Rob Price
Gutbrain Records
rob + gutbrain.com = email

2026 July 15 • Wednesday

Billy Hayes was trying to smuggle some has back to the United States from Turkey, for recreational use. He got caught. And sentenced to jail for decades, possibly life.

In collaboration with William Hoffer, Hayes wrote the book Midnight Express about the experience, the shame and terror and increasing desperation.

It's harrowing and well written and extremely absorbing. I can't imagine ever being tempted to try something like what Hayes got arrested for after reading this.

Hayes forms friendships and some closer relationships with fellow prisoners, who come from various different countries, including the United States. In recounting the development of these connections he allows us to see the best in people, a much needed balance to the filth, violence and insanity that pervades the narrative.

Having gambled against the system and lost big once already, Hayes tries to extricate himself from his predicament by the book but after years and years of setbacks and no progress, he turns to planning an escape.

There aren't many books like this one. And it's hard to imagine a writer of fiction coming up with some of the scenes you'll find inside. I recommend it.

The first line is "Some twelve miles west of Istanbul, beyond the outskirts of the city in the flat farm country near the coast, is Yesilkoy International Airport".