A reconstruction of the crime and fate of Gary Gilmore, the convicted murderer who sought his own execution in Utah where he was imprisoned, is based on taped interviews with relatives, friends, lawyers, and law-enforcement officials

In what is arguably his greatest book--written in 1979 and reissued here in trade paperback--America's most heroically ambitious writer follows the short, blighted career of Gary Gilmore, an intractably violent product of America's prisons who---after robbing two men and killing them in cold blood--insisted on dying for his crime.

NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE Haunting, harrowing, and profoundly affecting, Shot in the Heart exposes and explores a dark vein of American life that most of us would rather ignore. It is a book that will leave no reader unchanged. Gary Gilmore, the infamous murderer immortalized by Norman Mailer in The Executioner's Song, campaigned for his own death and was executed by firing squad in 1977. Writer Mikal Gilmore is his younger brother. In Shot in the Heart, he tells the stunning story of their wildly dysfunctional family: their mother, a black sheep daughter of unforgiving Mormon farmers; their father, a drunk, thief, and con man. It was a family destroyed by a multigenerational history of child abuse, alcoholism, crime, adultery, and murder. Mikal, burdened with the guilt of being his father's favorite and the shame of being Gary's brother, gracefully and painfully relates a murder tale "from inside the house where murder is born... a house that, in some ways, [he has] never been able to leave." Shot in the Heart is the history of an American family inextricably tied up with violence, and the story of how the children of this family committed murder and murdered themselves in payment for a long lineage of ruin.

When the Grand Design is finally revealed it will spell the last ride for Mr. Armed and Brokenhearted. In this final installment of the widely popular “Animal” series, we find our anti-hero on a hunt for the woman who forced him to pick his guns back up when she burned his entire world down. The traitorous, Red Sonja. She alone holds the key to saving his children and avenging his murdered wife, Gucci, but first he has to find her. To do this, Animal reassembles his old gang: The Dog Pound for what will prove to be their most dangerous mission yet. The stakes are higher than ever and not everyone is expected to make it, but the members of the Pound readily accept the task and the risks that come with it. With his old friends, and a few new ones, Animal is on the hunt for his elusive prey. Then the unthinkable happens and there is an earth-shattering discovery that will change everything, including loyalties. Meanwhile, the Black Lotus finds herself a prisoner in a place she had once called home. Having been branded a traitor by the Brotherhood of Blood, she is remanded to the mountain fortress while awaiting trial for the crimes she stands accused of. Unbeknownst to her, there are some within the Brotherhood who would rather see her dead than exonerated. Kahllah has unearthed a dark conspiracy which could clear her name, but at the cost of destroying the Brotherhood of Blood, which makes her a threat to the conspirators and a moving target. The hunter finds herself the hunted and her only chance of surviving the mountain will be to place her fate in the hands of an unlikely champion. The table is set finally set and the meal served. Pull up a chair, because this will be the “Last Supper.”#TeamAnimal

Norman Mailer’s dazzlingly rich, deeply evocative novel of ancient Egypt breathes life into the figures of a lost era: the eighteenth-dynasty Pharaoh Rameses and his wife, Queen Nefertiti; Menenhetet, their creature, lover, and victim; and the gods and mortals that surround them in intimate and telepathic communion. Mailer’s reincarnated protagonist is carried through the exquisite gardens of the royal harem, along the majestic flow of the Nile, and into the terrifying clash of battle. An extraordinary work of inventiveness, Ancient Evenings lives on in the mind long after the last page has been turned. Praise for Ancient Evenings “Astounding, beautifully written . . . a leap of imagination that crosses three millennia to Pharaonic Egypt.”—USA Today “Mailer makes a miraculous present out of age-deep memories, bringing to life the rhythms, the images, the sensuousness of a lost time.”—The New York Times “Mailer’s Egypt is a haunting and magical place. . . . The reader wallows in the scope, depth, the sheer magnitude and—yes—the fertility of his imagination.”—The Washington Post Book World “An enormous pyramid of a novel [reminiscent of] Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow and Carlos Fuentes’s Terra Nostra.”—Los Angeles Herald Examiner Praise for Norman Mailer “[Norman Mailer] loomed over American letters longer and larger than any other writer of his generation.”—The New York Times “A writer of the greatest and most reckless talent.”—The New Yorker “Mailer is indispensable, an American treasure.”—The Washington Post “A devastatingly alive and original creative mind.”—Life “Mailer is fierce, courageous, and reckless and nearly everything he writes has sections of headlong brilliance.”—The New York Review of Books “The largest mind and imagination [in modern] American literature . . . Unlike just about every American writer since Henry James, Mailer has managed to grow and become richer in wisdom with each new book.”—Chicago Tribune “Mailer is a master of his craft. His language carries you through the story like a leaf on a stream.”—The Cincinnati Post

Executioners search for justice, not vengeance. Finn questions why it can't be both.As apprentice to the master executioner, Finn struggles to understand his place in the city as he searches for truth in those sentenced. The job is more complicated than he ever imagined. He's proven his understanding of the basics, but for him to serve as an executioner-if that's what he wants-he needs mastery.Distracted by his search for a way to heal his still ailing mother despite the hegen magic, he finds himself at odds with the master executioner. When assigned his first solo case, he knows he needs to impress Meyer. An investigation into a fire that burned through an entire section of the city leads Finn to learn of a greater threat to Verendal-and the entire kingdom. When only Finn believes there's more to the fire, can he save the city or will his quest for vengeance finally lead to his downfall?

Executioners don't solve crimes, they punish those who commit them. Or so Finn thought before apprenticed to one. Poverty-stricken Finn Jagger would give anything to heal his ailing mother. With his father imprisoned, Finn has joined a thieving crew to earn the money he needs to save her. When the latest heist turns to disaster and lands him on death row, Finn's future seems to be tied up with a noose. Until the king's executioner claims him as an apprentice. Finn soon learns an Executioner has far more power and greater responsibility than he'd ever realized. As inquisitor and detective, he must find the truth behind each sentence he carries out. It's a challenging job, but one that Finn is surprisingly good at. When the crew decides Finn could be the key to completing an impossible heist that threatens the kingdom, he's forced to choose between his new job and his old friends. And making the wrong choice could cost him everything.