THREE WEEKS IN OCTOBER: The Manhunt for the Serial Sniper

During the first three weeks of October 2002, 14 random people were gunned down in the suburbs outside Washington, D.C., setting off the largest manhunt in American history. Through it all, Montgomery County Police Chief Moose was the face America watched. He was comfortingly there, on television, before people went to work in the morning and when they got home at night. But as soon as the snipers were no longer generating news, Chief Moose began making news himself. And when he decided to write a book about those three notorious weeks, a full-scale controversy erupted over the propriety of "exploiting" these events for financial gain. Eventually, he decided to resign from the police department. Written in short, awkward sentences, his book lacks polish, but its raw honesty and idiosyncratic charm more than compensate for the hurried prose. Despite the title, Moose adds very little to the story of the shootings—he lets you know what he did and how he felt about it, but there are no sizzling revelations. Most of the book tells his own remarkable story in a gutsy, endearing, no-nonsense way, from growing up in an all-black neighborhood in North Carolina in the 19TKs to his unlikely entry into law enforcement and his even more unlikely rise to the top of the profession. Moose writes unapologetically about his mistakes and personal hardships, his views on leadership and his struggles with racial prejudice, and about his loving wife and how he keeps his uniform looking so sharp. Moose also takes up his own defense, cutting through all the hubbub to show that behind the provocative headlines was little more than a simple, heartfelt man just trying to do the best job he could. (Sept. 15)

Correction: Due to publisher's error, the ISBN for The Sari (Berg) was incorrect in the August 25 issue. The correct ISBN is 1-8597-3732-3.