Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam
1985. Gun Barrel City, Texas. Police searching for missing Fire Department captain Jimmy Don Beets dug inside a wishing well in the neatly tended garden of Beets's wife, forty-eight-year-old Betty Lou Beets. Not only did they find his body, but they also found the body of Betty Lou's fourth husband, Doyle Wayne Barker. It wasn't long before investigators unearthed the terrible truth. As Betty Lou's sordid past emerged, so did her chilling trail of marital violence. She shot her second husband, Billy York Lane, in the back. She tried to run over her third husband, Ronnie Threlkeld, with a car. Both survived to tell their horrific stories. But Barker and Beets, spouses four and five, weren't so lucky. After a sensational trial, Betty Lou Beets was sentenced to die by lethal injection. Fifteen years later, on February 24, 2000, she again drew national attention by becoming the second woman to be executed in Texas since the Civil War.
HOMER HICKAM is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Rocket Boys, which was made into the acclaimed movie October Sky. A respected amateur historian, he is also the author of the military history best-seller Torpedo Junction, along with the popular historical novels The Keeper's Son and The Ambassador's Son. With a totla of nine books to his credit, including the award-winning memoir Sky of Stone, and the techno-thriller best-seller Back to the Moon, Hickam's talents clearly span many writing genres. He is a Vietnam combat veteran, a scuba instructor who has led underwater exploration teams across the world, a retired rocket scientist, and, recently, has become an avid field paleontologist. More than anything else, he loves to write. He is married to Linda Terry Hickam, an artist, who is also his assistant. They share their time with their cats between homes in Alabama and the U. S. Virgin Islands.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780385333207 |
| ISBN 10 | 038533320X |
| Title | Rocket Boys |
| Author | Homer Hickam |
| Series | Coalwood |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc |
| Year published | 1998-09-15 |
| Number of pages | 384 |
| Prizes | Short-listed for National Book Critics Circle Award (Biography) 1998, Short-listed for Colorado Blue Spruce Award 2002 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |