No comments about Havana Nocturne.

5 comments about The Devil's Highway: A True Story.

1. The conflict of the story is there are 26 Mexicans from different parts of Mexico that cross the boarder illegally. They cross the boarder into a desert they call hell. The desert is the Sonoran desert and is part of southern Arizona. In this desert there is no water also there are deadly animals and spirits. Some are left behind waiting for the return of others.
   
   
   I liked the book because its real and I could never picture myself going threw the desert with no food or water. I also liked the book because it described the surrounding and face to face things in that Arizona desert. I didn't like it because it made me think about people starving in the desert. I would recommend this book to people that like reading long stories. I also recommend this to people that like the setting of a harsh place.



2. I was assigned this book for a college English class. I was not looking forward to reading it, but found myself very glad I did.
   
   It is a very interesting account of a true life happening told in a poetic(almost florid) way. The word pictures are amazing! I appreciate the way the author "shows" not "tells".
   
   I especially enjoyed the way each person's point of view is explained. Immigration is a very complicated problems with no easy solutions. This book did a good job of making me empathize with and understand the various characters whose lives are very removed and different from my own.
   (In that way it reminded me of "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down" by Anne Fadiman.)



3. Excellent story. Highly recommend to others. Great eye opener to be thankful for everything we have. Great book!!



4. Luis paints the scary picture of crossing the desert. He puts humans behind the names of the crossers, border protrol, and the cyotes. Based on true events that happen everyday. This is a must read for everyone in the United States.



5. Definitely worth reading. This is in my top-five of all time. Well written. Great research. Easy to read. Compelling story. Read it.

5 comments about Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets.

1. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I love Mr. Simon's writing style, which is both intresting and easy to follow. The only negative about this book is the language, which may offend some people.



2. Journalist David Simon's homicidic tome, published in 1991, follows a group of detectives from the Baltimore Police Department's Homicide Unit for an entire year, beginning in January 1988. It is a gritty, great read about the matter-of-factness of murder in a city with one of the highest rates in the nation. An article in a recent (April 19, 2008) issue of New Economist highlights a recent drop in that rate (from 282 homicides in 2007). During the year of Simon's internship, there were 234 murders, followed by (p 618) 262 in 1989 and 302 in 1990. Based on those four years, that's an average of one violent death every 18 hours.
   
   What Simon was able to put together from his year's worth of journalistic scribblings on life with the good guys and the bad guys is a fantastic fly on the wall's eye view: the graphic violence of crime scenes, the raunchy humor of and banter between the detectives, the despair of the victims' family members, and the utter stupidity of many of the criminals: (p 16) "the investigator's saving grace is the killer's overwhelming disposition toward incompetence or, at the very least, gross error." His Guidebook of Death Investigation Rules are remarkable: (p 34) "Rule Number One...the page 1 entry in a detective's lexicon: Everyone lies." Rule Five is equally profound (p 237), "It's good to be good: it's better to be lucky." Best of the book: Simon's ability to capture the events in a comprehensive and cohesive manner, even with several welcome change ups to the overall chronological format. Covering every aspect of "life on the killer streets" Homicide is a perfect read for tome-loving crime buffs, neither category of which I belong. Also good, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer, and Green River, Running Red by Ann Rule.



3. great book - heard David Simon on NPR and he knows the streets of BMore



4. Homicide is one of the better of the crime reporting novels I have read. Simon was definitely at the top of his game.
   
   He manages to write the book with more of a novel feel then a biography of the people involved. Other similar books, such as 'Homicide Special' try for the same thing, but you still feel the writer in their presence. Simon makes the reader feel as if they are there without feeling that the writer is intruding on anything.
   
   The cases the officers work on are all interesting, and not all are slam dunks or even solvable. Many authors would feel a need to make their book have cases with endings. I applaud Simon for not giving in to that temptation.
   
   Baltimore definitely plays a role in this book, and you get a real feeling for the city. You can see in this book the seed that would eventually sprout the series 'Homicide'.
   
   If you are interested in detective work this is an excellent read. I highly recommend this book.



5. I read this book after watching - several times over - David Simon's most recent work, The Wire. I have always been interested in detectives and was drawn by this book because it is non-fiction. As well as being a highly enjoyable read, I would say there were three main takeaways. First, the detailed first-hand account of actual cases and methods of investigation (including related disciplines such as interrogation, medical examination, ballistics, trace evidence, etc. as well as the legal processes and challenges that lead to conviction) have made me much more familiar with the actual process of solving murders. Second, a basic understanding of the structure and organization of a homicide unit within the police department and how the system is incentivized to solve crimes. Third, an appreciation of how these detectives - through late-night drinking sessions and office humor - manage to make their lives livable when they are not dealing with the darker side of their profession. Simon's first book is really special, I look forward to reading it again someday.

5 comments about Ring of Hell: The Story of Chris Benoit and the Fall of the Pro Wrestling Industry.

1. The problem with this book is that Randazzo based his book on the testimony of not so good sources. It's sad what happened to Benoit and his family but we cannot put on trial a lot of people who really has nothing to do with it.
   
   For example the Hart's of Stampede wrestling. Stu Hart (father of Bret and Owen Hart) who was Benoit's first promoter. Randazzo destroys one of the most beloved and respected figures of wrestling saying that he was this crazy old man obsessed with pain and suffering that Benoit admire with a twisted fascination, I think that was uncalled for.
   
   Randazzo's thesis is that Benoit had serious mental problems dating back to the earliest years of his career, issues related to self-consciousness about height, an emphasis on technical perfection bordering on trauma, and a propensity for cruelty whose limits were apparently nonexistent. Maybe that's a bit true, but Randazzo's half truths and lies have no limits.
   
   
   Randazzo's tone and word choices throughout the book make clear not only that he is not a wrestling fan, but that he harbors serious hatred for both the wrestlers and their fans. He seems unable to understand what could drive wrestler to make the sort of foolish sacrifices required for success in the modern wrestling business, although they aren't anything that would be unfamiliar to, say, a pro football player or a rock musician.
   
   Yes, death has been part of wrestling for long, yes, there are a lot of substance abuse in wrestling, but the problem is not the business is each individual, the only guilt the system had is not to protect their own as an industry would do, but it's not the fault of wrestling itself. Randazzo took the easy way out and blames the whole wrestling industry.
   
   The only interesting credit of this book, is the description of some situation in Japan that may be quite real, and a couple of mention of key wrestlers and managers, but besides that Randazzo's venom can be felt all over his book.
   
   If you are looking for an honest look at the business this is not the book, if you want to be reminded of some of the issues that haunt the wrestling business and want to be delighted with the twisted humor of Randazzo, be my guest, but if you are a fan of wrestling and more important if you are a fan of Chris Benoit you will be deeply insulted.



2. Where do I start? Well, first of all, the book is littered with inaccuracies. Inaccuracies that are too numerous to list. Next, and maybe most importantly, is how the author talks down to the fans of professional wrestling. He peppers the entire book with his personal opinions about how wrestling is a ridiculous form of entertainment. He mocks anyone who would consider pro wrestling as a career. Claiming, in so many words, that you would have to be mental to ever consider a career in wrestling. The entire book is written with an incredibly negative slant.
   
   It's apparent that the author doesn't like or respect wrestling in the least and simply tried to cash in on the "Chris Benoit murdered his family and I'm going to write a book about it" money train. What a douche bag!
   
   I'm sorry I wasted my money. Don't waste yours.



3. Well first let me ask, did the author's over use of the word "sadistic" annoy anyone else? Seriously, he probably use it 200 times! Dude, ever hear of a thesaurus?
   
   The first 100 pages in this book can be summed up in 3 easy words. "Benoit used steroids". The majority of Ring Of Hell I felt like I was reading a direct copy of A Lions Tale, only all the positives were warped and twisted into negatives. Where Jericho talked fondly about Benoit, Mr. Randazzo would turn it into a negative "sadistic" description. Mr. Randazzo talked about the entire Hart family and any wrestler whose name was unlucky enough the be printed in his book with total disgust. Understand when you pick this book up that the author is not a sports writer or a wrestling fan, he writes about murderers. Chris Benoit is a murderer, and what he did was undoubtedly evil and disgusting. However, I think this man, Matthew Randazzo, was the wrong person to write a book on the life of Chris Benoit. I didn't want to read a rewrite of other wrestlers' biographies or shoot interviews, I wanted to read an accurate description of one of my favorite wrestler's tragic life.



4. This is a crazy book...especially if it is all real. Most of it probably is, but some of it might not be. His sources are listed in the back, however, wrestling is a business that will sometimes lie about what goes on or someone exaggerate because they are bitter.
   
   All that aside, it is a fun book to read.



5. This book is pure shock!! If your a life long wrestling fan like myself, your view of the wrestling world will forever be changed after you read this book. Usually it takes me two months or so to read a new book. This book took me 3 weeks. I just could not put it down.

5 comments about Vanished at Sea: The True Story of a Child TV Actor and Double Murder (St. Martin's True Crime Library).

1. This horrific story about the murders of Tom and Jackie Hawks was truly difficult to comprehend. It is extremely difficult for me to relate to human beings who are too lazy to work but want to steal and kill in order to acquire wealth.
   
   While the novel was well written, I truly wish I had read the reviews by others before I purchased the book and read it. While the wheels of justice seem to move quite slowly in some cases, I am baffled as to why Jennifer Deleon went to trial quickly and it seems as if Skylar Deleon and his partner in crime have yet to have a trial.
   
   I was hugely disappointed when I reached the end of the book only to discover Skylar had not had his trial. Now I will have to keep searching the Internet for information on him in order to learn of his fate :-(
   
   As a long time fan of Ann Rule, I can't help comparing other true crime writers to her. I don't recall Ann Rule ever writing a book until the killer had been to trial. In fact, that is usually a huge part of her novels,as she attends the trials herself. If Ms. Dirmann felt strongly about writing the book before Skylar Deleon went to trial, it would be a service to her readers if she would at least post on her web site what was happening with his trial, as other authors have done.



2. I live in southern California where the murders were committed and I followed it in the papers, but this book has more to it than I remember reading about. I won't go into the logistics of the crime since others have covered that very well, but I didn't know about the perpetrators' backgrounds, nor about other crimes, nor about a possible sex-change, etc. This is very well written and held my interest throughout. My only complaint is with the editing: There are several errors in dates..... I had to keep flipping back and forth to figure out the dates..... but that is a minor complaint with a book that was so well-written and fascinating in all it's detail. I read a lot of true crime, and most of the books published in the past few years (including Ann Rule's books, sadly) seem like elongated magazine articles and aren't worth the effort of the reader, let alone the cost of the paperback. This is one of the best of the past few years.



3. why can't people just work hard for a living? Instead of stealing and murdering other people. I have worked hard since I was 14 years old,I may not have much but everything I have I worked for.Just goes to show how screwed up people are.



4. I am an avid reader, mostly of mystery fiction, but also true crime. I had followed the story when it happened. The interviews and Tina's dialogue style truly brought out the personalitites of everyone involved and how they all became entwined in this horrific event. It is a very tragic but interesting story and I recommend it to anyone interested in studying human nature.



5. Being new to the true crime genre, mostly a reader of fiction, mystery, and non-fiction adventure and science (a.k.a. Crichton, Connelley, Krakauer, or E.O. Wilson), I was pleasantly surprised by this book and this author. This story surprised and shocked me to say the least. Ms. Dirmann's account was well researched and very well written. Her conversational style kept me turning the pages as though she were telling me the story herself, in person. It made for an easy, enjoyable read. In fact, I am looking forward to reading it again, as soon as I finish her first book, Such Good Boys, which I am halfway through after one day and cannot put down.
   
   Also, I do not subscribe to the "written-too-soon" train of thought. The story ends with a sense of finality, with all of the accused (if they even deserve that bit of politically correct leniency) charged, behind bars, and at least one trial complete. As I understand it, others are still awaiting trial (it was recently postponed AGAIN until August 2008), and it's been 4 years since the murder. To wait for all trials to conclude before writing a book like this would deprive readers of an engaging tale for possibly years, and the story is far faded from the headlines. If opinions or accounts do change, I look forward to the 2nd edition for clarification, the decision of the jury, and the sentencing, if necessary.
   
   Great work Ms. Dirmann, Ill be in line for your next one. Please keep them coming.

5 comments about American Eve: Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White: The Birth of the "It" Girl and the Crime of the Century.

1. Evelyn Nesbit was the 'face' at the turn of the century. She did alot of living during the first 21 years of her life. The author tells Evelyn's story beautifully and gives life to the people in this
   tale.
   
   After her father died, Evelyn's family struggled. They lived with relatives and Evelyn became an artist model. She ended up supporting her mother and brother by modeling. The family moved to New York where Evelyn met Sandford White, the famous architect. White became Evelyn's "protector" with the approval of her mother. White later took advantage of this teenage girl. Evelyn was beaten and raped by Harry Thaw a disturbed millionaire who later became her husband. His Pittsburgh family had no use for Evelyn. Harry Thaw's murder trial was the first big crime media event.
   
   Evelyn Nesbit was exploited by her mother, Sandford White, and Harry Thaw. She is protrayed in this story as a young woman of courage and strenght.
   
   This book is a page turner and is highly recommended.



2. Late in his life, after a decade and a half absence from the stage, John Barrymore toured the country in an execrable play entitled "My Dear Children." Barrymore was reduced to engaging in bad self parody to earn sufficient sums of money to satisfy his numerous creditors. The play itself was a poorly conceived variation upon "King Lear" with Barrymore playing a once famous Shakespearean actor whose drunken and hedonistic excesses bore more than a passing resemblance to his own personal foibles and marital difficulties.
   
   Notwithstanding the shoddiness of the script, the play enjoyed a measure of success as theater patrons flocked to the box office to witness the once great actor engaging in self deprecation. When Barrymore was tired or when he had forgotten his lines, he simply engaged in ad libs. Pouring himself a drink from a prop liquor bottle, for instance, Barrymore once reduced an audience to fits of laughter by observing in an unscripted aside, "God, I wish this were real!"
   
   After finishing one night's performance with a touring company in Chicago, Barrymore settled into a booth at the Rush Street cabaret, the Club Alabam. In the darkened room, he recognized a face. Years had faded the beauty of his former love, Evelyn Nesbit, but he called to her and he announced to all the assembled cabaret patrons that Evelyn was the first woman that he had ever truly loved. Both Barrymore and Nesbit were reduced to tears by their chance reunion.
   
   Barrymore at the height of his powers was considered the greatest actor in the world and could sometimes command six figures in weekly wages. Nesbit was once the prototype for the celebrated Gibson Girl illustrations, but she ended up being a model for the drunken "has been" character of Susan Alexander in "Citizen Kane" (other sources suggest this composite character was based upon Marion Davies, but the character incorporates aspects of several female entertainers). Almost four decades previously, Nesbit had rejected Barrymore's sudden proposal of marriage to continue acting as the kept mistress of Stanford White, a prominent New York architect. Barrymore was a penniless artist at the time while White was a wealthy patron of the theater who frequently seduced chorus girls. This arrangement was agreeable to Nesbit's avaricious widowed mother who seemed perfectly content to sell her daughter to the highest bidder.
   
   When White refused to divorce his wife and marry his mistress, Nesbit took up with the sadistic millionaire Harry K. Thaw, the heir to a coal fortune, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When Thaw murdered White in 1906 on account of his obsessive jealousy, which was fueled in part by his belief that White had blocked his advancement in New York society by blackballing him at several exclusive clubs as much as by his learning that White had once been balling his wife, Evelyn played a key role as a defense witness at her husband's two murder trials.
   
   It has been reported elsewhere that Evelyn received as much as $200,000.00 from Thaw's mother to commit perjury while on the witness stand to help secure Thaw's acquittal. The defense relied upon the theory that Thaw had acted from the purest of motives in avenging the loss of his wife's honor by killing the man who had seduced and raped her. The first trial resulted in a hung jury. During the retrial, Thaw's defense counsel introduced evidence of his client's long term history of mental instability over Thaw's own protests and the prisoner was spared the death penalty and sent to a prison for the criminally insane.
   
   Did White actually drug and rape his mistress? Possibly, but there is evidence to suggest that Evelyn Nesbit was sexually precocious. She had been hospitalized for appendicitis and had to undergo an emergency operation a few years earlier. This was a subterfuge. Nesbit had undergone "an illegal operation," namely an abortion. In attempting to short circuit Thaw's defense that he acted out of honorable motives, the prosecuting attorney William Travers Jerome attempted to present credible evidence that Nesbit had undergone as many as three emergency appendectomies in her young life and had been sexually active. In all likelihood, at least two of the abortions were intended to terminate a pregnancies that resulted from Nesbit's sexual relations with Barrymore. Many of Nesbit's embellished stories of being a victimized virgin first surfaced during her courtroom testimony and were repeated in her numerous attempts to capitalize upon the sensational media circus created by the two trials and her own subsequent notoriety in two autobiographies. Nevertheless, she sometimes claimed to have been in love with Stanford White.
   
   Unfortunately, you will not find all of these stories in "The American Eve." Paula Uruburu has neglected to review of all of the literature on the subject. Her bibliography omits John Kobler's magisterial biography of John Barrymore "Damned in Paradise" which contains the facts that I have recited. Similarly, she omits to refer to the autobiography of Cecil B. De Mille. The famous film director's widowed mother operated a private boarding school for young ladies which Nesbit attended after White and her mother sent her packing from New York as a means of breaking off her affair with Barrymore. De Mille politely described Nesbit as so much trouble and her latest feigned appendicitis attack occurred while she was at the school. It is interesting to contrast the behavior of two widowed mothers: De Mille's mother opened a boarding school to support herself and her family, Nesbit's mother was willing to allow her daughter to become a glorified courtesan and to live off her earnings as a chorus girl and a model while encouraging her to pursue wealthy male admirers and to become a fortune hunter.
   
   After the trials concluded and Thaw was sent to the sanitarium, his mother cut Evelyn off without an additional cent. When Evelyn bore a son a few years later, she alleged that the child was conceived during a conjugal visit with Harry K. Thaw. Her crazed former husband vehemently denied paternity of the boy. Following his release from the prison for the insane, Thaw routinely refused to support his divorced wife and her child. On rare occasions, however, he provided Nesbit with token sums of money. She remarried and attempted a career on the stage and screen, but subsequently divorced again and became an alcoholic and a morphine addict. Her suicide attempts were unsuccessful and she died of natural causes in 1967.
   
   Hollywood has sought to depict the scandal of the "Girl in the Red Velvet Swing" on several occasions. Joan Collins and Ray Milland appeared in a sanitized version of the story (if it is possible to use the word "sanitized" in the same sentence with the name of a Hollywood harridan like Collins -- her casting couch nickname was once "The British Open"). The relationship between Stanford White and Nesbit is treated as an almost innocent relationship between two lovers who are unable to marry due to societal conventions beyond their control. Not surprisingly, this film used Nesbit as a consultant. A more plausible portrayal of Evelyn Nesbit occurred in the adaptation of the E. L. Doctrow novel "Ragtime" in which Elizabeth McGovern played Nesbit as a sexually promiscuous and money conscious woman on the make who could not control her lunatic husband.
   
   In James Cameron's feature film "Titanic," the writer/director borrowed freely from other film adaptations of the shipwreck tragedy and he created composite characters that appear to be based upon Evelyn Nesbit, Harry K. Thaw, and the supporting cast of real life persons that played bit roles in the murder trial of the century. Frances Fisher plays the ambitious mother pushing her beautiful daughter to marry an insanely jealous millionaire. At one point, she explains to her daughter the necessity of a woman entering into a loveless marriage solely for financial security. Kate Winslet (Rose) and Billy Zane (Cal) can easily be viewed as simple variations upon Evelyn Nesbit and Harry K. Thaw while the penniless artist played by Leonard DiCaprio (Jack) approximates Jack Barrymore. The only composite character diminished in the screenplay is that of Stanford White. Victor Garber plays the ship's architect (Thomas Andrews) who seems to have a platonic or paternalistic love interest in Rose`s character, not unlike Ray Milland's sympathetic 1955 portrayal of White in "The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing," but this character is sidelined from the love triangle. Cameron's script turns history on its head as Rose opts for the starving artist rather than the rich madman before the ship collides with the iceberg. Some tragedies do bear dramatic repetition.
   
   On the positive side, this new biography is lavishly illustrated with photographs and drawings. Evelyn Nesbit may well have been one of the most beautiful women in America during her prime. I cannot accord this book a higher rating simply because of its omissions. The author seems to have elected to rely upon Evelyn Nesbit's own dubious recollections of the events too often. "American Eve" is not necessarily a bad account of the murder, scandal and the two trials, but it is certainly an incomplete one. For example, the latter sixty years of Nesbit's life are handled in an abrupt and cursory manner.



3. I thought this book was well researched in that it provided detailed background into Nesbit's life and the era in which she grew up. I would have liked a little more info on Stanford White. And there was hardly anything written about Nesbit's life after the trial. Seems the author lost interest or just ran out of steam.
   
   Also, the author seemed to have great bias against Nesbit's mother, as evidenced in the way she would interject editorial comments in parentheses throughout the first half of the book. This detracted somewhat from her authority (for me, anyway). I think the reader could infer that Nesbit's mom was a loser...no need to blatantly point that out.
   
   What I especially appreciated was how the author provided cultural background of the Gilded Age. She made it clear the low status of and lack of opportunities afforded women of that time period.
   
   Overall, I think this is a worthy read if you're interested in more than just the lurid details of White's exploitation of Nesbit.



4. I've heard about Evelyn Nesbit and the crime before, saw the movie "Ragtime" long ago and was intrigued to find out more.
   First of all, I love tales from long ago, how people lived in the past and this book not only tells this infamous history, but also immerses the reader in the New York of 1900.
   Second, I was mesmerized (like everybody else) by her beauty. Her beauty didn't "age", better explaining, her beauty is still relevant today as it was 100 years ago. Other beauties of her day look dated now in comparison to hers.
   I literally could not put it down!Highly recommended. Uruburu's writing style is easily readable and the accounts of the facts seem pretty real, since she used many quotes from Nesbit's two autobiographies.
   As a collector of antiques, I immediately bough an Evely Nesbit postcard from Ebay!
   What a sad life! Reminded me a little of Edith Wharton's "House of Mirth" in a sense of how limited the options were for women just 100 years ago.
   LOVED IT! Sad that I finished the book too fast!!!



5. Seldom do we get a book offering the virtues of "American Eve." Researched with care and intelligence, written with a crisp touch and truly compelling, it is remarkable. I've known of Evelyn Nesbit all my life and to my journalism classes read a newspaper account of the night of the White murder which reamins absolutely riveting. Having seen many photos of Nesbit, I curiously did not realize how timeless her beauty is, how contemporary she looks. And that her beauty isn't classic as much as it is astounding. The book covers all the bases and, oh brother, is it hard to put down. I kept coming back to it and once finished started it again. The recreation of an era long past is remarkable, but as remarkable in the menace which lurks throughout the story. Nesbit herself is part of that menace. Sweet, beautiful, clever, observant, she is also distressingly self-destructive and adept at attracting the wrong kind of man in the wrong kind of way. Perhaps if she'd had a decent mother, but read the story for yourself.

5 comments about Thunderstruck.

1. I've come to watch for Larson's books as I've enjoyed his past histories. This one came highly recommended, but it wasn't as good an entry as his other books.
   
   The book looks at a murder that occurred in the late Victorian Era in England, and the impact that the advent of the wireless had on closing this case. Larson spends a good amount of time giving the background of both the people involved in the murder, and the development of the wireless by Marconi. Marconi's work and attitude are interesting, as he really wasn't a scientist, but rather a tinkerer/inventor who managed to create something that proved vital to the communication needs of the world. Unlike Edison, who invented a variety of things most of his life, Marconi only did the one, and he didn't try to understand the science behind it...and that cost him.
   
   The work done by the police in England was phenomenal. It's important to appreciate the amount of sheer dogged investigation that was done to bring Crippen back to stand trial. In our current world where everything must be immediate (like processing DNA on CSI), we forget how much time and effort was spent by both policemen and physicians in proving a case.
   
   The book was a bit confusing, as one chapter would be on Marconi's work, and the next on Crippen and his wife. But the 'timing' of each chapter would be off. Larson would have to go back to explaining how the technology of the wireless was achieved, while the Crippen case would run ahead. A bit disconcerting...
   
   Karen Sadler



2. Did you see my review of Erik Larson's "Devil in the White City"? Every superlative used there goes double for "Thunderstruck". There are some shortcomings, of course.For example, Larson spends a great deal of time fleshing-in his characters,but little time fleshing-in the history of telegragh technology( the conventional telegraph was developed after Hans Christian Oerstead discovered electrical magnetism could move a charged needle, in 1820).He mentions Morse code, but little about the man it's named for( Samuel F.B. Morse made the first practical telegraph in 1837, using a code that used dots and dashes to indicate numbers, groups of which indicated letters, NOT the system that bears his name).



3. The stories of Crippen and Marconi are disappointingly disconnected. Larson fails to achieve the suspenseful story-telling that made The Devil in the White City a hard book to put down.



4. Larson takes forever to get to the story, which is a stretched point, at best. He spends way too much time on painstaking details for setup, most of which go nowhere, and very little time fleshing out the climax of the story, which he fairly breezes over. Haven't read his other book, but judging by this effort, the man does not know how to tell a story. Painfully and woefully disappointed! Hours of my life I'll never get back again.



5. It is interesting how much literary artifice underlies this book. The mere synchrony of the arrest of the murderer Dr. Crippin on shipboard facilitated by Marconi wireless becomes the rationale for a book which switches back and forth between the story of Dr. Crippin, his life, eventual deed, and arrest and some of the drama of Marconi's development of wireless communication. Because the author jumps around from date to date in order to achieve narrative effectiveness----one story as contrasted with the other but sometimes 1910 is juxtaposed with 1901---the reader is never sure of how things fit together. In truth, they don't. The claim that the world wide news coverage of Crippin' s flight and pursuit really established radio telegraphy in the face of doubts about its usefulness is a bit far fetched. The author does not do a very good job of explaining what the development of radio was all about. Because he leaves out most technical discussion, Marconi's unscientific Edison-like trying all possible combinations to see what works is left in an aura of mystery. The reader is presented with the drama of Marconi's ambition and business acumen but is given no sense of what is understood about radio, except that the waves were thought to be propagate in a straight line like light, so that one can't place Marconi's achievements and failures in the broader context of what is known about wireless and when it is discovered. In the epilogue the author does mention some of the scientists and what they learned but it is all too brief. It may be that Oliver Lodge's demonstration of radio waves in the 1880s is the real invention. But he never carried through and Marconi did.
   
   So we have the literary artifice of a meek, hen-pecked doctor, his illicit love life and eventual murderous bid for romantic freedom compared to an insensitive scientifically ignorant entrepreneurial inventor and his crude interpersonal relationships. I guess it is literature, but so what. The book is much a description of the manners of Victorian-Edwardian England. As such it is only mildly interesting social history filled with gross generalizations about sexual morality, etc. I guess I don't read for entertainment. I much prefer more subtle history. After all it was also the England of Oscar Wilde. So there is much more to be said. That Marconi's wireless happened to entrap the poor doctor is little enough grounds to build a literary work on. But the author has done so and I suppose that I learned that I would like to know a lot more about the development of wireless, particularly the relationship between science and tinkering. To do so, I will have to resort to scholarly history of science and technology. Since I read the book, listening to it as a book on tape, my time was certainly better spent than feeling trapped in traffic and trying to escape in the beat of AM or FM radio. I won't be able to do that with a more scholarly description of the development of wireless.
   
   Charlie Fisher, author of Dismantling Discontent: Buddha's Way Through Darwin's World

5 comments about Smoke, Mirrors, and Murder: And Other True Cases (Ann Rule's Crime Files).

1. Ann's insights on the Winkler case alone make this worth the purchase. But add into the mix the stories of several relationships gone bad, and you have a textbook of warning for women AND men. A great collection of shorter cases - not that the cases themselves are less important - but I do like this format because I can fit the reading into a busy mom's schedule.



2. This is the latest book in Ann Rule's True Crime Series. The Writings are not up to her usual High Standards. In each of the cases covered it seems the villian is all bad and the victim is all good, which is not the usual case in real life. The best story is in the last one covered, which is "The Minister's Wife". The latter is the story of the Minister's wife from Tennesseee who shot him in the back "in self defense". I was not aware that part of the reason for problems in the marriage is that she fell for one of these Nigerian inheritance schemes. I still find it hard to understand (As Ann Rule does)how anyone could believe that a complete stranger would give you thousands of Dollars. But I guess financially desperate people do desperate things. However the depiction of "The Minister's Wife" (for some reason) created sympathy for her (in me.) I was glad that she served a very short sentence, and was released. One of the things that made these cases unappealing is that most of them occurred many years ago, when life was so much different here in the USA. (No internet, PCs or Cell Phones.)



3. This is the first Ann Rule book that I have read.
   She includes 7 cases that stretch from 1960 to the most current, the Winkler murder case.
   
   The most intriguing for me was the oldest case. "The Antique Dealer's Wife" where Raoul Guy Rockwell undoubtedly murdered and dismembered his wife and step-daughter. He got away with it despite the dogged determination of the lead detective.
   
   I found the case of Dorothy Jones a bizarre,unsolved mystery. There are two possible explanations and many reasons for believing either was the cause.
   
   The chapter on the Winkler case leaves some questions unanswered.
   There is no doubt that Mary Winkler killed her husband. The circumstances are unclear or at least,unproven.
   
   "Smoke,Mirrors,and Murder" reads like a crime novel with both solved and unsolved murder cases. This is one of the better books in the true crime category that I have read to date and I can understand why readers like Ann Rule as an author. She's an excellent writer!



4. Love Ann Rule's books, and I like these small case file stories more and more.



5. The book had a fair price, got to me immediately, and was in almost perfect condition.

5 comments about Gomorrah.

1. This is almost a documentary about an Italian Mafia nobody talks about, the one concentrated in Naples. The facts and the documentation are scarily accurate and, also, very enjoyable to read. I highly recommend this book!



2. I've read this book to find out more about the reality of Naples and surrounding areas. I found out instead what happens around all of us no matter where we are. The book helped me understand better what organized crime does (besides selling drungs and racketeering). I had NO IDEA.
   This is not fiction and it is not narrative. This is information.



3. I was stationed in Naples from '91-'94. I roamed all over as military police. I saw corners of Naples that many Americans living there never even dream of visiting. My knowledge was based in hear-say though and I have now many years later begun to study the city and the country to better understand what I lived there. This book has been a real eye-opener. I suspect it is slightly sensationalistic but he tackles a topic that few authors want to and his life is on the line for it today. Hopefully more Italians will follow his lead and step up and make their society a better one free of the crime that haunts their land today. This is a long, long way from the other Italian books that I love - the ones by Francis Mayes.
   
   I was shocked to see that I spent much of my free time in the heart of Camorra territory - Casal di Principe. I have friends there and we never spoke about the mafia. I was in that town day and night many, many times.
   
   FWIW I felt safer in Naples at all hours than I have in many American cities and hope to go back someday for another extended visit.



4. A full-throttle look at Cammora crime from the nitty gritty ground level, "Gomorrah" is a look behind the curtain that suffers from an author with too intimate an approach to his subject. For a Neopolitan perhaps the geography, family and clan names, capos and underbosses, murders, victims and characters are a uniting thread; but, to the average American reader I think this translation of Saviano's originial Italian work lacks some critical elements that would help to make this story more than the timeline of crime it ends up being.
   
   There is no real protagonist to unite the series of seemingly only loosely-related vignettes, unless one counts Saviano himself, but his role is more that of tour guide, standard-bearer and narrator.
   
   Mixed in are some really interesting details about Cammora business, the purpose and organization of the system, and the lifestyle both for the connected and unconnected. But, these are sprinkled in among dizzying references to different criminal systems, families, clans and characters. Further complicating matters, the translation (I can't speak for whether it reflects the original work) is stark and breathless. In spite of the occasional turn of phrase, metaphor or analogy, the writing is spare and unadorned.
   
   All in all, a staccato and stilted trip through what remains -- even after reading -- an unfamiliar vantage point on Italy.



5. I picked this up expecting an interesting and in-depth look at the author's infiltration of the Mafia in Sicily. I didn't make it far enough to see if it actually happened. This book failed the 50 page rule, meaning that it didn't get to the point and was not interesting enough to compel me to read past page 50.

5 comments about While They Slept: An Inquiry into the Murder of a Family.

1. Kathryn Harrison is an immensely gifted writer. I read one of her earlier novels, Exposure, many years ago, and was enthralled with her perceptions, intuition, and tone. As most of her fans know, she was also the victim of an incestuous relationship with her own father, which she documents in her non-fiction work, The Kiss.
   
   And herein lies the problem with her latest non-fiction work, focusing on the April morning when young Billy Gilley, Jr., murdered his sleeping parents and younger sister, allowing only his cherished sister, Jody, to survive. Jody somehow psychically survives this violent night, and, in fact, becomes Chief of Staff for President Clinton's National Campaign Against Youth Violence, among other things.
   
   Harrison conducts many face-to-face interviews with Jody and Billy, who are estranged. It doesn't take long, though, for the reader to realize that this book is less about their tragedy than Harrison's own. She writes, "For a long time I understand my pursuit of the Gilleys' tragedy as driven my identification with the two older of the family's children: with Jody, in whom I saw an outline of my better self, intelligent and capable...then with Billy, whom I allowed to represent the wounded and murderously angry child that I was..."
   
   Based on her transference to the Gilley tragedy, Harrison goes into deep analysis of Jody and Billy. At times, I almost felt as if I were reading a psychiatrist's transcript. One example: "It seems likely to me that Billy's memory is inspired by his wish for a grandmother who was powerful enough to save him -- a woman with a weapon she was willing to use..." Examples like this abound. Since the author has had massive therapy but is not, in fact, a trained psychiatrist, these passages sometimes seem arrogant.
   
   Moreover, Harrison seems unaware, at times, of how her own tragedy colors her perception of the Gilley tragedy. For example, her distaste of Thad -- who became a self-appointed guardian to Jody -- is palpable. My own read is that he made a major difference in Jody's life, but he is a father figure, which, I believe, is threatening to the author. (And yes, I'm aware I'm doing precisely what I'm accusing Harrison of doing!) There are other examples of this as well.
   
   Ultimately, the reader finds out more about Kathryn Harrison than Jody and Billy Gilley. The escalating violence, the suspense, the redemption -- all are dulled and the characteristic nuances of this gifted writer don't show through. While I recognize the courage it took for her to accept and write this book, I believe it hits too close to home for her to give true justice.



2. The author had a unique and rare opportunity to explore and report the murder of a family and the aftermath of its effects on the remaining members of the family as well as the murderer. Instead, she barely went into any depth about what led to this heinous event. She interjects with her own familial tragedy and compares herself with Jody and Billy and their tragedy. I can't help but be annoyed and find it slightly narcissistic and presumptuous of her to assume that we are interested in her life and how it relates to The Gilleys. I bought the book because the NY Times gave it a stellar review however, that particular review was misleading. The author is clearly not an investigative reporter. Objectivity and in depth reporting are what make true crime fascinating to read and this book lacks both components ("Just the facts, m'am"). While I sympathize with the author's own familial misfortune, I bought the book to read about The Gilleys not Kathryn Harrison. The author would benefit from reading Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" or Vincent Bugliosi's "Helter Skelter". All in all, this book was a waste of time to read.



3. Even though she offers a few tepid disclaimers, Ms Harrison's creepy comparison of her consensual incestuous relationship with her father to a innocent family's slaughter is the first indication that the author wrote this book in a desperate search for theraputic attention. Harrison just can't seem to accept the fact that the sole survivor of this tragedy has moved on to build a productive life after an incomprehensible tragedy. Meanwhile, the author wallows in her own self pity as she clumps together an overly researched jumbled mess.



4. Every chapter, I expected more than I got. I generally read this genre for point of view and found, like many of the other reviewers, that the point of view was muddled by the author's own experience. Harrison admits that writing is her vehicle for dealing with her own tragedy, her way of making herself whole and I can understand this and I appreciate her honesty. But I really wanted to know more about Jody and Billy and kept waiting for them to respond to Harrison with something different; instead their responses seemed oddly repetitive. I wonder what the experience of being interviewed was like for them and what they might have said had Harrison used more imagination in her techniques rather than depending on identifying with Billy and Jody's admissions. Harrison's imagination seemed to reside in her analysis of Jody and Billy's separate psyches and not in the structure of her book about what happened to them. The result: a somewhat scattered account that went as far as the author could go, given where she wanted to go. I felt that whatever was possible was truncated by the fact of the author's desire to match their experience, at least emotionally, to her own.



5. Kathryn Harrison has done a thorough and insightful job of understanding and relating Jody's story without bringing too much baggage with her. She gets dangerously close to the brother who caused the devastation that split Jody's life into a "before" and an "after." This is a compelling survivor story with more depth than your typical true-crime chronicle.