The Unusual Suspect: The Remarkable True Story of a Modern-Day Robin Hood

Awards:   Long-listed for CWA ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction 2022 (UK) Short-listed for CWA ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction 2022 (UK)
Author:   Ben Machell
Publisher:   Canongate Books
Edition:   Main
ISBN:  

9781786897992


Pages:   320
Publication Date:   06 January 2022
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   In stock   Availability explained
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The Unusual Suspect: The Remarkable True Story of a Modern-Day Robin Hood


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Awards

  • Long-listed for CWA ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction 2022 (UK)
  • Short-listed for CWA ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction 2022 (UK)

Overview

It is 2007, a time of recession and impending climate crisis, and one young man decides to change the world. This is the story of Stephen Jackley, a British geography student with Asperger's Syndrome. Aged just twenty-one, obsessed with the idea of Robin Hood, and with no prior experience, he resolved to become a bank robber. He would steal from the rich and give to the poor. And he did. Bank notes mysteriously found their way into the hands of the homeless. The police had no idea who was responsible. Until Jackley's ambition got the better of him.

Full Product Details

Author:   Ben Machell
Publisher:   Canongate Books
Imprint:   Canongate Books
Edition:   Main
Dimensions:   Width: 12.90cm , Height: 1.90cm , Length: 19.80cm
Weight:   0.215kg
ISBN:  

9781786897992


ISBN 10:   1786897997
Pages:   320
Publication Date:   06 January 2022
Audience:   General/trade ,  College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  General ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In stock   Availability explained
We have confirmation that this item is in stock with the supplier. It will be ordered in for you and dispatched immediately.

Table of Contents

Reviews

'Completely fascinating . . . reads like a deep psychological thriller, but it's real. Is truth stranger than fiction? You bet' - LEE CHILD 'One of the strengths of Ben Machell's compelling book is its patient unearthing of the various motivations for his subject's behaviour . . . This splendid book . . . does full justice to his complexity' - Guardian 'Stephen Jackley, the Robin Hood bank robber, is an Asperger's student with an incredible, increasingly dark story, which Machell tells with Hollywood box-office wit, compassion and brio. With every page, you find yourself screaming OH MY GOD - WHAT ARE YOU DOING, STEPHEN? , all the way up to him ending in US jail. How one young man's misguided plan to save the world went increasingly, dangerously wrong' - CAITLIN MORAN 'Truly affecting true crime. I've heard it said that a villain is just a victim whose story hasn't been told - this big-hearted, fascinating, meticulous book made me feel that way about Stephen Jackley' - MARINA HYDE 'Fascinating . . . In Machell, [Jackley] has found the most sympathetic and intelligent of biographers . . . The Unusual Suspect raises important questions about our ideas of guilt, idealism and the nature of responsibility . . . a tremendously invigorating book, scrupulously researched, sympathetically told, a picaresque tale of modern life, by turns funny and sad' - Mail on Sunday


Completely fascinating . . . reads like a deep psychological thriller, but it's real. Is truth stranger than fiction? You bet -- LEE CHILD One of the strengths of Ben Machell's compelling book is its patient unearthing of the various motivations for his subject's behaviour . . . This splendid book . . . does full justice to his complexity * * Guardian * * Stephen Jackley, the Robin Hood bank robber, is an Asperger's student with an incredible, increasingly dark story, which Machell tells with Hollywood box-office wit, compassion and brio. With every page, you find yourself screaming OH MY GOD - WHAT ARE YOU DOING, STEPHEN? , all the way up to him ending in US jail. How one young man's misguided plan to save the world went increasingly, dangerously wrong -- CAITLIN MORAN Truly affecting true crime. I've heard it said that a villain is just a victim whose story hasn't been told - this big-hearted, fascinating, meticulous book made me feel that way about Stephen Jackley -- MARINA HYDE Fascinating . . . In Machell, [Jackley] has found the most sympathetic and intelligent of biographers . . . The Unusual Suspect raises important questions about our ideas of guilt, idealism and the nature of responsibility . . . a tremendously invigorating book, scrupulously researched, sympathetically told, a picaresque tale of modern life, by turns funny and sad * * Mail on Sunday * * Ben Machell's deeply reported book is not only a gripping true-crime story, but also a sensitive and melancholy portrait of someone who has long struggled to fit in to society * * New Statesman * * An astonishing story which resonates at a time of staggering inequality, and one which asks salient questions about wealth redistribution * * Esquire * * [A] cross between heist tale and biography . . . Machell treats his subject . . . with tender fascination, disapproving of Jackley's strategy but not his world view * * New Yorker * * Meet Stephen: university student, bank robber, modern Robin Hood, human being. He was only good at one of them; thankfully it was the only one that mattered. A truly remarkable story -- TERRY HAYES, author of I AM PILGRIM Was Stephen Jackley a cynical attention-seeker, or an idealist fighting a broken system, or something else entirely? Whatever the truth, his story - superbly written, and expertly reported - reveals the troubling place of finance in the centre of all of our lives -- OLIVER BULLOUGH * * author of Moneyland * *


Completely fascinating . . . reads like a deep psychological thriller, but it's real. Is truth stranger than fiction? You bet -- LEE CHILD One of the strengths of Ben Machell's compelling book is its patient unearthing of the various motivations for his subject's behaviour . . . This splendid book . . . does full justice to his complexity * * Guardian * * Stephen Jackley, the Robin Hood bank robber, is an Asperger's student with an incredible, increasingly dark story, which Machell tells with Hollywood box-office wit, compassion and brio. With every page, you find yourself screaming OH MY GOD - WHAT ARE YOU DOING, STEPHEN? , all the way up to him ending in US jail. How one young man's misguided plan to save the world went increasingly, dangerously wrong -- CAITLIN MORAN Truly affecting true crime. I've heard it said that a villain is just a victim whose story hasn't been told - this big-hearted, fascinating, meticulous book made me feel that way about Stephen Jackley -- MARINA HYDE Fascinating . . . In Machell, [Jackley] has found the most sympathetic and intelligent of biographers . . . The Unusual Suspect raises important questions about our ideas of guilt, idealism and the nature of responsibility . . . a tremendously invigorating book, scrupulously researched, sympathetically told, a picaresque tale of modern life, by turns funny and sad * * Daily Mail * * Ben Machell's deeply reported book is not only a gripping true-crime story, but also a sensitive and melancholy portrait of someone who has long struggled to fit in to society * * New Statesman * * An astonishing story which resonates at a time of staggering inequality, and one which asks salient questions about wealth redistribution * * Esquire * * Meet Stephen: university student, bank robber, modern Robin Hood, human being. He was only good at one of them; thankfully it was the only one that mattered. A truly remarkable story -- TERRY HAYES, author of I AM PILGRIM Was Stephen Jackley a cynical attention-seeker, or an idealist fighting a broken system, or something else entirely? Whatever the truth, his story - superbly written, and expertly reported - reveals the troubling place of finance in the centre of all of our lives -- OLIVER BULLOUGH * * author of Moneyland * * Ben Machell, an accomplished features writer with close access to Jackley and the diary he was keeping during his string of robberies, brings an intensity to the young man's story that makes for a captivating and genuinely surprising read * * CrimeReads * *


Author Information

Ben Machell is a feature writer for The Times and The Times Magazine and a contributor to publications including VICE, ES Magazine and Esquire. He has been shortlisted for Feature Writer of the Year at the British Press Awards. Ben has full and exclusive access to Stephen and his surviving diaries, as well as access to law enforcement and the key characters involved in Jackley's story on both sides of the Atlantic. @ben_machell

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