Take Me Out the Back

It starts with a man killing his aging, sick mother. She had always told him ... if I ever get that bad, just take me out back and shoot me. So... that's what he did.

But he continued on a killing spree, killing 10 people who were under hospice care in a nursing home. He then went out back and sat on a bench waiting for the police to show up. When they did, he waved an empty gun at them ... suicide by cop.

This story is not precisely about the murders. It's the story of all those who were affected by what this man did. Each chapter is told by a different person ... family of the deceased, family of the killer, those who worked in the nursing home, first responders, the policeman who killed the shooter, clergy, and friends.... even a budding cops cat killer.

These lives, in one way or another, will never be the same again.

Many thanks to the author / Black Rose Writing / Netgalley for the digital copy of this unique psychological thriller. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

I was absolutely fascinated by this book.

This book is essentially a series of vignettes, each one intricately detailing the effect a common tragedy has on a person (or set of people). I loved how the stories are titled with the person's title (The Widower", "The Artists", " The Deputy", ect) and how the author clearly put so much time and thought into how the tragedy would effect so many people from the Mayor to the shooter's more distant relatives.

Especially living in a country where these tragedies are far too common, I think it would be a really fascinating book to use in high schools to help young adults really think about the effects of their actions and the ripple effect they have on society. I also think that this book does a great job of exploring how you really can't possibly know what someone's life is like behind closed doors.

For me this book evoked a sense of empathy and appreciation for people's individual struggles, and I think that is something that is seriously lacking in our current culture and it would be very worthwhile to tty to GRT this book in the hands of as many young adults as possonle.

Thank you so much To NetGalley for allowing .me the access to read this book, it was really a very compelling and thought provoking story.

The story presented in, 'Take Me Out the Back' starts with the narrative of a man who decides to fulfil a promise made to his mother and kills her when her health conditions deteriorate rapidly. He then goes to the nursing home where he works and kills a further 10 people there, after which he is shot by a cop. What more can be presented in a book which, from the outset, reveals the motive and how this whole tragedy took place? Yet the author did a great job and focused not on the murderer himself but on how his decisions affected many other people. This book presents multiple narratives, different perspectives, and the consequences of this shooting on a small-town community somewhere in Indiana.
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Initially, I was delighted because I felt as if I was reading many stories which were more or less related to the main theme of the shooting. Over time, however, some chapters began to become increasingly pointless, which unfortunately affected my perception of the whole. I believe that if the author had removed a few chapters, the book would only gain from this because the form and presentation of the subject was superb.

What a quirky yet intriguing book.! A man's mother had made him promise to "take her out back" when showed any signs of dementia. The saying is take her out back and shoot her. The man works maintenance at the local retirement home and knows of 10 patients there that are lost in their dementia as well. He takes them out back as well and then commits suicide by cop. The rest of the book is, each chapter names a person, mostly by profession, and then it tells the effect on this persons life the murders had.

The way this book presents a single tragic event is what makes it a fascinating read. Essentially told from the range of different perspectives of people who were there, readers see the event from each of their points of view. It’s a sad story and all too topical - mass shooting and the concept of euthanasia are prominent in current debates. Sensitively and cleverly managed, this book will make you think.