On July 24th 1964, Matthew Kerry Smith, wearing a Beatle wig, burst into a Toronto bank toting a semi-automatic rifle - with a barrel painted pink to disguise its purpose in a guitar case - escaping with over $25,000 after a street gunfight which claimed the life of a local man, Jack Blanc, and led to a violent crime spree and a national manhunt. When Smith was eventually caught, his crimes raised wider issues of gun control, mental health and the death penalty in Canada.
The tale of the robbery itself is riveting and lucidly told; many sentences made me catch my breath, and this quality of writing is consistent throughout the book. A word of warning, the details of Jack Blanc’s and others’ injuries are uncompromising. Nate Hendley writes with forensic clarity as he describes the robbery and its aftermath, offering a lurid insight into Smith’s life and motivations. The impact of Blanc’s death on his family and community is touchingly told.
Illustrated with photographs of Smith, the crime scene and his trial, “The Beatle Bandit” is a fascinating, brutal, unflinching true crime story, shorn of sensationalism, which will thrill you and anger you in equal measure.
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