At the age of twenty-five, he was pulled down from the top of the wall at 4 AM trying to escape from the State Penitentiary in Guadalajara, and thrown into a dark, smelly dungeon for seven months...and that wasn't even the lowest point of his life. It was never easy for Richard Burns, from a troubled adolescence through years of incredible and dangerous adventures. He followed and chased uncertainty with the great beat generation writers, a beautiful heroin-addicted dancer, clever scams, harrowing escapes, and short-sighted ventures that always tempted fate. The one constant in his life was the apparent truism that life is forgiving, and always offers another chance.