A gripping memoir from a former "adrenaline addict"! While living with his family and working for a Christian college, Cooper was leading a double life. Now with complete candor, he reveals his crimes; the shooting that ended his career; his life in jail---and how God transformed him into a light in a horrendous prison system! 320 pages, softcover from Chosen.
Convicted serial bank robber Cooper steals the show in the road to redemption genre for 2009 with this gripping narrative about his slide from petty theft to hostage-taking bank heists. Shot down mid-robbery, captured and sentenced in 1982 to 99 years, the author takes readers into the prison with grotesque scenes of predators and brutality. In prison, Cooper reflects on the double life that led to his incarceration; he worked for a Christian college, but also robbed banks to medicate the loss of his wife. Finding freedom, even in lock down, and forgiveness for his crimes, including his disregard for God and his stepson, becomes a quest that will have readers hanging on till the end of this surprisingly well-narrated book. The power of God's love and of prayer for enemies leads to the transformation of an entire cell block from heinous rape and sex games to a place of peace and love of neighbor. This new voice will be a runaway favorite for fans of the redemption narrative. (Aug.) Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.
Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars(4.5 out of 5 stars)
6 of 6 Reviews Showing:
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Cindy Horton (Princeton, WV), September 01, 2009
Held Hostage showed me a side of prison that I never knew existed, though – a side with God's light and love, respect for others, and a desire to make the place a better experience for everyone. Ken met a surprisingly large number of Christians during his time in prison. Within the prison walls, God taught Ken lessons about forgiving others, letting go of his hatred and anger, and showing love to his enemies. Despite the depraved actions of some inmates, Held Hostage is a beautiful picture of one man's walk with God, of his learning to surrender and obey Christ's leading. Ken Cooper has lived through something that most of us can barely imagine, but God has truly polished him into a precious stone.
3 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Jennifer (Canada), July 26, 2009
Cooper’s memoirs recount his journey into the depths of adrenaline addiction and crime, followed by being sentenced to 99 years in prison for repeated armed robberies and hostage takings. While living an externally acceptable life – wife, children, and a career in publicity for a Christian college – Cooper’s addiction to danger fueled a dark, hidden lie of crime. It is only after a life-changing encounter with God in prison that Cooper’s life is deeply transformed, and his release effected with only three short years of his sentence being served.
The promises hinted at in the first-person action filled introductory scene go largely unfulfilled in the remainder of his memoirs. Like the authors of many autobiographical efforts, Cooper’s writing isn’t his strong suit. He effectively conveys the horrors of the prison system, the Christian support, friendships, and ministry opportunities he found while imprisoned, and the challenges to his new faith believably. Cooper’s descriptions of prison life are intense enough to convey the dangers and challenges inherent in the situation, while shielding readers from the foul language and explicit vileness that he no doubt encountered there.
However, the sharing of his relationship with his first wife (who died of cancer), his second wife (divorced), third wife (post-conversion), and his children ring hollow on the written page. He fails to convey the more tender emotions of the heart when it comes to relating to his family, though he does have some success in describing the Christian brotherhood he finds amongst prison ministry workers, volunteers and fellow inmates.
As a result of God’s grace Ken Cooper is now serving inmates affected by addiction through The Ken Cooper Prison Ministry, proving that God does indeed work all things together for the good of those who trust in Him.
4 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Mocha with Linda (Texas), June 21, 2009
I wasn't sure I wanted to walk the road of reading this book, but I'm glad I did. It is much more pleasant to read of romance and flowers than to consider the hopelessness of those who do not know Christ and who live in bondage to a life of crime, sin, and its consequences. And tracing the roots and growth of a hidden double life of one who appears to be an upstanding "Christian" man was a bit unsettling, to say the least. Yet, this book is so much more than that. This is the story of a life redeemed. A picture of what happens when a man hits rock bottom and has nowhere to look but straight up into the face of Jesus. And the change that impacts in his life as a result. Prison life isn't pretty by any stretch of the imagination. Yet God's love penetrates the steel walls and the barricaded doors and brings hope to the most desperate. As Ken grapples with life inside bars, he learns that deliverance comes in many forms. And he learns that he can shine a light in the darkness so that others can find their way. For anyone who wants their heart tendered, for the one who ministers to prisoners, for the one who wants a dose of mercy and understanding and grace - this book is recommended.
4 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Nicole Petrino-Salter (Auburn, Wa.), June 13, 2009
Ken Cooper’s memoir Held Hostage will release in August, 2009, under Baker Publishing Group’s Chosen division. The full title is Held Hostage, A Serial Bank Robber’s Road to Redemption. And what a rough road it was. Immersed in a double life of accomplishments and positions of respect but fueled by the adrenaline rushes of the intricate planning and execution of multiple bank robberies, Ken Cooper used his charm and intelligence to prolong a career of crime until that inevitable one time when things didn’t go as planned.
Written creatively and with ample examples of the sub-human and demonic existence of some prisons and their prisoners, Ken’s story takes the reader with him through his robbery preparations and his torturous fears at the hands of other jailed men who have become nothing more than the personifications of evil in human forms.
The beauty of this memoir relies on the abilities of a loving Jesus to invade and permeate the filthiest of environments and provide relief, redemption, repair, and residence within the vile community of some prisons.
Not for the faint-hearted, this memoir is exactly as it should be: real, offensive, harsh, and sublime with the interference and infusion of the Holy Spirit’s guidance and God’s divine hand of protection. If the reader has any doubt as to the love afforded to the “least of these” by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, he will turn the last page of Held Hostage with a renewed faith in the power of true salvation.
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Patricia (Reno, NV), June 02, 2009
I’m going to begin this on a more personal note than I normally do. I received this biography as an advance reader’s copy, and I knew it was from a Christian publisher. Now, I grew up in a Christian household, I went to church every Sunday and from 8th grade to graduation I attended a tiny, private Christian school. I am tolerant, but sick to death of Christian testimony. Needless to say I was not thrilled about this book and I am now embarrassed to admit that.
The plot (if that is the right word) is fairly straight forward. Ken throws the reader in the deep end by starting with the bank robbery where it all went wrong, and then goes back to the beginning. The reader is taken at whirlwind pace through Ken’s childhood, his first brushes with “joy juice”, continued heartbreak that fed into his need for something more, the horrors of our prison system, and finally his discovery of God and his surrender to His will.
Ken Cooper’s writing is no doubt engaging, the biography took me a day and a half to read, and though I was completely engaged, it wasn’t until I came upon the story of Mr. Magoo that I found myself weeping on the couch where I read, that I realized this was so much more than an ex-convict’s moment on a soap box. In those short 36 hours Ken had become a piece of myself. He won my heart through his honesty, and unapologetic love of Christ and I finished the book feeling like I was capable of anything with God behind me. Just as Ken felt a peace settling over his life, I felt a peace reading his words.
I’m unsure of how fair it is to rate a biography as you are not judging someone’s story, but who they are and the life they have had, but Ken Cooper deserves five stars for all the above, despite the events that brought him to that fifth star. On the off chance that you ever see this Ken, I wish you all the best and at least for me, you will be “remembered for what you have written, not for what you have done”.
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Lucien Atchale (Canada), May 20, 2009
What happen? Why a man who was handed a 99-year sentence will serve only three and a half years?
Held Hostage is an extraordinary journey of man who lived a double life. As a child Ken Cooper always enjoyed imagining himself as a Jesse James, his rebel hero.This spirit of rebellion eventually led him into a life of crime which eventually stoked a shoplifting habit.
The turning point came at age 31 when both his wife and his father died. Angry, despondent and restless, he blamed God for his agony.Though he had managed to control the compulsion,at this point anger sank deep into the gut. The spirit of rebellion took over his life, and Ken Cooper began living out his childhood dream of a professional bank robber.
More than a journey of life, Held Hostage is an inductive story of fear, anger, hatred, and the tastes of quick and easy money.
The man Cooper people respected as a caring husband,father, son and neighbor was, in reality,nothing more than a self-centered hypocrite and criminal.This will however come to a near tragic end.Confronted with the reality of death, Cooper will finally realize that his sinful way he had been living in has come to an end. The second test on the horizon came on the day of reckoning. There he stood before the Judge to receive his sentence. The Judge ruled, “Kenneth L. Cooper, I sentence you to serve ninety-nine years in the Florida State Prison System… and I retain the court’s jurisdiction over you for one third of the sentence”
From the hospital to prison, Ken Cooper will embrace another life he had never imagined: the absolute darkness of prison, the darkness of human heart, the horror and despair of prison life as well as the power of God’s gentle love, and the power of his word to change a criminal mind.
How Ken Cooper was released from prison in less than four years on a 99-year sentence will be yours to discover, to enjoy and perhaps to share.
Write a review of Held Hostage: A Serial Bank Robber's Road to Redemption
Catalog Shopping
Membership
