Book Review: You Could Do Something Amazing with Your Life [You Are Raoul Moat] - Andrew Hankinson ★★★★☆

It is hard to write a book in the second person. It is even harder to make it this good. It would have been easier to write a salacious cash-in with a dozen shocking revelations in each chapter. Instead, Andrew Hankinson attempts to use Raoul Moat's own words to build up a picture of the man. You have nine days and your whole life to prove you are more than a callous murderer. Go. It is written with sympathy, but without being sympathetic. A stream of consciousness interrupted only occasionally by the voice of god [it probably isn't god] to provide clarity to an unreliable narrator. The paranoia and delusion come streaming off the page, couched in a tone of voice that exudes reasonableness. It doesn't glorify the man, nor does it make excuses for him, instead it asks you to consider what you choices you could have made under similar circumstances. Almost every sentence is set up as a challenge to the reader. Is this man telling the truth? If so, are his actions understandable or…