ACT OF LOVE The Killing of George Zygmanik

Hardback. US Book Club Edn. Under ordinary circumstances, Lester Zygmanik probably would have lived his life in anonymity. On June 20, 1973, however, under extraordinary circumstances, he committed an act which made him the object of national controversy. He committed a public murder. Shortly before eleven that night, Lester - 23yrs old, with a job in construction, a steady girlfriend, and an unwavering belief in hard work, family loyalty, and the American dream - walked into a quiet Jersey Shore Medical Centre near Asbury Park. Practically unnoticed and unquestioned, he went directly to the ward where his brother George lay motionless, critically injured three days before in a freak motorcycle accident and now permanently paralysed from the neck down...George his older brother, whom he loved and idolised, who had pleaded with Lester, "I want you to promise to kill me, I want you to swear to God." with a sawed-off shotgun, Lester fired one blast at close range. Twenty-seven hours later, George was dead - and Lester was indicted for first-degree murder. From its stirring evocation of the intense bond between the members of the Zygmanik family...to the drama leading up to and surrounding the killing itself,...to the author's re-creation of the controversial trial, the book forces us to witness - and moves us to understand - Lester's act. 246pp. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. V. lightly browned pp. o/w Vg. in chipped and frayed Nr. Vg. dw.