Condemned—The Transformation of a Violent Gang Leader
Mark Rowan
Monarch Books, 2007, 157 pp., $12.99
lionhudson.com
Rowan grew up in poor British towns and fought to survive in a physically and emotionally abusive family in scanty living conditions. On his own, he recounts “burglaring” businesses and homes, getting busted and imprisoned, and going right back to crime upon release. Callously familiar with the system and reckless in crime, big on bravado and small on conscience, drug addiction kept Rowan from caring; and the risks got bigger.
In some recollections, just when Rowan seems to brag about his exploits, he makes clear the attached turmoil and wreckage. A drug therapy program—to Rowan’s shock, run by prisoners—would impact him radically.
Happy and stable, the inmates put up with his skepticism and hardness, sharing the gospel with him. Rowan’s transformation is as raw as his history. Give this book to kids who toy with risky behavior and glamorize gangster life or to someone who works with them.
