Killing Kyle Orth: The Death of a Criminal & Life of a New Man Paperback – April 6, 2026

Killing Kyle Orth is the raw, unfiltered true story of a runaway kid who grew up fast on the streets, pulled into addiction, violence, and crime. With every choice, his world narrowed. Prison felt less like a possibility and more like a destination.Everything should have ended during a high-speed police chase. Officers fired 26 rounds into his car. Three bullets hit him. Kyle survived.What followed was not a miracle story wrapped in easy answers. It was a hard reckoning. A brutal, humbling climb out of a life built on survival at any cost. This is a gritty, deeply human account of hitting bottom and facing the damage left behind. It confronts what is emotional trauma and how unaddressed pain can quietly shape a life. It also shows what it truly takes when someone decides to stop running and start rebuilding.For readers searching for a book on trauma that does not look away from the darkness, this story offers an honest portrait of dealing with emotional trauma in real time. It stands alongside books about childhood trauma and hard-earned redemption and belongs on the shelf with good books for recovery that refuse to sugarcoat the process. More than a true-crime memoir, it is a heal from trauma book that asks a dangerous, hopeful question: when everything has gone wrong, is change still possible?About the AuthorKyle Hunter is a husband, father, community leader, a non-profit board member, and a member of his town’s city council. Today, he pulls people out of the life he once lived; a life filled with addiction, crime, violence, and prison.What Readers Are Saying“This book pulled on all my heartstrings. It opened my eyes to a world so completely different from my own. I couldn’t seem to turn the pages fast enough. Kyle’s captivating tale had me heartbroken, anticipating the next twist and turn and hopeful for redemption. It prompted me to consider my own perspectives on various facets of society as well as the incredible reality that there’s no place too dark for the light of Christ to reach.” Kelsey M.Avid True Crime Reader, Iowa “A chance encounter, an unexpected invitation to grab some coffee, and the start of a three-year conversation that revealed the most amazing story of struggle, courage, and redemption I have ever heard. I have taught undergraduate and graduate students at half a dozen universities. A different life path would have placed Kyle conformably among the best of them. But his story is not one of lost opportunity, grievance, or self-pity. Not what might have been, but what might be. Kyle has taught himself what I never could have, finding the light where there is none. So, as you read his story, let Kyle be your teacher, as he was for me—for there is none better.”Steve H.University Professor, Massachusetts“I backed this project on Kickstarter. I very much looking forward to reading the whole book. The preview shared with Kickstarter supporters was captivating prose with vivid imagery. This is a moving story—I can sense the deep feeling of the author in an easy-to-read way.”Melissa H., Australia Read more