The first 3 books I have read while on holidays have been Dead Man Running, No Angel and The Barbarian Way. The first two are stories relating to Outlaw Motor Cycle Gangs (OMCGs) while the last was a call to a wild and untamed life of faith. There has been some interesting and unexpected overlap between the two types of books. More about that later…

Dead Man Running is the story of an Aussie Bandido who eventually got to a place where he couldn’t tolerate the violence and thuggery of the OMCGs and who chose to become a police informant in exchange for a new identity in the US. It’s a chilling tale about the inner workings of the gangs and the brutal manner in which people get treated, especially those who ever choose to leave.

It was given to me by my friend ‘D’ who has recently came to faith and left his own OMCG after 23 years of involvement. While he has chosen to follow Jesus he is genuinely worried for his life and for the possible repercussions from his decision.

What was equally disturbing was the incompetence of the ACC who threw him in the deep end and then gave him hopeless support, as well as the completely lame beauracratic systems that prevented any actual convictions from his work. ‘Steven Utah’ was no model citizen, but the story was as much a tale of police blundering (and corruption) as bikie thuggery.

The other book I am halfway thru is No Angel, about an undercover cop in the US who took on the job of infiltrating the Hells Angels. He is a hard nosed bloke who lives on adrenalin – why else would you do it?! What is interesting in this book is how many cops are working undercover as bikers. It seems they have ‘chapters’ everywhere and their job is simply to gather evidence that will ultimately convict these guys of the criminal activity they are involved in.

I really enjoyed the OMCG books and the insights they gave into a slice of life that isn’t normally seen by ordinary garden variety folks. An interesting reflection from both books is that many ‘outlaws’ have started as ‘outcasts’. Those who were rejected by society – for whatever reason – have subsequently chosen to live outside of society and not play by its rules. More than that they have chosen to live in revolt against the values and mores of conventional life.

The most hard core of these are known as the ‘one percenters’. If the stories I just read have validity then these are people you don’t want to mess with or get on the wrong side of.

When I get a chance to blog again I’ll offer some thoughts on Erwin McManus brilliant book ‘The Barbarian Way’ and the places of overlap between OMCGs and disciples of Jesus… No really…

To be continued… buy diovan