“…Tobin astutely looks at the varying possibilities that would have led to Gatti’s death. Such an approach intelligently and respectfully piques interest in a real-life mystery that has left Gatti’s fans and family in need of both solace and satisfactory answers.”—Kirkus Reviews (full review)
“[Tobin is] an intelligent writer and a thoughtful person, tender even, who writes with authority…I know he’s invited me to a place I’d not have accessed without him.”―Bart Barry, 15rounds.com (full review)
“Tobin’s purpose is welcomely, deliberately, indefinite. Instead of a Shakespearean tragedy, or yet another bloody chapter of boxing’s wider legacy…Tobin’s document becomes a meditation on the human condition…”―Jack Porter, The Sportsman (full review)
Arturo “Thunder” Gatti hung up his gloves in 2007, closing the book on a boxing career that bordered on the mythical. At long last, he seemed ready to leave the business of blood behind for a long, happy life outside the ring. His retirement was celebrated—boxing’s modern gladiator had earned his freedom.
Two years later, he was gone—found dead in a hotel in Brazil under mysterious circumstances. He was only thirty-seven years old. Did he commit suicide? Or was he killed by his new wife?
In Killed in Brazil?, Jimmy Tobin recounts the dramatic events surrounding Gatti’s tragic demise and shines a light on what may have happened on that fateful night.
Killed in Brazil? is the fourth in the Hamilcar Noir series. Hamilcar Noir is “Hard Hitting True Crime” that blends boxing and true crime, featuring riveting stories captured in high-quality prose, with cover art inspired by classic pulp novels.
Jimmy Tobin is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Tobin is now widely-recognized as one of the best boxing writers today. His work has appeared in Hannibal Boxing, The Cruelest Sport, 15 Rounds, Esquina Boxeo, El Malpensante, The Queensbury Rules, The Fight Network, and Hannibal Boxing .
Tobin’s first book is Killed in Brazil?, exploring the myths and mystery surrounding Arturo “Thunder” Gatti’s untimely death in Brazil. He lives in Toronto.
Read Tobin’s recent articles on Hannibal Boxing – Jimmy Tobin
Praise
“…Tobin astutely looks at the varying possibilities that would have led to Gatti’s death. Such an approach intelligently and respectfully piques interest in a real-life mystery that has left Gatti’s fans and family in need of both solace and satisfactory answers.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Where I find myself lost in other gifted writers’ words or stories, or simply skimming lesser writers, I find myself more aware when reading [Tobin], I find myself guessing why he made certain choices, asking how much of what I’m thinking he intended. Oftentimes I pause and answer a question he poses then decipher his reason for asking it, but when he is at his best, I find, I can’t decipher why he asked a question, and I like that discovery. I like that he’s gone in a direction I can’t explain because I know he is an intelligent writer and a thoughtful person, tender even, who writes with authority, and so, if he’s gone somewhere without leaving breadcrumbs, I know he’s invited me to a place I’d not have accessed without him.”—Bart Barry, 15rounds.com
“What could have been a somewhat tasteless murder mystery, Tobin’s purpose is welcomely, deliberately, indefinite. Instead of a Shakespearean tragedy, or yet another bloody chapter of boxing’s wider legacy, in reciting and debating Gatti’s death Tobin’s document becomes a meditation on the human condition, the false belief in the true existence of empathy, that we arrogantly convince ourselves to understand others. ‘When a family loses one of its own to suicide, a panic descends,” summarises Tobin, without having definitively opined the true cause of Gatti’s death, “The panic is rooted in the need to understand, to quarantine this act of destruction, to make it intelligible before the suffering borne of mystery spreads.”—Jack Porter, The Sportsman
“Did he commit suicide or was it an accident? These are the questions author Jimmy Tobin sets out to answer… Very much a human-interest read, it draws the reader in and leads them to other, darker possibilities from the night in question. .”—Bookmakers, “Best Sports Books Released This Year”
“The heart of the story is really not about Gatti, but, rather, about the impact his death had on those who knew and loved…Tobin, professional he is, never tips his hand to the reader, and allows for the facts and the evidence to shape the story. And as with any good mystery, this one will be debated, analyzed, and relegated to the territory of unsolved for the foreseeable future. This book is recommended for high school, public, and academic libraries.”—Gavin Woltjer, President, Montana Library Association
