No comments about Dime Novel Desperadoes: The Notorious Maxwell Brothers.

5 comments about Down by the River: Drugs, Money, Murder, and Family.

1. This book is brilliant! Only gifted readers will be comfortable reading it though because it is an incredible read! THE TRUTH WILL AMAZE YOU if you are clever enough to hang onto the pages as you turn them!
   
   I admire Mr. Bowden so much because this book is based on 7 1/2 years of research and detective work. The detective work starts with one individual and spirals into a nonfictional mystery of global proportions leading the reader to a place where their reality of what being a U.S. citizen means is forever changed.
   
   THIS BOOK SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING FOR EVERY CITIZEN IN THE UNITED STATES!! EVERY PARENT SHOULD READ THIS BOOK!
   
   
   "Saying NO to Drugs"... isn't working folks!! THE WAR ON DRUGS is a BLOG to keep the average American from reading books such as this!
   
   Our leaders are making sure the drug problem won't go away . THIS IS A PROFOUND BOOK ABOUT THE PROBLEM AND THE ERASING OF OUR DEMOCRACY.
   
   Thank you Mr. Bowden for having the courage to write it!



2. 
   
   Charles Bowden has written a well documented story of a span of time in the drug history of the U.S./Mexico border. Certain drug cartels intertwine and are involved with the same several families for years. Thousands of people are put into bondage, murdered or disappeared with little or no trace of them ever again. Many Mexican politicians, even a president or two, are involved with the drug scene and with stealing and removing to other countries, the wealth of Mexico. One murder, which is never solved conclusively, has enormous impact on the life of one DEA officer and on the survival of his extended family. It's a raw picture of one of the reasons to not allow wholesale amnesty of illegal aliens.



3. When I read this book, back in Dec. 2002, I didn't realize just how it would change my life. It altered my perception of reality forever and I am 60 years old. Mr. Bowden has made a compelling case for the failure of the War on Drugs. In heartbreaking detail he summarizes the story of a family in El Paso who suffered greatly as a result of their child being murdered by another child. But the background to the War on Drugs is as byzantine, complicated and murderous as it gets. Its as if the average U. S. citizen lives in a completely alternate universe where this issue is concerned. It also explains why millions of illegal immigrants cross our borders every decade. Five years after reading this book, I am still affected by it every day. May I suggest Sibel Edmond's gag order case and the MadCowMorningNews as another place to go to understand the nexus between terrorism and drug trafficking, greed and money laundering. Great book--though a complicated read at times---images of the desert are beautifully described.



4. An all to honest look at the war on drugs. This book takes you down some very dark passages. Things will not look the same again.



5. My emotions ran the gamut from rage, indignation, incredulity, to fear.
   ANYONE considering moving to Mexico or doing business in Mexico, or for that matter any more including the U.S., should read this book!

5 comments about One Deadly Night (St. Martin's True Crime Library).

1. This is a great true crime book. John Glatt is an excellent author. He did a lot of research to make such a great read!



2. This is the first John Glatt book I read. I could get into the book and it was hard to put down at times, however, his style isn't what I am used too. Since I have always read Ann Rule I was just slightly disappointed with John's writing technique. The book was so straight forward that I think he missed the important crime investigation and court room information. It seemed to me that he doesn't get a whole lot of feedback from family, friends and investigators, as most crime authors do.
   The book is good and I've read one other John Glatt book, I just think he misses crucial information towards the stories when he writes these books. It makes the reader want to ask questions.



3. John Glatt is already writing about the McGuire Case in New Jersey. I read a previous book of his entitled Cries in the Desert. This book portrays David Camm, who was a policeman or state trooper in Indiana in a negative light. Camm had affairs with women that he pulled off the road, he stalked a few, and had blatant affairs unknown to his faithful, devoted wife, Kim, and the mother of his two children, Bradley and Jill. One Deadly Night, Camm is alleged to have killed his wife and two kids in the garage with a shotgun. The portrait painted here of Camm and his family life was not all roses. He is a self-centered, egotistical, self-obsessed human being. I would not be surprised that he is guilty of the crimes so that he would avoid a disastrous divorce with Kim and the kids and the allegations of child sexual abuse against Jill. It's a family tragedy only duplicated by the fact that it was not a stranger but a father and husband who made matters worse. I would find it hard to believe he didn't do it.



4. The auther of the book failed to do one important thing, talk to and get to know David Camm. I am not a family member or long time friend. I became friends with Dave after his conviction because I am from this community and know that justice was not served. Authers of these "true crime" books should label there work fiction.



5. I could not put this down. It is unnerving the twists and turns of this real case in Indiana and on some level, it looks like the suspect/husband (of course) has an almost perfect alibis. But who else could have done it? Who else would have wanted to do it?
   
   What this case really shows is how much depends on the justice system. I mean, how much depends on who the prosecutors were, how well they handled the case which was tricky to begin with. I'll try to avoid spoilers, but the case is still (2008) in appeal mode primarily on procedural issues.
   
   To me, a very interesting question is to what degree should the husband be considered the suspect when there just are not any reasons for anyone else to have committed the crime. Obviously, that's not the whole issue in this very complex case which seems so unlikely that you think it's a script for a movie.
   
   A great page turner and you will probably find yourself taking sides as the story progresses. One of the things that we've seen in Chicago, which I think casts a lot of light on this Indiana case, is how much evidence or things that would cause problems for the husband/defendant can get completely swept under the rug when the suspect is himself a longtime cop. Things are not what they seem...especially when a man in blue is accused of murdering his wife. Very troubling as well as intriguing.

5 comments about Are You There Alone?: The Unspeakable Crime of Andrea Yates.

1. The recent Court decision to over-turn the conviction of Andrea Yates was based in part on the evidence presented in this well-researched book on the "unspeakable" crime. Ms. O'Malley caught a number of mistakes in the way Yates was treated and the way her case was presented, but uncovering the erroneous testimony of the prosecution's expert witness, Dr. Park Dietz, was the central factor in discrediting the state's case against Andrea Yates. By virtue of her careful reporting and analysis, Ms. O'Malley managed, not simply to observe the trial process, but to become one of the most powerful participants in it. It becomes clear in this book that the psychiatric treatment of Yates is one of trial and error, if not downright neglect. Even reading the transcript of the Dietz interview is enough to convince one that Ms. Yates, whatever she may have known about right from wrong under the McNaughton doctrine, was not in control. She never doubted her actions were illegal, and she seemed convinced that they morally wrong; yet, at the same time, and in a way that makes her case for insanity that much more provocative -- she seemed convinced that she would be judged morally wrong for not drowning them, or otherwise ending their lives. She had talked herself into a tragic corner -- herself inevitably damned, she opted to save her children from the certain damnation that awaited them if, in her warped view, she did not act. No one denies that Ms. Yates suffered from mental illness prior to and at the time of her act. But the depth seemed to elude a number of people. The endless attempts to get Andrea to specify her thoughts at specific points in time for the purpose of the trial record would be risible but for the fact they were real. When Dr. Dietz asked her, "What were you wearing at the time of the drownings?" She responded, "clothes." She was so hopelessly operating at a cognitive level that simply didn't fulfill the requirements of an advarsarial system -- and yet she was there, having been declared sufficiently sane to stand trial. The decision allowing her to so stand was, in effect, the second tragedy.



2. I am almost finished with the book but it's taking me time to read it as it's not the kind of book you can read quickly. I'm anxious to see how it ends. I would rather have reviewed it after I finish it. I think the book is probably going to get better closer to the end then I am.



3. Having read St. Martin's rush-to-press book, "Breaking Point," as soon as it hit the stands, I was disappointed with O'Malley's long-awaited book about the Andrea Yates tragedy. Whereas Spencer interviewed relatives, friends, and acquaintances, O'Malley relied heavily on court transcripts and seemed to take a point of view from a telescope.
   The book about Andrea Yates that I want to read has yet to be written. For example, I want to know where she stored her pots and pans while she was home-schooling three children in a bus and ironing her husband's shirts so he'd look normal while working at NASA. I want to know why she didn't lose her mind earlier.
   As for Texas justice....We're talking about a state that found Andrea Yates to be as sane as the woman who hacked her ex-lover's wife to death with an axe in the 1980s. Only difference is, the axe muderess was found not guilty.



4. I read this book because it was a list of good reads. I felt it was. The topic is horrofic. How can a mother do this to her children? You get a sense that the author tries to be objective as possible with the reason. The author I also felt does a good job of pointing out the inconsisties with the time line with the attornies as a well as when Andrea Yates was on medication. She also does a fair job of looking at the story after the verdict. Overall I felt it was a fair balanced book contray to what others think. She presents the facts and details as objectively as she can and lets the readers make up their mind.



5. To be honest, I was very hesitant to even read this book. Like most people, when Andrea Yates killed her five children by drowning them in the family's bathtub, the only information I knew was what I heard from the media. I almost immediately formed my own opinion -- Andrea Yates was evil. So it took me awhile to open my mind to the fact that there could be more to the story.
   
   Once I started reading ARE YOU THERE ALONE? I absolutely could not read fast enough. This book is fascinating in delving into the issue of mental illness, and what it truly means. I learned about psychosis, about postpartum depression, about bipolar disorder, and much, much more.
   
   Although there are things I still don't understand (how Rusty Yates, Andrea's husband, could have left her alone with their children when he knew she was seriously mentally ill, for example), I have to say that I have a greater understanding of why Ms. Yates did what she did.
   
   Hers was a horrific crime, and one for which she deserved to be punished. But she also deserved to get help for the problems that had plagued her for many years. For that, Suzanne O'Malley and the doctors, nurses, and many others involved in the case are to be commended.

5 comments about The Brotherhoods: The True Story of Two Cops Who Murdered for the Mafia.

1. A riveting account of two rogue cops who freelanced themselves to the Luchese crime family for years and got away with it until a cadre of dedicated investigators compiled the evidence to put them away. The book gives a detailed description of day to day life in the NYPD and the mob. Martin Scorcese should be looking for a cast for a blockbuster movie.



2. I must agree with reviewer/reader maskirovka in that this book takes liberties not with facts, but with narrative tense and editing. This is not really the story about the infamous mafia cops ( we have to read to almost page 120 to begin the biography of one of the killer detectives ) as much as it is the story of the cop who chased them. Oldham's publishers probably thought we had read enough about supercops fighting the mob and police corruption. The idea of another Serpico or Donnie Brasco was probably a hard sell. Regardless, what we really get is a biography on Oldham and his career in law enforcment. The case of the mob cops was simply the one that he obsessed with the most and that was most infamous. Oldham's writer/partner Lawson is no Truman Capote either. His device of using quotations for some of Oldham's first person narratives are questionable, given the fact that THE WHOLE BOOK is really a first person narrative from Oldham's persepctive. We can imagine Oldham in Hollywood shopping this story to the major film studios. Here's a question for him. "If any of the living criminal characters in your book with a vowel at the end of their name agreed to attend a luncheon with you and a movie producer, just to add an air of credibilty, would you bring them along?" Hmmm.



3. It's more like a bad road through an interesting place. The subject is fascinating, but it's not a page flipper. And that's because of the book's organization. It shoulda been divided into Parts with distinct themes and characters. If it was easier to read I'd give it 5 stars.



4. This is a tight,concise true crime saga with a cast of hundreds of good and bad guys. YET there is only one brave,drivin "warts & all" man who stands out,Detective William Oldham ,who pursued over 7 years basically on his own, the most corrupt detectives NYC has ever witnessed known forever as the 2 Mafia Cops ; Caracappa & Eppolito.Those 2 cops were working directly for the Mafia Luchese family . Without giving anything away ,other than what you may have read in the newspapers ,this is one hell of a compelling page turner . If you thought you knew the politics of the various divisions of crime fighting or the ways of the mafia fully fleshed out. You, my fellow true crime buffs' are in for some major suprises throughout.



5. I can't stand a book where I can't get the author's voice out my head enough to concentrate on the story. He loves the 'sound of his own voice' so much the book could be half the size and twice as interesting.

2 comments about Conman : A Master Swindlers Own Story (Library of Larceny) (Library of Larceny).

1. Not for those with short attention spans, this biography presents detailed story after detailed story. It gave me over a dozen evenings reading by the fire. Great value!



2. This is an easy-to-understand view of a confidence man's world, especially as it was during several decades before World War II.
   I had read similar books that mentioned "Yellow Kid" Weil as a legend among con men, piqueing my curiosity. No regrets for this purchase.

4 comments about True Stories of Law & Order: The Real Crimes Behind the Best Episodes of the Hit TV Show.

1. As a fan of the Law & Order series, I was intrigued by the title. The book actually does not have much to do with the television series franchise, but the true stories inside are presented in a way that any fan of the television series will enjoy.
   
   Included are twenty-five true stories on which episodes of Law & Order are apparently based. These include the Liverpool murder of two-year old James Bulger by two 10-year old boys, the story of Jack Abbott, the protege of pulitzer-prize winning writer Norman Mailer, who stabbed aspiring actor Richard Adan to death over the use of a diner restroom; and the murder of Gulf War vet Anthony Riggs, killed by his wife and brother-in-law over life insurance proceeds.
   
   Reading this book is like watching 25 short episodes of law and order, except that these ARE the true stories, with the real names.



2. Some of these stories I recognized from the media. Other stories were new to me. I liked how they compared the true crime stories to the show.
   A good read for the true crime reader.



3. Although the book has little to do with the actual LAW & ORDER shows, it does a great job of going "behind the scenes," as it were, of 25 of the show's episodes to explore the true crimes they were based on.
   
   These aren't stories for the faint of heart, but they do pull at the heartstrings. I remember watching many of the episodes the crimes were based on. This is a great book, especially for those interested in true crimes, but anyone will find them fascinating.
   
   The authors have truly done their research and are to be commended.



4. I was a little hesitant to order a book based on the real crimes behind the episodes of Law & Order, but I was pleased. The stories were brief, but being an avid Law & Order fan, I recognized the stories of Law & Order from the descriptions of the real crimes.

1 comments about The Best American Crime Reporting 2007 (Best American Crime Reporting).

1. I have read all the books in this series since 2002 and this is one of the best. All of the "true-crime" stories here are extremely well-written, taken from various magazines throughout the year, and provide background information that you will never get from the news headlines.
   The book begins with the story of Sal and Mabel Mangano, the New Orleans nursing home owners who were accused of abandoning their residents to Hurricane Katrina. The article addresses this story from many angles, not the least of which concludes that the Manganos are far from the monsters that they were made out to be in the media. There is another fascinating story of a New York writer who unwittingly shares his apartment with a subject of "America's Most Wanted," and another story of a young female medical intern who disappeared the day before 9/11 and whose fate is still unknown. There are a couple of great whodunits, and a heartbreaking account of the Russian school hostage seige in Beslan.
   Every story in this book is a page-turner, and I highly recommend it.

5 comments about Every Woman's Nightmare: The True Story Of The Fairy-Tale Marriage And Brutal Murder Of Lori Hacking.

1. I don't know why most of the true crime books I've read lately have the feel of a remedial reader. This one offered little information of why someone would go to such lengths to make up a fake life, one that could easily be discovered. It's not worth the time especially if you don't have much to spare for reading.



2. I couldn't put this book down. The adacity of this man... .it was her fault that he had to kill her because she had the "nerve" to berate him. When this crime happened I remember thinking "he did it" but his reasoning because she stood up to him. I hope he rots in prison. I hope all Mormen men don't think like this!



3. dont get me wrong, this story is one of the more interesting ive heard of- and thats the only reason i gave it one star (i would otherwise give it zero). the problem is, steven long's writing is so remedial and there are so many basic errors, i was distracted from the story itself. this writer, im sorry to say, is not a good one, and im quite amazed he makes a living off of doing it. i honestly felt like i was reading an 8th graders book report. aside from the fact that he does not know where to place a comma or a period, he also uses the same words again and again, instead of making use of a thesaurus and finding synonymns for them, and thats just not enjoyable to read. ok, i can be a bit of a perfectionist, but this is ridiculous- im quite sure there was no editor here, and if there was, he should be fired. and if you dont care about punctuation errors, you WILL care about the completely repetitive and junior-high style prose. if a good writer had written about this event, i wouldnt be able to put it down; in this case, i couldnt pick it up. i was way too irritated with all of the mistakes and uneducated-sounding text, and i just couldnt finish it.the back of the book states all of steven long's writing accomplishments, and i was shocked that he had any. i dont want to be flat-out mean, but this man did not do lori hacking justice- nor the true crime genre. if you are in junior high and dont know the difference between a talented writer and one who just thinks he is, maybe you can handle this read. anyone else, dont waste your 7 bucks.



4. Albeit before reading this book you'll know who was the killer. The problem with SL is that he wrote the mistakes done by the killer in the first part of the book. So the only quasi thrilling part was how they found the body and even that part isn't such a thrilling part. I also agree with others reviewers that the Mormon explanation at every part of the book is just excessive and boring.



5. not the page turner i was hoping for....
   i feel for lori and her family-and hope mark rots in hell for what he did to her/family
   but this story--needs another writer to write it!!

5 comments about Blowing Up Russia: The Secret Plot to Bring Back KGB Terror.

1. To bad Litvinenko died for the truths he told. But so goes the dark underworld of espionage.



2. This book is not about the murder of Alexander Litvinenko. But it is the book that got him murdered. If you imagine Russia as a nation on the mend from its communist sickness, think again. The former KGB and FSB operative (Litvienko) and his academic friend (Felshtinsky) published their book in Russia and it enraged Don Vito Putin. Putin, you'll recall, was the man about whom George W. Bush said: "I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy . . . I was able to get a sense of his soul." As Litvenko lay dying he wrote the following to Putin:
   
   "You may succeed in silencing me but that silence comes at a price. You have shown yourself to be as barbaric and ruthless as your most hostile critics have claimed.
   
   "You have shown yourself to have no respect for life, liberty or any civilized value."
   
   So much for President Bush's soul sense.



3. It's easy to see why Litvinenko was poisoned with Polonium when you read this book. It's laden with so many evil plots it leaves the reader with doubts about the authenticity of some of the material. Although most of it is believable, there is the problem of a lack of sufficient references. This, unfortunately, is due to the need to keep many of them secret in order to protect their lives.
   
   The book is not well organized, and constantly jumps from one time period to another. There is an acronym page that I had to constantly refer to while I was reading. Felshtinsky admits the book is a hard read, and he is right. There are hundreds of Russian names which are hard to keep up with.
   
   It could have been better. The subject matter is fascinating when you can figure it out..



4. Interesting that a man who denounces the Russian FSB as a nest of intriguers and liars asks us - as a career KGB/FSB officer - to accept his words in this book at face value. After all, if FSB officers are such masters of deceit, why should anyone believe him now?
   
   I don't doubt that much of the book may well be true, especially the blowing up of Russian apartment blocks in 1999 to kick off the second Chechen War. It's not just Russian intelligence agencies capable of such black operations, as the "P2 conspiracy" in Italy back in the 70s attests. The problem lies with the clandestine nature of Litvinenko's sources, which come across like mere shop gossip. Reader/listener beware.
   
   There are inconsistencies galore. Yeltsin is painted a great democrat, even though he sent tanks to blow holes in the Russian Parliament building. The adoration of General Pinochet is attributed to Putin, though anyone who knew Russia in the 90s well remembers the love for Pinochet's Chile evinced by Yeltsin's staff. It was also Yeltsin who created the authoritarian Russian presidency after his destruction of Parliament in October, 1993 - not Putin.
   
   The fact is, that Yeltsin created the FSB, as he did the oligarchs. Putin did not get where he is by being part of the anti-Yeltsin opposition. After Yeltsin it seems there was a power struggle for Russia between the FSB and the oligarchs, and the former won. But they could not have done so without Yeltsin's patronage. Yeltsin needed immunity from prosecution by the Russian Duma when he stepped down; a strong FSB guaranteeed this protection. Perhaps also he was afraid of the oligarchs whom he created in 1996, and wanted a counterforce to keep them in check.
   
   At any rate, this book comes off like some internet conspiracy theory. While the core of its argument of FSB black operations may well be true, keep in mind that it was commissioned by Boris Berezovsky - no angel himself, and possibly responsible for assassinations in his own right.



5. As several customer review's allready have pointed out - this is a book with an agenda. It does not help that the authors to a great extent refuse to reveal their sources, but want us to take their alligations at face value or that the book is financed by Berezovsky who is a player in the game the book describes. If you search objective and balanced information about contemporary Russia, you will simply have to look elsewhere. Are you ready to make your own sound judgement of the story that you are told in order to pick out what seams reasonable and what seams more like conspiration theories, this is a read-worthy book.
   
   An example of an important and trustworthy story in the book, is the one that the secret services themselves stood behind the so-called terrorist attacks on compartment-blocks in Moscow and other towns in Russia in the months leading up to the 2000 president election. Not surpringly, the story is made trustworthy by being backed by other sources and named witnesses.
   
   An example of an important and undocumented story, is to go far in claiming that in reality it is the FSB that controls the Putin administration and not the Putin administration that controls the FSB. No hard evidence is given for their claim outside their of line of argument, a line of argument that have many of the characteristics of a classic conspiration theory where the fact that you present controversial accusations in itself is a prove that you have reached a deeper understanding than other people.
   
   The book contains an enormous gallery of persons, making it almost impossible to remember all of them and to judge who is important to remember and who is not. To be able to document that they were right, if one day the real truth comes out, this is understandable and neccesary. In order to make the book more readworthy it is highly contra-productive.
   
   Russians I have discussed the book with, have compared people's attitude towards Litvineko's book, with their attitude towards Solshenitsyn's books in the 1970s - while the book is widely discussed, few people are ready to admit that they have read this book. Among those who do, it is likely that ambivalence is a description that will ring many bells. At one hand the book gives some important new insights. On the other it is weakened by conspiration theories, undocumented claims, and an unbalanced hate and bitterness towards the ones in power.