The book charts Keene's real-life story and the experiences he faced when he was tasked with trying to coax a confession from suspected serial killer Larry Hall (played by Paul Walter Hauser). I did a good deed, and I did a lot of good things," he said in the TV interview. "That's where I feel the redemption comes in. I've done something good for the things that I did wrong."

I made it a point for us to bump shoulders together, and as we gently bumped shoulders together I turned around and said, 'Excuse me.' I said, 'Listen' -- I said, 'I'm new here' and said, 'You wouldn't happen to know where the library is, would you?'" Lastly, do you plan on writing more novels in the near future? I think that fans across the world sympathize with everything you’ve gone through. They admire the empire you built with your bare hands. Do you agree that your books serve as a reminder that anyone can pave the way for themselves, no matter how difficult their lives get? After managing to get Hall's confession regarding Roach, Keene waited a short time before asking him about Reitler. When he did, Hall allegedly confessed that he did kidnap and kill the victim. Levin believes that Hall’s relationship with his twin is what’s “absolutely key to understanding him” – how “abandoned” he felt when the brother left the house to live with a girlfriend. “He had lost not just his best friend, but a huge part of his life – almost like a part of himself – and no surprise, a lot of the women killed looked a lot like that first girlfriend the brother had.”Your latest novel, ‘The Chicago Phoenix’, tells us yet another amazing part of your life. Can you explain what drove you into the marijuana business at just 13 years old? Jimmy Keene was born on New Year's Eve in Kankakee, Illinois, an exurb of Chicago, to James “Big Jim” Keene and Lynn Keene. Big Jim was a decorated police officer, and Lynn Keene owned a restaurant.

She stayed out late at night and was barely ever present in the home. This led us into deep poverty and day to day survival became an unbearable nightmare. One day at 12 years old while out riding my bicycle deep out in the cornfields, I stumbled onto many many giant hefty bags stuffed with marijuana. These giant bags sat out in a secluded area deep in the cornfields for almost a year. Finally, I sensed the financial opportunity to broker the marijuana to my older friends. It sold like hotcakes and so began my wayward path into the marijuana business. The information of Roach and the maps was enough to allow Keene to walk free, and he was finally allowed out of jail in 1999 – having served just under a year-and-a-half in prison. What stood out for me most was the voice – it was very robotic. It did not express a lot of emotions.”

Where is James "Jimmy" Keene Now?

It became Beaumont's mission to get a confession from Hall about Roach and other possible crimes he allegedly committed, including the 1993 disappearance of Tricia Reitler. That was where Keene came in. How did James "Jimmy" Keene target Larry Hall? The novel follows young Jimmy Keene in the marijuana business. However, the business was undoubtedly dangerous. The job included surviving street shootings, brawls, and other dangerous situations. Do you recall any specific situations in which your life was in danger? And I walked up to him and I says, "Hey, this is where I'm at." I said, "Are you in this area here." I said, "Well, that's great." I said, "You're right by me." I said, "You know what? I told you you were a cool guy, and I'm glad that you're by me" and all this and that. And that's when he basically offered sometime if I'd ever want to have breakfast with him and his friends. Ironically enough, I wanted to be a police officer, but my Dad was totally against it, so heeding that his advice left me only more confused as a young man. Perhaps I should have taken an out of state football wrestling scholarship, and seen where that would have taken me, but the reality of moving out of state and away from my thriving marijuana business, my only real means of financial survival kept me in Chicago and still on a wayward path.

He looked up expecting to see a scowl from Beaumont. But the prosecutor’s gaze was no longer as hard or even accusing. Keene continued through the file. One photograph was of a second naked victim in a ditch, but other pictures were of smiling, attractive young women. They could have come from high school yearbooks. The file also included terse police reports from Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin; even states as far away as Utah. Some of the teens had been found dead and, like the girl in the cornfield, with signs of strangulation. Others were still missing. In researching the true story, we discovered that federal prosecutor Lawrence Beaumont believed that suspected mass murderer Larry DeWayne Hall was responsible for more than 20 killings. Of Larry Hall's victims, only one body has been discovered, that of Jessica Roach. -In with the Devil

Was Keene successful?

a b c Rosenblatt, Dana (July 5, 2011). "Recanted confession leaves missing girl's parents in limbo". CNN . Retrieved 2022-12-29. While Jessica Roach's case was closed, the disappearance of 19-year-old Tricia Reitler remained unsolved. To give her parents some semblance of peace, prosecutor Beaumont hatched a plan. In an interview with Dateline, Keene admitted that it was "the hardest thing [he's] ever done to sit there and pretend to be his friend and listen to this stuff and not just rip him apart." Now, in April 2023, James Keene just published his third book in the autobiographical franchise and titled it ‘The Chicago Phoenix: Jimmy Keene’s Untold Story’, which follows him prior to going to prison. Comic Years had an amazing opportunity to receive exclusive information about James Keene’s latest novel. James Keene about The Chicago Phoenix

That evening, Larry calls out to Jimmy to say goodnight. But he is met with no response: Jimmy is sobbing into a tightly clenched fist, unable to speak. At night, he has a grotqesque nightmare in which his past sexual exploits become the murdered corpses of Larry’s victims, his own hands tightening around their throats as his face become's Larry’s. People probably wouldn't understand the mounting pressure, that kettle's ready to boil over at any time, ya know, and it just felt good to unload on the guy," James Keene told Dateline. "I'm disappointed I didn't wait another day or two at least. I should have waited a few more days." However, Keene pointed out that the confessions and information he got from Hall led to the reopening of several cold cases that may have involved the alleged serial killer. "I did a good deed, and I did a lot of good things. And that's where I feel the redemption comes in. I've done something good for the things that I did wrong." The information Keene got out of Hall was instrumental in Hall losing his appeal and remaining in prison. Keene tried to get more information from Hall about where he allegedly buried Reitler, and Keene came across Hall with a map that showed the supposed location of several of his alleged victims.

por la presencia de James Keene. Entiendo que es una forma de darle un enfoque novedoso a la historia del asesino en serie: el criminal que se redimió aceptando ir a una prisión peligrosísima para encerrar a un asesino de mujeres. He decided to finally let out the disgust and anger toward Hall that he had been bottling up ever since Hall had opened up about some of his brutal crimes against young women. "I went across to his cell over there," recalled Keene. "The repulsiveness I felt about him throughout the whole time I had to stay being his friend and the disdain and dislike I had for him, that I thought it was good for me to unload on him and tell him what I really thought of him and who he really was. I said, 'You know, I'm gonna be going home tomorrow, Larry,' and I said, 'You're a crazy killer,' and I started calling him everything you can think of." But I think, when you do realise how deeply organic it is, that there's something driving these people, that gets to the point where they really cannot control themselves.”