Book Review: You Can Run But You Can't Hide
You may recall that I am a fan of Dog the Bounty Hunter,
a.k.a. Duane Lee Chapman, Sr. I know there are a lot of "Dog-haters" out there as well as those just disinterested in his life and story who might
be baffled by those who are inspired by Dog, and
that's fine. Still, Mr. Chapman did write a book and rumor has it he is contemplating writing another, and I really enjoyed reading You Can Run But You Can't Hide. If reading about an ex-con is beneath you, or if you tend to focus on the worst in people
rather than looking for best, you will certainly find this book annoying and pointless.
I was reading some reviews on places like Amazon before I found a copy of the book, and a few complaints stood out. One was that Dog must be a naive moron to
have made some of the mistakes to which he admits (which he does with great specificity, by the way) or else he is trying to lessen his responsibility for
these poor decisions. The other was that the book spent way too much time and focused in way too much detail on drugs. I fully respect the individual
reactions people have upon reading any book, and I kept waiting for these disappointments to manifest themselves. After 316 pages, the length of the book, I
still hadn't encountered them.
You may not be outright impressed with Chapman's notion of professional, personal, or financial success. But they certainly look impressive in light of
his background. When it comes to confessing his sins, I would think that if he were going to try to make lame excuses or whitewash his actions, he would have
picked ones other than those some suggest were cleaned up. Believe me, he admits he shouldn't have gone with the guys who got mixed up in a shooting that
landed him in prison, he shouldn't have dated an addict and agreed to smoke the aphrodisiac in her sexy girlfriend's pipe, etc, etc. He is clear
about his personal responsibility for a very long list of offenses which harmed himself and his loved ones.
Speaking of that list, he confesses that as a young man he tried sniffing glue and later regularly drank and smoked marijuana as part of his biker rebellion
phase and when he went through bouts of depression. But he doesn't spend a lot of time dwelling on it or describing it in detail. He just refers to it as
background to certain scenes. Even his confession of smoking crack isn't detailed. Just that he sucked on a pipe and felt great. The rest of the
discussion of his addiction is non-specific and alludes to his continued use for a time, it doesn't describe it.
Dog was also involved in bar brawling and easy sex as well. So again, he really is upfront about his flaws and personal demons. If you aren't up for such
candor, this book really isn't for you. But if you can handle the mature subject matter, and if you don't dwell on his mistakes, you find a decent
human being lurking in these accounts of his life, somewhat opaquely in his early years and becoming more clear as he gets older. A part of this
transformation is the love of his mother and through her a faith in God which is challenged in nearly every way imaginable.
While I can understand why some folks might not enjoy reading this book, it does offer a story of hope and redemption in an embarrassingly and sometimes
shockingly honest format. It isn't a book from the world of people who don't know addiction, prison, and crime first hand. It is a book from the
other side, from a criminal gone wrong as one of Dog's acquaintance's likes to say. Anyone who talks the talk about their faith or their belief in
second-chances and rehabilitation should at least consider this book if they are looking for something to add to their reading list.
