The Ride: A Shocking Murder and a Bereaved Father’s Journey from Rage to Redemption is a new book by Brian MacQuarrie that explores a parent’s grief and subsequent transformation through the story of Robert Curley in Massachusetts. Curley’s 10-year-old son, Jeffrey, was a victim of abduction and murder in 1997. The murder shocked and outraged the community of East Cambridge outside of Boston. MacQuarrie explores the father’s evolution “from grief to anger to activism against predators,” and from being an outraged father demanding the death penalty for his son’s murderer to an outspoken critic of capital punishment. Delving deeper into the issue, the author looks at the struggle of Massachusetts residents as they decide whether to reinstate capital punishment. Senator John Kerry calls the book, a “compelling and deeply moving…story of Bob Curley’s journey to hell and back.” Sister Helen Prejean said “Robert Curley’s radical transformation is a lesson for us all.”

The book may be purchased here and at major bookstores. MacQuarrie has been a reporter at the Boston Globe for 20 years. (B. MacQuarrie, “The Ride: A Shocking Murder and a Bereaved Father’s Journey from Rage to Redemption,” Da Capo Press, 2009). See Books and Victims.

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