A fast-paced true-crime tale undercut by an iffy analysis of the perpetrator’s Asperger’s diagnosis.
Machell, a writer for the Times of London, reconstructs the bizarre international crime spree of a self-styled Robin Hood who claimed he robbed banks to give the money to the poor.
Stephen Jackley was a quiet British university student when, beginning in 2007, he launched a far-fetched plan to redistribute the wealth of “a callous capitalistic society that was destroying the planet and ruining lives for no good reason.” Over the next seven months—armed with a knife and replica of a pistol—he robbed banks and other cash-rich institutions until he was arrested in Vermont after trying to use a fake ID to buy a real gun, which was too difficult to obtain in Britain. Jackley was deported and sentenced to 13 years in prison. A psychiatrist’s report later found there was “little doubt” that he had Asperger’s syndrome, which led to a one-year reduction in his sentence. Drawing on interviews with Jackley and other sources, Machell, a fluid writer, agrees that the young bank robber had Asperger’s: “And while it’s true that none of this would have happened if Stephen did not have Asperger’s, it did not happen simply because he did.” Contributing factors, note the author, included his subject’s traumatic upbringing by a bipolar father and schizophrenic mother. Machell offers strong evidence that Jackley’s Asperger’s was made worse by a troubled youth. However, given Jackley’s months of con artistry and the fact that his parents had mental illnesses that can run in families, the author, though well-intentioned, gives too little attention to whether Jackley might have conned a doctor or two—or had a more serious, co-occurring condition that explains his behavior more plausibly than only Asperger’s. The result is a well-written page-turner that may cause readers to suspect that there’s more to Jackley’s crimes than Machell suggests.
A fast-paced true-crime tale undercut by an iffy analysis of the perpetrator’s Asperger’s diagnosis.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12922-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Oct. 6, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2020
A juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through.
The iconic model tells the story of her eventful life.
According to the acknowledgments, this memoir started as "a fifty-page poem and then grew into hundreds of pages of…more poetry." Readers will be glad that Anderson eventually turned to writing prose, since the well-told anecdotes and memorable character sketches are what make it a page-turner. The poetry (more accurately described as italicized notes-to-self with line breaks) remains strewn liberally through the pages, often summarizing the takeaway or the emotional impact of the events described: "I was / and still am / an exceptionally / easy target. / And, / I'm proud of that." This way of expressing herself is part of who she is, formed partly by her passion for Anaïs Nin and other writers; she is a serious maven of literature and the arts. The narrative gets off to a good start with Anderson’s nostalgic memories of her childhood in coastal Vancouver, raised by very young, very wild, and not very competent parents. Here and throughout the book, the author displays a remarkable lack of anger. She has faced abuse and mistreatment of many kinds over the decades, but she touches on the most appalling passages lightly—though not so lightly you don't feel the torment of the media attention on the events leading up to her divorce from Tommy Lee. Her trip to the pages of Playboy, which involved an escape from a violent fiance and sneaking across the border, is one of many jaw-dropping stories. In one interesting passage, Julian Assange's mother counsels Anderson to desexualize her image in order to be taken more seriously as an activist. She decided that “it was too late to turn back now”—that sexy is an inalienable part of who she is. Throughout her account of this kooky, messed-up, enviable, and often thrilling life, her humility (her sons "are true miracles, considering the gene pool") never fails her.
A juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2023
ISBN: 9780063226562
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
SEEN & HEARD
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
SEEN & HEARD
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