The Other Dr. Gilmer by Dr. Benjamin Gilmer

A young doctor gets more than he bargained for when he takes over a small mountain practice in North Carolina. Once there he finds that he is taking over a practice of the previous doctor one who was beloved and trusted but is now in prison for murdering his father and they happen to share the same moniker - Dr. Gilmer. Eventually after the shock wears off Benjamin Gilmer meets Vince Gilmer in prison and comes away with an unsettling conclusion that Vince Gilmer may have had a medical reason for acting like a madman and committing murder. What Benjamin Gilmer and a legal/medical team find is that there is a deplorable lack of mental health care in the prison system and Vince Gilmer most likely has Huntington's disease which can cause strange violent behavior. An interesting look at both a country doc memoir and the strange rabbit hole that Dr. Benjamin Gilmer fell into when he took over Dr. Vince Gilmer's practice and the legal hoops he had to go through to see justice done. True crime, prison reform and unusual memoir themes are all at play here.  4 stars