Until he was convicted of murder, and jailed for life without parole.
 
A true story told by the master of crime fiction, All-American Murder is the tale of Aaron Hernandez, once the NFL's youngest player, a star for the New England Patriots, and a Super Bowl veteran. His every move played out in the headlines, and yet he led a secret life – one that ended in a maximum-security prison. What drove him to go so wrong, so fast?
 
He'd courted trouble since school, and trouble followed him to the NFL. Between the summers of 2012 and 2013, Hernandez was linked to a series of violent incidents culminating in the death of Odin Lloyd, a semi-pro American football player who dated the sister of Hernandez’s fiancée.
 
This explosive account of the rise and fall of a life cut short in the dark shadow of fame, culminating in Hernandez's own untimely death behind bars, is built on original, in-depth reporting. Was Hernandez a victim himself, suffering violence-inducing brain damage from the sport that meant everything to him – or was he just a heartless killer?