No comments about Tin for Sale: My Career in Organized Crime and the Nypd.

2 comments about Yesterday in Old Fall River: A Lizzie Borden Companion.

1. When I bought this book, I thought I was buying a history of Fall River, Massachusetts. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it's a reference book, comprised of everyone who was ever involved personally in the Lizzie Borden murder case. Bios are listed alphabetically and I can't think of anyone Mr. Hoffman's left out. I gave this book 4 stars because there are some errors here and there, and more photos of those we don't usually see would have been fantastic. Still, it's a good piece of work and fascinating whether you're looking up a person or if you just want to sit and read it cover to cover. Don't miss it before it becomes unavailable, as many Lizzie Borden books do.



2. If you are fascinated by the Borden case (and apparently many of us are) this is an amazing compilation of biographic information about anyone (even prospective jurors who weren't selected for the jury) linked to the murders and trial. You can dip in and find out about 'Me & Brownie', Hyman Lubinsky, and all the rest, written in an entertaining but informative manner.
   
   I nearly fell out of bed when I read that Lizzie's actress 'friend' Nance O'Neil appeared in the movie 'The Titfield Thunderbolt', one of my favourite British comedies. I'm sorry Mr Hoffman but this was Nancy O'Neil, an Australian actress born in 1911.
   
   I sincerely hope this is the only flaw in what appears to be an otherwise meticulously researched book.

No comments about More Oklahoma Renegades.

5 comments about Inmate 46857.

1. I started the book thinking that it would be just another biography of a bad life turned good. By the end I was gripped by the reality of a miracle and reminded that God can indeed change anyone. I recommend the book to any person who thinks that anyone or any situation is hopeless. It is also a great tool for those that work with at risk youth.



2. This is an incredible testimony of God's grace and faithfulness. It is very well-written and is hard to put down once you start it. Written in the first-person narrative, it makes you feel as if Eddie is personally talking to you and telling you his story. It is exciting to think of how God will use this book to impact many for His glory!



3. I read this book because Eddie Charles is coming to visit my school. My eyes were opened up on how a person can turn to such a sinful life. I am hoping that the message he carries will influence some of my students. Hopefully, his story will keep some of them from making some of the mistakes he made. I also took to heart what he said "Only God can change a person for the good".



4. I just finished reading Inmate 46857 after having met and heard Eddie Spencer in person at a reading conference this week. I cannot imagine someone even younger than me living a life like he described in his book. It was truly through the grace of God that he did not commit murder and his testimony is one that could and should shake up folks who might be headed down the wrong path. I highly recommend having him speak to troubled youth and using his book as a witness to God's power to change people.



5. i just finished reading this book and am deeply moved by the conditions in which this man had to grow up in and felt it an honor to have been allowed into his personal pain. it puts me to shame for my own careless affluence, always a good reminder. reading this book allows me an encouraging faith as i pray for prisoners. besides all this, it's a really good read.

No comments about They Knew Billy the Kid.

No comments about The Night Runner: The Desperate Hunt for a Serial Rapist in Louisiana.

5 comments about Goombata: The Improbable Rise and Fall of John Gotti and His Gang.

1. goombata is not a great mob book.it tends to explore too much of john gottis childhood.the book is about the rise and fall of gotti but it didnt really float my boat.it has a couple of good chapters but the rest are average.on one occasion it tells how gotti,i guess you can say killed the man who accidentally ran over his son.the man pleaded with gotti but john didnt have mercy for the man.he just dissapeared but we all know that gotti got him.



2. not the best book i have read but not the worst.despite the book being flawed because it finishes before the final prossecution. it does offer a few good chapters and also throws down some opinions that s contradicted by other sources.like who did whack his body gaurd near the end of the book.some good photos but not exactly a work of art. if only he good have waited to find out what happened at the final prossecution then he could have definately called the rise and fall of john gottis crew .there are definatelly better mob books on the market but if you do want a different veiw then it may be worth checking out.



3. John Gotti( Dapper Don), I feel is the cause for the downfall of the Gambino crime family. In "Goombata", it shows how Gotti loved the attention from the Press and Media. He alone made the FBI and RICO chase after him. John Gotti wanted a flamboyant life-style, which is why he was number one target among organized crime leaders. John Gotti broke the number one rule in La Cosa Nostra, the secret life.
   I like the tone the author set. Chapter after chapter I wanted to know what John Gotti was going to do to become a known man within the Gambino family. "Goombata" is a fast and terse biography. This novel would've been the perfect biography but the author, John Cummings, did'nt make the novel long enough. He could've coverd more about his coming up among the ranks years. Also, there was no clear resolution because when this book was published, John Gotti was on trial for racketereering charges that he later was found guilty for. Overall rating, three stars.



4. This is awful stuff - it goes way too fast, and the amount of facts that are wrong is unbelievable from two so-called mob experts. Among the wrong facts - the circumstances surrounding the Frank Costello shooting, the McBratney murder, the Westies alliance, and much much more. For the real Gotti story, try Gotti: The rise and fall.



5. This book was originally published in 1990, and therefore, as other reviewers have pointed out, the ending just drops off the edge of the cliff, leaving the "hero" in jail awaiting trial.
   
   Messrs. Cummings and Volkman, the co-authors, are described as "prize-winning journalists."
   
   The book rolls along pretty well, although in the paperback version the typeface is small and paragraphs are large, and there is very little conversation, except what the authors apparently pulled from court transcripts. These, in turn, were often pulled from "bugs" planted by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies inside the "social clubs" used by Gotti and his goombata (like the Spanish compadres or compas).
   
   So, this book is not much like a novel at all. To its credit, it is still absorbing reading, if, that is, you are one of those Mafioso groupies, like me. My grandfather was of Italian descent, so in my fantasies I'm "Skinny Al" Pedrone, riding shotgun with these very folks, my heroes.
   
   In reality, of course, I'm a frightened little "punk," the kind these folks would have for lunch (were I edible, which I doubt).
   
   Another reviewer wrote that too much of the book was devoted to Gotti's childhood. I felt just the opposite: I would like to have learned more about his early life. For example, very little is said about how he met and courted his wife.
   
   I know: This type of personal information is difficult to obtain, unless you are talking to the subject himself. That's why I had the impression that the co-authors more or less rushed this book into print, to capitalize on Gotti's notoriety in 1990. They did not actually want to wait and write a thorough biography, because the reading public might lose interest fifteen years later.
   
   They were right.
   
   Diximus.

No comments about De la Prisión a la Alabanza.

1 comments about Devil Incarnate: A Depraved Mercenary's Lifelong Swathe of Destruction.

1. I first saw this book serialized in the UK's `News of the World,' and it did put shivers up my spine, not least because I was at the anti apartheid protest in Glasgow when he tried to bomb it, but also for how he's subsequently been portrayed in the media.
   On reading the book however, I'm now left slightly unnerved, simply because I feel like I've got to know, and understand, someone who was potentially my murderer.
   Beyond that though, what really struck me was Athol's obvious intellect, as for as evil as he is - and he is evil, his capacity for introspection and logic is second only to his capacity for violence.
   This book will be offensive to many. While hated by others. And there's no doubt an argument against giving such a man a public voice. But, like the way his life has unfolded, there's no denying that the book's as gripping as it is insightful, and for that I'd recommend it to anyone who likes `reading on the edge.'

No comments about Al Capone (Amazing Stories) (Amazing Stories).