and how he escaped from chain gangs, jails, and prisons fourteen times in twenty years

Sentenced to a Virginia chain gang at age 17, Jones, nicknamed "Hacksaw," has spent his adult life as a prisoner or a fugitive. His greatest talent is as an escape artist, an ability he has demonstrated 14 times in 20 years. His account of his early escapes are almost unbearably suspenseful, but eventually the reader becomes inured to the tension and Jones's later efforts assume an automatic quality. Further, he is not given to introspection, so there are no efforts to analyze why arrests for speeding and drunk driving or visits to family members invariably led to his recapture. Probably the book's most important contribution is to expose the brutality of the prison system, especially as practiced on chain gangs. Jones, who is now serving time in Illinois, ends his story with a plea for rehabilitation programs for convicts.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This is the autobiography of "Hacksaw" Jones who claims to have escaped 14 times from jails and prisons. Having now forsworn further jailbreaks, Jones is hoping for parole this year. For the most part, Hacksaw is entertaining, fast-paced, and surprisingly well-written given the author's history. The reader cannot help identifying with Jones, whose considerable abilities at escape are matched by his inability to avoid recapture. As is the nature of the genre, Jones puts his best self forward and one can only guess at the book's proportion of fact and fantasy. It is not difficult, however, to suspend judgment and enjoy the action. Suitable for popular crime collections. Gregor A. Preston, Univ. of California Lib., Davis
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.