5 comments about The Mary Kay Letourneau Affair.

1. I read the book and it was ok, but not a book I particularly enjoyed. I say this because Mr. Robinson's book is written as a textbook rather than a biography. While Mr. Robinson presented many facts about the Letourneau case using summaries and tables throughout the book, I found it rather tedious. In fact, I have not finished the book because it did not hold my interest.

   I did not expect this book to be written as a biography because others who have read it have told me as much. I was still interested enough to purchase the book and draw my own conclusions based on what I have read.

   What I liked about 'The Mary Kay Letourneau' book is that Mr. Robinson shows why and how the media was biased against Mary Letourneau from the get go. The officials who handled her case each had agendas of their own. Something else that I found interesting is what the prosecution and media did to cover up facts that would have helped Mary and her case.

   I feel that one reason why this book was not that great is because I do not think in a textbook like manner. I prefer biographies where I can relate to someone, feel what that person is or was feeling, and where justice is served.

   After I finished reading 'If Loving You Is Wrong' by, Gregg Olsen, I felt as though I knew Mary Letourneau as a person. If Loving You Is Wrong is one of the best books I have ever read. This is a book I was totally engrossed in because my heart went out to Mary and I became sympathetic to her.

   Both books: 'The Mary Kay Letourneau Affair' and 'If Loving You Is Wrong' are very different. If you are looking to understand the intricate details of the Letourneau case and how it was mishandled, then this is a fairly good read. If you are looking for an excellent biography written about Mary Kay Letourneau, then recommend reading 'If Loving You Is Wrong'.




2. I thought this would be an informative study of the case. Instead, it is a total justification based on the author's own strange opinions. If you want the real story, read Gregg Olsen's book: "If Loving You is Wrong."



3. A woman who was in prison with Mary has just written a book called "Mass With Mary - The Prison Years" by Christina Dress. This book kept me up late last night until I finished it. It gives an intimate look at the people, the story, the prison. It has humor and tears. For the first time in years, there is something "different" and new about the Mary Kay Letourneau story to read. Something written from someone close to her, not by writers who are guessing.



4. As many others have reported, this book just didn't cut it. I've been very interested in the Letourneau case and try to read anything about it, but this book I could have done without.
   I'd suggest "If Loving You Is Wrong" by Greg Olson, and "Mass With Mary" by Christina Dress and Letourneau...from the prison. These are two really good books! And these writers seem to know what they're writing about!



5. This book was a bore. This Robinson fella doesn't know Mary Kay from Adam, and has never spoken a work to her-and it's evident!
   The book was a half star in my opinion. A total waste of money.

2 comments about Loss of Innocence: A True Story of Juvenile Murder.

1. I loved this book and was surprised to see that it is out of print. I wanted to order it to send to a friend. I remember that I have an extra copy and will send it to her for Christmas. She loves murder mysteries just as I do, so I am certain she will find it as interesting and entertaining as I did.



2. This book is about my cousins, and is a true story that shattered our family. The spritual journey that my Aunt and Uncle went through as a result of this tragedy, has changed my life, and I'm sure will change the lives of all who read it.
   God can bring good out of all things, even something as horrible as this. I Highly recommend that you read this book.

No comments about Forensic Science.

4 comments about Legends of Winter Hill: Cops, Con Men, and Joe McCain, the Last Real Detective.

1. Okay, the title is a bit much. But I enjoyed this book tremendously. Some of the criticisms point to the elements I liked best. The routine cases, how they were approached, and the results were a revelation to someone who has no real idea of police work except what I've seen on "Cops" (constant action and crisis!). There was a new story on every page, and I wound up reading until 1 a.m. on a work day because I just couldn't help reading "one more page". The descriptions of the surroundings, the characters, the sounds and smells of the settings, conjured up a real sense of being there. I was fascinated by the character faults and virtues of the people in the book, as Atkinson tried to remain true to McCain's philosophy that most people aren't entirely good or bad. As a resident of the area, I finally understand the gang wars that were taking place when I was growing up (I remember the old Boston Record American newpaper with the crime scene photos splashed across the front). I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone who lives in the Northeast, and to others who'd like a glimpse into how Boston politics are practiced in every profession!



2. I could not disagree more with the review by Publisher's Weekly! I thought that Atkinson did an outstanding job in depicting the Boston area and some of its most important members of the law enforcement community. Atkinson's vivid depictions of setting and his uncanny ear for authentic dialogue help to create a mesmerizing and hypnotic narrative about cop life and private investigation. In today's society, in which we find organized crime figures to be charming and endearing, and our heroes are limited to vapid low life reality television stars, Atkinsons tale of Joe McCain, a police officer to be truly admired, is a breath of fresh air.



3. Jay Atkinson is to New England what William Faulkner is to the South (or, specifically, Yoknapatawpha County). Here, in similar fashion to his crowning achievement (to date), "Ice Time," Atkinson demonstrates an impeccable ability to chronicle the talking, walking, living, and dying of New Englanders in such vivid description where every page crackles with rich imagery and sounds.
   
   Just as Ice Time isn't REALLY about hockey, Legends isn't REALLY about cops and con men. Both are about relationships and traditions. And, even where Atkinson puts himself in the stories being told, he always retains the position of discreet voyeur; demonstrating beneath his masculine persona a remarkable talent to convey the innermost joys and melancholy of his characters. That is where Atkinson lives, and he invites us all to come along. Any fan of great writing will accept the invitation.



4. Jay Atkinson is to New England what William Faulkner is to the South (or, specifically, Yoknapatawpha County). Here, in similar fashion to his crowning achievement (to date), "Ice Time," Atkinson demonstrates an impeccable ability to chronicle the talking, walking, living, and dying of New Englanders in such vivid description where every page crackles with rich imagery and sounds.
   
   Just as Ice Time isn't REALLY about hockey, Legends isn't REALLY about cops and con men. Both are about relationships and traditions. And, even where Atkinson puts himself in the stories being told, he always retains the position of discreet voyeur; demonstrating beneath his masculine persona a remarkable talent to convey the innermost joys and melancholy of his characters. That is where Atkinson lives, and he invites us all to come along. Any fan of great writing will accept the invitation.

1 comments about Who Are These Guys: Tampa's Underground Airline.

1. This is a great all out funny, harrowing book about a Tampa Family, and it was true! It also was entertaining as far as the aviation action in the story. My friend tried to hunt your catagory of "True Crime," or even "Aviation," to order the book and none of these catagories exist. That is ashame, cause this is a must read for the fans of this genre and it all happened here in the Tampa Bay area.

5 comments about Lethal Embrace.

1. My review rating is between Bryan mackay's - A TRUE CRIME MASTERPIECE - and K. Cantrell's - A CLICHE MURDER, AND THE BORING DETAILS THAT FOLLOW. I have read many, many true crime books and this book did not keep my interest as much as some others I have read. I think it was because of the repetiveness that K. Cantrell mentions. Peter Wood "WriterFighter" - FIRST-TIME CRIME READER - states that it was somewhat repetitive, but it was repetitive in a good way to him. It wasn't for K. Cantrell and me. It seemed like filler to me. It was very sad that an innocent man, who by all accounts was a great guy, was killed by mistaken identity. I had much empathy for his family. I felt that Lee Ann's mom, Pat Armanini, and her lesbian lover, Elizabeth "Liz" Budroni, should have been held more accountable. It was Liz who started asking around for someone to hurt Lee Ann's husband, Paul Riedel, and it was her who first introduced Lee Ann to the shooter. Liz and Pat were both in on the meetings to discuss doing something bad to Paul. Either one of them could have gone to the police with the information and maybe prevented the tragedy.



2. I have read and reviewed on this site FROM THE MOUTH OF THE MONSTER, an outstanding book by Robert Mladinich, and BETRAYAL IN BLOOD, by Michael Benson, which has to be one of the worst true crime books ever written.
   I decided to read LETHAL EMBRACE hoping that Mladinich's grace and intelligence would be in evidence. Well, it is not.
   For those reviewers who praise Mladinich's writing in this book, I am certain that he had almost nothing to do with the finished written product. As a former NYC detective who would have had access to other police officials, he was probably primarily responsible for the research, such as it is, which seems to have consisted mainly of the reading and copying of police and court documents. If you are looking for any in-depth study which would give some real insight into what created the psyches and personalities which led the book's main players to act as they did, don't bother. The concept here is shallow - totally different, unfortunately, than Mladinich's intelligent and careful work in FROM THE MOUTH OF THE MONSTER. Having read, as I stated, BETRAYAL IN BLOOD, which is credited to Benson alone, I can testify that the writing in LETHAL EMBRACE is identical. And, folks, that ain't a good thing.
   
   I am an avid and veteran reader of true crime, and I have never seen a writer who manages to combine numbing repetition and voluminous filler with just plain lazy and incompetent writing - along with a pinch of the absurd - as uniquely as Michael Benson. This shall henceforth be known as The Bensonian Method. What follows will be examples from LETHAL EMBRACE - possibly a few too many, but a fraction of those available:
   
   1.On page 17, Benson introduces us to Peter Casserly, a man who, other than giving CPR to shooting victim Alex Algeri, has no other role in the story and is never seen again. Nevertheless, Benson tells us that Casserly was "a member of the Village of Amityville's Board of Trustees, the body that met on the second and fourth Mondays of the month to govern the seaside community. Casserly was a member of the Board of Trustee's Fire Protection Committee." Why we should care about any of this, since it pertains to a totally peripheral character, is open to question, but it is a masterful example of Benson's use of filler, and the fact that he actually includes the Board's meeting schedule, provides a nice touch of Bensonian absurdity. He does exactly the same thing in BETRAYAL IN BLOOD.
   
   2. The murder of Alex Algeri takes place in Amityville, NY. Predictably, in what I hope is his quest to meet his required number of pages rather than his thinking that it is actually appropriate or interesting, Benson provides us with over 4 pages about THE AMITYVILLE HORROR. The fact that it has nothing at all to do with the story elevates it's inclusion to the level of Bensonian filler. See pages 32-34 in BETRAYAL IN BLOOD for a similarly bizarre example, about the TV show BEWITCHED, of this technique.
   
   3. Page 56 provides an interesting combination of absurdity and filler. Benson writes, "Through the miracle of today's computerized world with its sophisticated network of law enforcement information, it was only minutes before Detective Anderson learned a great deal about Scott Paget."
   "THE MIRACLE OF TODAY'S COMPUTERIZED WORLD"??? This sounds like a high school student tying to stretch one page worth of material into five pages of writing. And it also sounds ridiculous. "In minutes, Detective Anderson had obtained a great deal of computerized information about Scott Paget." would seem to have been adequate.
   
   4. Then there is the repetition. On page 106, Rocco and Scott "went to a chop shop in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx. The chop shop was owned by a friend named Tony. It was there that they acquired the New York State license plates for the van." On page 112, Benson writes, "They went to the Hunts Point section of the Bronx, where they purchased a New York State license plate to be attached over the Florida plate. He knew a guy named Tony who provided this license plate service."
   
   On page 148, we find an almost perfect Bensonian illustration of the idea that no inclusion, no matter how absurd, is worth re-considering or removing: "On February 7, 2003, Michael Fiaccabrino gave a sworn statement to the Suffolk County police. He began by stating his name, Michael Fiaccabrino..." Presumably Benson saw fit to include this information to drive home the point that Fiaccabrino's name did not change between the first and second sentences.
   
   These examples actually show, in cameo form, the format of the whole book. This technique, when used over a large portion of a book, ceases to produce amused disbelief and morphs into complete and utter boredom. This book is 372 pages long. If it were competently and honestly written, there might be 150-200 pages of material. So what is a true crime writer with no real interest in writing a well thought out and researched book to do?
   Well, what Benson does is as follows: The lead Detective, Robert Anderson, on the Algeri murder case interviewed a lot of people. Benson records, word for word, the results of these verbal investigations. When the interviews were concluded, Anderson then had the interviewees record on paper the answers they had just given him. Benson then procedes to record, word for word, the information that has just been reduced to written form, WHICH IS THE EXACT SAME INFORMATION HE HAS JUST REPORTED FROM THE VERBAL INTERVIEWS.
   Page 107, from Rocco Salniero's verbal statement to Anderson: '"I drove past the front of the gym and then turned right. I drove past the rear parking lot, where we saw the black Yukon truck in the back of the building, so I made a U-turn and parked next to the building." "What time was it?" Detective Anderson asked. "About 7:30, 8 o'clock at night," Rocco replied.'
   Page 113, from Rocco's written statement, "He wrote that he drove past the front of the gym and made a right just after he had passed the building. He drove past the rear parking lot, saw that there was a black Yukon parked there.....He made a U-turn on the dark street which he remembered was lined with houses. He parked on the street where they could have a clear view of the gym's back door. By this time, he wrote, it was 7:30 or 8 at night."
   I neglected to mention earlier that shameless cynicism is also a component of the Bensonian Method.
   
   There is one difference though, from BETRAYAL IN BLOOD, in LETHAL EMBRACE.
   This is only supposition on my part, but while Benson is clearly not writing for literate adults, he may just be on the cutting edge of writers trying to expand the true crime experience to children. What leads me to this thought is that on page 16, early enough to grab the kiddies' attention, Benson writes, "Yeah, he wanted to get out of the business, but...KA-CHING! How could he unload a gold mine like this?"
   And, finally, on page 73 he writes, "The place they met -the "gentlemen's club" (wink, wink) was called the Carousel." Though presumably any moderately intelligent adult would have understood the meaning of the quotation marks, Benson may have included the (wink, wink) for his more innocent younger readers. Some of you may think that I've crossed the line and am now just viciously fabricating negatives. But folks, I'm not making that up! He actually wrote (wink, wink)!!!
   
   Shortly after I reviewed BETRAYAL IN BLOOD, in what was clearly an orchestrated campaign, four "reviewers", in the space of two days, wrote 2 or 3 sentence "reviews" of the book, which while not really dealing with the book itself, proclaimed it to be the apex of true crime writing and Michael Benson to be the best true crime writer ever. It was almost touching in that the orchestration of this event was as clumsy and inept as the book they were pretending to review. I can only hope that if this ploy is attempted again after this review, it will be accomplished with a
   little more sophistication. I would also hope that this time the reviews are written by people who have actually read the book.
   
   As a footnote for those who may be interested in further exploring the phenomenon which is the Bensonian Method, I wholeheartely recommend an outstanding review posted on Amazon by Elizabeth A. McCabe, which she has entitled "Horribly written, Repetitive" of another Benson-Mladinich collaboration called HOOKED UP FOR MURDER.
   
   LETHAL EMBRACE continues what Benson started in BETRAYAL IN BLOOD, in that it is an untalented, lazy and numbing telling of a story that would be unremarkable if it were told well. There is no reason to waste your time or money on this book. (Wink, wink).



3. this book brought me to tears numerous times. i have a personal connection with the family and know lee ann as a human being. the events were beyond tragic. however, the book tends to harp on things. there is plenty of useless information. not enough time was focused on lee ann and her family as human beings. i am, however, grateful that it does not outright portray her as a monster and it does focus on what a freak show her ex husband was. it is a good read, just remember to take everything with a grain of salt and all that you read is not factual.



4. I'm a fan of Bob Mladinich first true crime account of New York serial killer Joel Rifkin ("From the Mouth of the Monster") ... I've also had the pleasure of meeting the big guy (Mladinich) and he's the real thing. This is a very well research and written account of a fascinating crime.



5. I watched this case on the Oxygen Network show Snapped and was shocked by it. I mean being an innocent victim just getting some CD's from your car and then getting shot. The book dragged on at times and repeated the same thing over and over at times.
   
   I feel sorry for everyone involved from Alex's family who lost their beloved son and brother, to Lee Ann for not knowing that there were other alternatives than to plan the murder of her husband, Paul for having such a difficult past and having to live with his best friend being murdered instead of him. I saw him on Larry King 4 years ago being interviewed about the case and it does appear that he is a very loving father and realizes that he must set an example for his son. I went on the publishers website and he had written a review of the book and he stated that his son is doing great and he is happily remarried with a baby on the way. Most of all I feel sorry for Nicholas who will not know his biological mother and will find out the truth of this terrible crime.
   
   Like the title of my post. Fascinating story but not so great writing.

5 comments about The House on Garibaldi Street (Classics of Espionage).

1. This book is a must read for those who are fasinated by the shadowy world of espionage. A magnificant account of the capture of the nazi war criminal Adolf Eichman, by the Mossad. Written by the chief Israeli spy master, Isser Harel, it is an in depth discription of how Eichman was found, tracked, captured, smuggled out of Argentina, and brought to trial. Get your hands on this book, it is truely amazing.



2. After months of search, I found and read this thriller. Here is a true story of daring, resourcefulness, dedication, and diligence in bringing to justice a mass murderer.
   How the Mossad did this without beepers, cellphones, pagers, walkie-talkies or other "modern" paraphernalia of the espionage trade makes for non-stop fascinating reading. Not to be missed!!



3. Most reviews here stress the "true" elements of this book, and there is no doubt that a team of Mossad agents captured Eichmann in Argentina and brought him successfully back to Israel for trial under Harel's direction. But many scholars have doubted some of Harel's assertions. To see some of these, I suggest "Israel's Secret Wars" by Benny Morris and Tom Segev's section on the Eichmann trial in "The Seventh Million: The Israelis and the Holocaust." Both scholars offer illuminating and critical comments on Harel's account.
   
   Two elements which strike me as lacking plausibility is the account Harel gives of his attempts to capture Mengele while holding Eichmann. He continually stresses how time consuming the Eichmann mission is, but then devotes valuable time to hunting down Mengele. This parts seems apologetic: he is responding to (later) criticism of not being able to capture Mengele. In another part, Harel instructs the agent who will be handcuffed to Mengele if the transport to the airport is botched to inform the authorities of Harel's location. This seems the height of implausibility. Would the head of the Mossad offer his head up to the Argentinean authorities? He would be just the man who should NOT be captured in such a mission.
   
   That said, this is an compelling book that is hard to stop reading. The reader just needs to keep aware that a book such as this will often have more motivations than simply telling the "truth."



4. I agree with Reviewer: Eric Maroney. A lot of it just didn't add up to me. Particularly the timing of the snatch and
   some way over the top preparations (eg. teams arriving plane itineraries, the many rental cars, many rental houses, the roving cafe headquarters, the doctors certificate).
   I mean reading this, Mr. Harel is talking as tho he's planning on holding off a siege once he gets Eichmann into a safe house (he calls them fortresses).
   He talks of constructing hideouts within these rental houses, building secret passages in them, of installing "innocent families" as cover.
   He sounds like he's going to stay in Argentina forever! Better safe than sorry, you say? These guys were making spectacles of themselves.
   
   Mr. Harel knew the days when the plane was going to arrive (may 19) and depart (may 21). Yes the days had been postponed twice from the orig. May 11 date, but so what. All they had to do was snatch Eichmann and get em on the plane. KISS
   Instead they grabbed him May 11 and held him. for ten days!! Doing so put them in much greater risk. Plus their guys were bitching cuz they had to wash and feed Eichmann and fake out the neighbors.
   
   Where was Eichmann's place of work anyway? They never followed him from his house to his work. Why? Weren't they even curious as to what he did for a living?. Why was Eichmann living in such poverty (no indoor plumbing or electricity)?
   It sounded like one big over-the-top disorganized mess.



5. After reading various books on espionage, covert operations and israel intellingence, I haven't found anything so detailed, clearly and methodically narrated. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the holocaust .... The best..

5 comments about Deeds of Trust (A True Story, Volume 1).

1. Deeds of Trust is truly the most important book I've ever read and changed my perspective entirely. I have contacted her organization and they are all wonderful people. I would recommend this novel to anyone.



2. I was given this book to read before deciding whether to put my son on medication. My skin ran cold when I read what this woman endured. I now have my son on the nutritional products this author recommended and his Attention Deficit issues stopped. His grades are high and he is back to being my son.
   
   I am so grateful to this woman.



3. This book completely changed my perspective in life! I cannot thank the author enough. She really took me through her horror and to such an inspirational place.



4. I raced through this book to get to the ending. It was completely worth the sleep I lost. I've given it to all my family and friends. Now I understand what has been happening to me!
   
   Please read this - it is vital to our society.



5. This book changed my entire perspective on what is happening in society today. Thank you Ms. Rain.

5 comments about The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: A Hercule Poirot Novel (Hercule Poirot).

1. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is a step outside the traditional framework of a mystery. If you have read Agatha Christie before, you owe it to yourself to read this book. If you have not read Agatha Christie before, I suggest you start with another of her excellent novels first so that you can savor this one all the more.



2. This book was probably about the 15th Agatha Christie Novel I had read and since then I have read almost 15 more- but this remains my favorite. This novel truly reflects Christie's ability to decieve the reader and have you on the edge of your seat. I have many times recomended this book to first time Agathe Christie readers, and have only gotten postive feedback. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is a true thriller from beginning to end.



3. I've read two of Agatha Christie's books now, and I won't be reading any more. Don't get me wrong, I think she's a very talented writer, but the style of her mysteries just doesn't suit me too well. That's ok, I think she has plenty of fans!



4. The narrator, James Sheppard M.D., tells about the little village of King's Abbot. Widow Ferrars died in her sleep from an overdose of veronal, a drug to induce sleep. Her husband died a year earlier - gossip said he was poisoned. Roger Ackroyd, an immensely rich manufacturer had thoughts of marrying widow Ferrars (they would be richer). Ackroyd was a widower without a child (Chapter 2), and lived in a mansion with relatives and servants. There is a new arrival, a stranger named Hercule Poirot. Conversations tell about the people and personalities. Later Dr. Sheppard visits Roger Ackroyd. A letter from Mrs. Ferrars brings shocking news: she poisoned her husband and was being blackmailed! Dr. Sheppard leaves Ackroyd and returns home. Later a telephone call sends him back to find Ackroyd was murdered! The police are summoned, and Poirot begins his parallel investigation. The chapters tell of the investigative procedure. Everyone connected has something to hide, and Poirot (aided by Dr. Sheppard) finds out what the secrets are.
   
   The usual convention is to plant little clues throughout the story so an attentive reader can figure out the mystery before the last chapters. Did you? The first time I read this book I had a hunch, but it seemed crazy. Is the first clue in Chapter 3? Is there another in Chapter 17 or Chapter 24? As the suspects are eliminated who will be left? Were you shocked and surprised at the conclusion? Christie examined the fictional lives of the upper class in a small English village. Do the sins of Ralph and Flora reflect the morals of the aristocracy? Are they like the people in a TV show? Fiction must reflect reality to be believable. Reading this again after forty years I noticed the feminine characteristics of the killer. Was this symbolic for a personality that could not be mentioned?
   
   The lifestyles described here were damaged by the Great Depression, and mostly killed off by WW II. Inflation has made the monetary figures far out of date. They had automobiles and telephones, but no radio [electricity?]. The comments about coldness say there was no central heating. Do the marriages without children have some hidden meaning? Or merely a way to simplify the story?
   There is one problem in this story. How did the killer know beforehand that an alibi was needed for the murder?
   People who died while being attended by a physician are seldom subject to a post-mortem autopsy. Does this have any affect on this story?



5. I'm still relatively new to the world of Agatha Christie as The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is only the third book that Dame Agatha wrote that I have read. I've heard that she has been known to reuse plot devices and that sometimes, some of her stories can become repetitive, but if they are all written like The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, I would be happy with that. This will easily top my list of favorite books.
   
   I don't want to go into too much detail, as I'm always afraid that I'll let something slip that will spoil the end of the story for newcomers to Christie's writing. The book is so complex that I wouldn't even know where to begin. There is a suicide, blackmail, cocaine abuse, secrets and of course, murder. In his usual flair, Hercule Poirot (who happens to be in the right place at the right time) is brought in to investigate. Through the course of the book, suspicion is plainly brought on each of the main characters in the Ackroyd household, and you will never have a clue as to "who done it" until the very end. Every chapter, I was sure I knew who had committed the murder, yet every time I was wrong. An ingenious book.

5 comments about Wasted.

1. Suzy Spencer writes an interesting story of a little girl lost who's love for the wrong person, gets her killed. You really get a feel for the characters and what they are like. You want to give Regina a hug and tell her everything will be ok. You want to kick Kim in her manipulative butt and you want to lock Justin up, and throw away the key. As for Anita and Jeremy, it seems they were the only two people who really cared for Regina, and they should find peace in knowing what good friends they were. I couldn't put the book down and like another reviewer, I had wished for a different ending. But unfortunately, it was not to be. The true crime in all of this is how one person got away with murder.



2. At one point, Reg was one of my best friends. We were total opposites, and I relished the time we spent together. She was wild and crazy, while I'm somewhat conservative.

   Remember that this is a representation of essentially a short amount of time in Regina's life. I never thought of Reg as a "cocaine queen" or "rich lesbian". She was just a person. One who was fun to be with, loved deeply, and who does not deserve this legacy. She died a terrifying, horrible death. It's unimaginable what she went through.

   Justin went to prison and Kim is somewhere out there living a free life under some assumed identity. She breathes in and out every day. I think about this all the time and wonder how this can happen?

   If there is anything you should take from Regina's story, it is that you shouldn't turn your back on your friends if they get into drugs. You shouldn't ignore it. You shouldn't pretend it isn't happening. Do something about it or you may live to regret it for the rest of your life. Trust your instincts, the red flags that go off in your head. If you don't, you'll be haunted the rest of your life.




3. It is terribly upsetting when I read how others talk badly of Suzys book. She told the story about a very tragic and unhappy time for alot of people.
   Suzy really wanted to let people know how one friend should never let another friend get involved with bad people. We knew that these people where bad, just didn't know how to really stop Regina from the harm they might and did eventually cause.
   Take from this book what you may, just never take a friendship lightly and remember most of all, let anyone you love know each and everyday how very much you love them, as it may be the last time you get to let them know. I live with this thought everyday of my life. I miss my friend so very much.



4. Suzy Spencer's book paints a tale of a woman, Regina, who was an out-of-control drug addict and addictive personality. She falls in love with Kim LeBlanc who uses her for her money. It seems to be the problem with Regina that friends can use you for your money and abandon you when you need them most. I have to say that the book is well-written in terms of crime books. There are lot of lessons to be learned about being young and in love but there are just so many dysfunctional relationships whether it is your own family but also among friends. Regina's drug problems and her obsession with Kim ruled her life in the last year. Why didn't she listen to her friends? Why did she spend so much money on people who didn't appreciate it? I know that I am one of those people that would gladly be generous but not to the point of spending my entire life savings to please them by wining and dining them and setting them up with drugs. The book entitled Wasted is about the life lost and the crime behind Regina's terrible murder and disposal. Sadly, I hope that Regina is with her mother in heaven now.



5. I found out about this book after Justin's trial in California for the murder of Raphial Noriega. I was a juror and the trial brought us through the whole Texas trial. We heard testimony that conflicted with facts stated in the book. Also found it confusing the way it jumped around. Hope author writes another book on Justin's California trial. Kim got a free ticket, Justin got the sentence he deserved in California. Overall worth a read.