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Christian Dittus
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IN WITH THE DEVIL (aka BLACK BIRD)

Hillel Levin James Keene

The Fallen Hero, the Serial Killer and a Dangerous Bargain for Redemption

Featured on Dateline and CNN, the true story of a young man destined for greatness on the football field?until a few wrong turns led him to a ten-year prison sentence. He was offered an impossible mission: Coax a confession out of a fellow inmate, a serial killer, and walk free.

Jimmy Keene grew up outside of Chicago. Although he was the son of a policeman and rubbed shoulders with the city's elite, he ended up on the wrong side of the law and was sentenced to ten years with no chance of parole.

Just a few months into his sentence, Keene was approached by the prosecutor who put him behind bars. He had convicted a man named Larry Hall for abducting and killing a fifteen-year-old. Although Hall was suspected of killing nineteen other young women, there was a chance he could still be released on appeal. If Keene could get him to confess to two murders, there would be no doubt about Hall's guilt. In return, Keene would get an unconditional release from prison. But he could also get killed.

A story that gained national notoriety, this is Keene's powerful tale of peril, violence, and redemption.

James Keene was the son of a former police officer who went from high-school football star to convict. Besides working on a book and movie about his life, he is also involved in producing, writing, and consulting for other film and book projects. He is a co-author of In with the Devil.

Hillel Levin has been an investigative reporter for The Nation, New York magazine, Metropolitan Detroit, Playboy, and editor for Chicago magazine. He is the author of Grand Delusions and coauthor of When Corruption Was King.
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Published 2023-05-10 by St. Martin's Press

Comments

Now an Apple TV+ six-part limited series, written and produced by accliamed novelist Denis Lehane, starring Taron Egerton and Ray Liotta.

“Jimmy Keene's journey—from entitled cop's son to a suburban drug dealer living high-on-the-hog to convicted felon to conflicted informant trying to elicit the confession of an unrepentant killer—is epic. It's the journey, as I saw it, of a man trying to reclaim his soul.” —Dennis Lehane, screenwriter of the tv adaptation "Black Bird"