5 comments about A Sniper in the Tower: The Charles Whitman Murders.

1. This book reads very quickly and easily. It is SO well researched and organized that I skipped the Time Life Books version of the Whitman story. The split second action and microscopic details are all here. It will make your heart race if you imagine what Houston McCoy and Ramiro Martinez must have felt.



2. This book is a testament to the heroes that rose to battle the Evil and heartless Charles Whitman. Houston McCoy and Romero Martinez are two long forgotten heros in American History but they should never been forgotten, along with the names of all his victims Like Officer Billy Speed of the Austin Police. Read this book and never let something like this happen again



3. Some true crime books are not well written. In terms of the total product, this is without a doubt the one of the best true crime books written. Gary Lavergne meticuliously researched the events of August 1, 1966 in Austin, Texas. The book is worthy of the envy of other true crime writers.

   Lavergne details the significant events in the life of Charles Whitman in the days leading to the massacre. Whitman's abusive homelife leads him to join the marines, leaving his family behind. Whitman struggles to find his niche. His continual search to better the success of his father became obsessive. The obsession grows to the point where he feels that he is a success at nothing. Lavergne's account is factual without skewing from personal opinion or theories. His objective view is important when he tells the controversial information behind the killing of Charles Whitman and the end to the massacre. Rather than taking the of Ramiro Martinez or Houston McCoy, Lavergne prefers to make the point that they both got the sniper. Similarly, little attention is paid the the brain tumor that a select few believe cause Whitman to initiate his attack on the University of Texas Campus.

   I am particulary appreciative of the endnotes at the end of each chapter. Because there was a lot of research into the project, many sources were used. It makes more sense to have the sources listed at the end to the chapters so they are more readily available to the reader. The book is easy for those interested in the topic to enjoy.




4. I visited the UT tower observation deck with my Mom, sister, and other friends just a week or so before Charles Whitman went psycho. I remember the nice receptionist lady, and wondered if she was the same lady he killed that day before he got out on the deck. I was only 10yrs old that summer but I remember it like it was yesterday. I always told myself that Charles Whitman was "mean" and didnt deserve to be remembered.
   
   After reading this book, Ive realized that Charlie had so many "good" qualities- attractive, smart, clean cut, married to a school teacher, neat, organized, etc. His outburst just didnt make any sense at all. This excellent book tries to make sense of why, but the mystery may never be solved.
   
   No one has brought up the fact that in spite of being an alter boy, eagle scout, perfect student, marine, sharp shooter, etc No one really knew Charlie. Not his mom, dad, wife, or his best friends. Ive concluded that Charlie was hiding the fact that he was attracted to men, and for all we know was abused sexually when he was a kid.
   
   He enlisted in the Marines, married a woman, and tried to be the perfect "MAN" in everyway, but deep inside he knew who he really was and it ate him up slowly but surely. If not for his "pushy" dad, I think Charlie would have never done the awful things he did that day.
   
   Thats my take on the story, but many have tried to figure it out over these past 40yrs, and Im sure we may never know exactly what went wrong with Charlie Whitman.



5. This book gives a minute by minute account of Charles Whitman, his life, his loves and his killing spree. I have not read a better crime book in a long long time. Kudos to Ramiro Marinkez and Houston McCoy for having the courage to do their jobs, and snuff out this heinous killer. Great read.

5 comments about A Rip in Heaven: A Memoir of Murder And Its Aftermath.

1. I went to high school with Robin and Julie. I can't drive over the Mississippi River without thinking about them. The newspaper articles, and TV interviews in St Louis were mainly focused on Tom's (the cousin) guilt, and these "mystery 4 men". I was glad to hear a book had been written from "their" point of view. When I say "their" I mean Robin and Julie. Robin and Julie are gone, and no longer have a voice for themselves, so Jeanine did the best she could to capture this horrible moment in time, and the aftermath it caused.
   
   I feel that as much hatred that she COULD have to the four men that murdered her cousins, and let her brother be blamed for the crimes, Jeanine was fair, and kind to the men. She did not make excuses for their actions, but she did explain how a fun night out, a decision to rob, could turn so dangerous and deadly in minutes.



2. I have little to add to the other reviewers here. But as one who has written about victims myself, I believe this is the best account I've ever read of the devastation criminals leave in their wake.
   
   Read this not merely to learn about a heinous crime or evil men. Read it to meet two wonderful young women, or maybe three -- Julie and Robin, the victims, and Jeanine Cummins, the author.



3. I had this book on my book shelf for a while and hesitated to read it because I knew that it would be painful and depressing. This is the first book that I have read regarding true crime where you really feel to the core the effects and aftermath on the living. This book is excellent, well written, and one of the few books you read that will stay with you and effect how you process stories that you read and watch in the future. After reading this, you truly comprehend the pain and lasting effects that violence has on everyone left behind.



4. As one reviewer has noted, this is not a typical addition to the true crime genre. It shares much in common with Strange Piece of Paradise in that both are attempts by a victim/family member to depict the aftermath of a crime. Where Terri Jentz had to confront years of not knowing who her attacker was, Jeanine Cummins and family had to face having a beloved family member being accused of killing two other beloved family members.
   
   It's hard to review a book such as this without a certain amount of sympathy entering into one's judgment. It is for me, at least. This is not the best written non-fiction book you'll ever read, nor is the prose in it the most fluid. It is also, because of Cummins' decision to tell this in the third-person, the most emotionally wrought. But it is better written than most first person accounts I've read. Cummins takes considerable pains to bring Julie and Robin Kerry to life, to make the reader feel the loss Cummins and her family felt. The horror of their deaths (and the nature of their deaths) is compounded when Cummins' brother is accused of their murders.
   
   This is the story of the death of innocence, both literal and figurative. By the time the murders are caught, turn on each other and three are sentenced to death there little sense of justice for the family. Two girls have been gang-raped and murdered, one of the bodies has never been found. The survivor of the attacks has been first branded the likely suspect by the press then must relive the events over and over, in the trials and the subsequent parole hearings. As if this isn't enough agony, they must endure having the convicted murderers still claim their innocence and blame one of the victims. The question of Why? remains unanswered by the perpetrators and possibly unanswerable.



5. I wrote the author as to why a man emerging from a fall into a raging river would not first receive medical documentation of injuries. His broken hip would have been noted right then. Maybe this was brought up in the civil suit Tom filed later, but no mention is made in the book.
   
   Tom would have been screaming for the truckers to call an ambulance, as well as police, had he known what was coming at the station.
   
   I thought it reads very well in the third person, except for being a bit awkward when Tink is present. Those parts might have read better in first person. Perhaps mixing them would not work well, since she's actually reconstructing Tom's story, as told to her.
   
   It's a valuable story that needed telling.

5 comments about Ragnar's Guide To Interviews, Investigations, And Interrogations: How To Conduct Them, How To Survive Them.

1. I really didn't learn anything from this book. Its focus was centered around Private Investigators use of pretext's. Pretexts are lies that are told to solicit information out of an interviewee. They can range from, "You will be in trouble if you don't help me," to the opposite, "You know, I did the same thing. It's alright to admit to the crime." If that makes sense, then don't read this book and save yourself [the money].



2. I was looking forward to reading this book. But once I started, I was sorry I bought this book.

   This book promises a lot. But does not really deliver on the promises. When I finished reading the book, I was not convinced that I knew more about either conducting "interviews" or surving "interrogations."

   Each chapter ends with "Tips for potential witnesses." This by far is the most useful section of the book. If you read these "tips," you will know the book. This is the first "tip" of the book: "1. What should you do if you don't wish to talk to an investigator? An obvious but incorrect answer is to refuse to do so." page 19. Yes, Mr. Benson does go into more detail about this question.

   The book is organized thus: Introduction; 1 What Makes a Successful Investigator?; 2 The Fine Arts of Listening and Observing; 3 What are Pretexts and How Are They Used?; 4 Civil vs. Criminal Proceedings and Rules of Evidence; 5 Criminal Investigations; 6 Once Witnesses are in the Legal Pipeline; 7 Surviving a Cross-Examination; 8 Military Interrogations; Conclusion. There is no bibliography.

   If this topic interests a reader, then see if you can find the book, "Ask Me No Questions, I'll Tell You No Lies." The reader will learn more than Bensons' tome.




3. I was hoping for a book that would give away all the secrets to interrogation and making people spill the beans. Instead I got an arrogant sermon on how important and powerful the author thinks private investigators and security guards are. He claims that anyone who does not talk to an investigator can be forced to give deposed testimony (total bull). Being an ex-private investigator, the author's tips are worthless. I want a book that exposes professional interrogation training like the Reid Technique and heuristical interrogation techniques. This book is a complete waste of money.



4. This book is a primer on interrogation tactics used by police, detectives, and military. It written at a low level, and would greatly benefit all middle school students (especially minorities) so that they do not needlessly confess to authorities. However, there is no reference to actual police and military training manuals, not even a bibliography.
   
   The bottom line: police spend four years in college learning to manage interrogations by application of stress, trickery, and outright lies, all of which are perfectly legal. Unless you are a highly trained prisoner-of-war, you have no chance against them. Your only hope is to refuse to play. Don't even engage in casual conversation, as the skillfull interviewer will use that to lead you where he wants you to go! Talking to the police or other authority is as dumb as getting into a gunfight with them; either of these will end up with you the loser.
   
   As the distinction between military and police are blurred under the pretext of U.S. Department of Fatherland Security, interrogations of suspects are going to get a lot nastier, and civil rights will frequently be set aside in the interests of the Fatherland. Therefore, it is important for young people to be educated on effective resistance methods, and to be vaccinated against police pressure tactics.



5. What a waste of money! As it turns out, this guy writes a lot of books about subjects of which he knows very little about. I recommend staying away from anything written by Ragnar Benson!!!!!

5 comments about Auto Focus: The Murder of Bob Crane.

1. Graysmith iosn't someone you wanna listen to considering he finished his book on Bob before the trial was even finished! Leaving a ton of things out isn't the way to inform people of a murder. Auto-Focus, the movie, is filled with lies and the director has publicly admitted to putting them in to make the movie sell. The book is no different. If you wanna read the real story of Bob Crane, this isn't it. At all!



2. This is a book I came across after watching the movie "AutoFocus" which I liked very much. I read the book hoping to get into greater detail surrounding the investigation of Bob Crane's murder. The book covers Crane's social exploits in detail. This part of the book is effective and conveys the casualness of the swinger lifestyle and Crane's cavalier attitude towards women and sex. It is also a look into the celebrity worship that is deeply embedded in our culture. When Crane is murdered the police immediately suspect his friend John Carpenter who was in the vicinity the night before. Most of their evidence is circumstantial and they do not indict Carpenter until the mid-90's. This part of the book is very interesting as Graysmith does a very good job of juggling the evidence and the personalities involved in the delayed indictment.
   If there is a flaw it is that Graysmith obviously has some affection for Crane as an actor and coupled with the fact that all of his information comes from police sources the book is pretty one sided. It is obvious that Graysmith wants a conclusion to the case and he, like the officers, are quick to jump on John Carpenter as that conclusion. In the end though the evidence is flimsy, and without a solid motive, circumstantial evidence doesn't go very far. This is not a heavy criticism of Graysmith, his book is still an excellent work up of the case, and Carpenter most likely was the killer. There was reasonable doubt there and it could have been explored deeper. I recommend this book to anyone who likes good true crime, mystery, or Hollywood scandals.



3. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Autofocus. I bought the book after seeing the movie on cable. Graysmith, naturally, does a great job weaving all of the details into a fine crime novel. I have enjoyed most of his crime books and this one was no exception.
   
   Others have criticised Graysmith for focusing too much on Carpenter but after reading the book and the statements being based on fact and supported by statements from the detectives, I have to say that Carpenter really does look guilty. In saying that, I think the police departments could have done a better investigation of the case and looked more into some of the suspects mentioned in the book. It is amazing that police departments were so careless.
   
   The book doesn't go into great detail about sexual specifics and graphic sexual descriptions (this is not one of those fiction love novels!) but he gives you enough detail which leaves you shaking your head at Crane's exploits.
   
   A typically good Graysmith book and definitely worth a read.



4. He was the guy who played the lead role in history's strangest sitcom, a farce about Allied soldiers imprisoned by the Third Reich. A few years later, Bob Crane was a prisoner himself, of typecasting and a swinger's lifestyle that was not only miserable and unhealthy, but as Robert Goldsmith posits in his book "Auto Focus", ultimately fatal.
   
   
   
   Crane was bludgeoned to death in a Scottsdale, Arizona bedroom one June morning in 1978. That brought into sharp focus the sordid way he lived, using the dregs of a once-flourishing career to latch on to as many willing women he could find. Suspicion quickly centered on John Carpenter, a video guy who trolled for sex with Crane, yet the case against him was circumstantial and the horizon of others with motives too vast.
   
   
   
   "When you go out like he did, you put yourself in positions where there are very sick scenes," says Joy Claussen, an actress working with Crane at the time of his killing. "When you are that open sexually, you are that nondiscriminative in the way you pick people, you are liable to find some sick people."
   
   
   
   Originally published in 1993 as "The Murder Of Bob Crane", which became the subtitle when adapted for the screen as "Auto Focus" in 2002, Graysmith's book is poorly constructed and occasionally repetitive, but oddly hypnotic in the way it draws you into Crane's drab yet compelling world. It's like the flip side of "Boogie Nights", showing you the sad and sordid underbelly of the hot-and-horny 1970s. Like "Auto Focus" the movie, "Auto Focus" the book is explicit in its details but hardly erotic. You might prefer a vow of celibacy than living like this guy did, even minus the brutal end.
   
   
   
   KSG's earlier comment here about feeling the spores in the A/C was right on. Graysmith not only charts Crane's last days in hourly detail, but provides a 3-D floor plan of the apartment where he stayed and was murdered. What were Carpenter's swim trunks doing in Crane's place? What clue did the killer give to his identity by cutting a wire from an almost-inaccessible location to wrap around the already-dead Crane?
   
   
   
   Some criticize Graysmith's unwillingness to entertain more than one suspect seriously. It's obvious he thinks Carpenter, feeling betrayed by Crane's apparent unwillingness to continue their relationship (Crane's son Bob Jr. suggests his dad was losing his taste for the "kicks" he got with Carpenter tagging along), had the motive, and it's hard to argue with the blood-smeared rental car Carpenter left as evidence. But Scottsdale police, unused to murders, left some loose ends, and there were other worthy suspects, like angry husbands, freaky girlfriends, and a future ex-wife who stood to inherit Crane's fortune.
   
   
   
   Graysmith sucks up details like a Hoover, and doesn't synthesize well. He brings up episodes like an opening one involving a flat tire that seem to portend much but is left flapping in the breeze. Too often he seems to be paraphrasing the police report, with no commentary of his own. Yet his artless style has a certain validity in how it presents critical case facts interspersed with ephemera, leaving you to make the connections. Even his detours into the desert life of Maricopa County, and the series run of "Hogan's Heroes" years before Crane's murder, brings out aspects of the victim's life and lifestyle that resonate when you think about them.
   
   
   
   "Detectives had enough leads for a dozen murders," Maricopa County Attorney Charles Hyder declares in deciding not to pursue a case against Carpenter. Crane left a great story behind, and a life not worth emulating. "Auto Focus" is an intriguing police procedural and a worthy morality tale.



5. While the case of the murder of Bob Crane has faded from the public conscience, the plausible and implausible theories have continued to grow particularly in the advent of the internet. Robert Graysmith, best known for his books on the Zodiac killer, also has a theory on Bob Crane's murder which is included in "The Murder of Bob Crane" or the repackaged version "Auto-Focus". It is unlikely that anybody will be convicted of the murder of Bob Crane nearly 30 years after the event. So if nothing else, Graysmith has outlined a collection of the facts in this book with his theory.
   
   It is apparent in the mind of the reader who the author suspects the killer to be in this book. In the first publication, he made his case before John Carpenter ever went to trial. At times, Graysmith becomes cumbersome in his redundant recitation of the facts. The portrayal of the character of Bob Crane is thorough. Graysmith does not shy away from Graysmith's sexually promiscuous lifestyle. The background of other characters seems less clear. Little of John Carpenter is noted aside from his relationship with Crane and fellow Hogan's Heros co-star Richard Dawson. At times, Graysmith seems to suggest that Dawson may have been involved in the murder.
   
   While this is an interesting read, the evidence is largely circumstantial and does not stack up. This may be why Graysmith chose to write such a thorough history of the show Hogan's Heros in the middle chapters. While I enjoyed Graysmith's work on "Zodiac", he seems to be writing this book with one intention. However, he failed to convict Carpenter in my mind.

1 comments about The Giant Book of True Crime.

1. This book was facinating. I couldn't put it down. It reviwed crime from the earliest times to the present. I never realized that crime was a style of time. Well worth the time.

5 comments about The Paradiso Files: Boston's Unknown Serial Killer.

1. I could not put this book down. A fluid read of Massachusetts crime history, this portal into the Law & Order/CSI type relationship between a motivated DA and "biker" trooper was gripping. Only the love of family member could blind a reader from seeing Paradiso for the monster that he was in life. The always playing radio anchored the chapters to the events and offered a moment of reflection for the reader. This is a must read.



2. Not only is this a great true crime story, it's also extremely well written, not your typical dry rehashing of facts. I hope Burke writes more, I'll be waiting for his next!! I read this in one sitting.



3. This book is a chilling story and makes one think about who we let into our lives and why. My husband knew this guy and is mentioned in this book and still has a hard time believing the WHOLE thing, but does say that he did find some of The Quohogs comments over the years to be strange to say the least. Very well written and enjoyed reading what was found. Good Job.Looking forward to more information on this intriguing life of Lenny Paradiso.



4. Sounding like a non-fiction Mystic River, this is an excellent book about the darker side of the human psyche and one assistant DA's effort to protect society from it. Despite a previous reviewers' contention to the contrary, the author's case against a human predator is carefully laid out, citing corroborating testimony and evidence in a tightly constructed presentation. I found the writer's style refreshing and innovative. Facts from the author's experience and testimony are interspersed with minimalist best estimations of events and there's an interestingly variable boundary between a third and first person point of view. Its a real-life detective story that's difficult to put down.



5. I stumbled across an inaccuracy within the first few pages. Though licensure is through the Coast Guard, you either sail through a maritime union or with a private company. You do not get discharged for going AWOL. You are either blackballed with your union or fired by the company you're sailing for. The above holds true, even if you're sailing on a government contract vessel.
   
   After reading this, I closed the book and returned it to my local library. Got to say, I'm glad I didn't pay good money for this.

5 comments about The Serial Killer Letters: A Penetrating Look Inside the Minds of Murderers.

1. ...There is very little of interest in this book. One gets the impresson that Ms. Furio sent the same "opening letter" to masses of multiple killers and published anyone who responded more than 3 or 4 times. The book is poorly written, horribly edited, and worse - not even entertainingly voyeuristic.
   Almost all of the serial killers in the book claim their innocence and want financial help in funding their appeal. The only story of any interest was from David Gore of Florida. However, his letters were so disgusting that I questioned the need to even put them into print. I wondered about the families that had to read his vivid recollections of his crimes.
   I would recommend this book to anyone seeking a book to lull them into sleep, to throw at howling alley cats in heat, or to smash cockroaches. If you want a book to read and entertain you for any period of time - pass on this one.
   --Kathryn White-Fidram



2. This book is a boring waste of time. The author doesn't include her letters, so the inmates' letters are sometimes difficult to follow. She probably chose to omit her correspondence because she hasn't always been truthful regarding her identity or her motives for writing and receiving the letters. The author could benefit from an ethics course at her local college. In the end, the reader has learned no more about these inmates than what is available about them elsewhere in much more interesting and better written books and articles. Do yourself a favor and waste your time with a less painfully boring endeavor.



3. This book is worth reading if what you want is unedited words from some of the most violent people within our nation. The correspondence from inmates, convicted serial killers like Carol Bundy, is fascinating within itself, and in my opinion, each reader should be allowed to dissect each letter and form their own opinions as to how sincere the writers are in their apologies or remorse. What I think is worth skipping in this book is Ms. Furio's analysis and commentary on such letters. She has a tendency to take a lot of what is written by her penpals at face value, and therefore creates profiles of these people as more sympathetic than they should be. Yes, Carol Bundy was a desperate woman stuck in bad relationship after bad relationship, but she helped Doug Clark kidnap, rape, and muder eight women before she shot and killed her own ex-boyfriend. Yet, here Ms. Furio tries to paint her as a victim, and with her authoritative writing tone, the average reader might be inclined to believe her without digging a little deeper. What I would love to see is just a collection of letters from criminals compiled into a book. No outside force trying to tell the readers what to think about the person. Just the firsthand materials themselves. But this book is not that.



4. Ms. Furio wrote to serial killers solicting letters for a book and this is the woeful result. While some of the letters do bring out some provocative points, Ms. Furio fails to provide any substantive context. Her not including any of her own letters make her techniques suspicious.



5. I think this book was a brilliant idea because you finally get to hear the side of the prisoners who's voices were never heard and now you do. Now people can see the true them and what they are about! Jennifer Furio is a wonderful author because she wanted people to see the beautiful people they are!

5 comments about You Belong to Me and Other True Cases (Ann Rule's Crime Files: Vol. 2).

1. Ex-cop and true-crime writer Ann Rule has testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee and regularly presents seminars to law enforcement agencies, including the FBI Academy, as well as district attorneys and victim support groups. She has also served on the U.S. Justice Department task force that set up VI-CAP (the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program) to track and trap serial killers.
   
   ---AND she has designed a tee-shirt that reads "It's Better to Have Loved & Lost Than To Live With The Psycho The Rest Of Your Life." You can purchase one in the 'What On Earth' catalogue.
   
   Just kidding about who designed the tee shirt, but Ann Rule should be buying these preprinted jobbies by the trunk-load and handing them out to the women she writes about. Her ill-fated, but young, beautiful, and innocent young women can't seem to leave those psychos alone.
   
   Take the title story, "You Belong to Me." In this 192-page thriller, the wife gets the tee shirt, or at least its message in time and divorces her psycho policeman-husband. She lives in fear of him, is stalked by him, has her home invaded by him, has her phone tapped by him. Then he is finally arrested--not for stalking his ex-wife--but for the murder of a woman he had stopped for a traffic violation.
   
   I'd guess the moral of this story is that stalkers should be taken more seriously by law enforcement, even (or especially) if they happen to be policemen.
   
   The other five cases in this book are told in brief, punchy detail. I actually believe that the author tells a better story if she limits herself to twenty pages or so.
   
   "Black Christmas"--A loner commie-hater kills the wrong family, believing they're Communist (wrong) Jews (wrong). The manner of death is particularly macabre. This is going to be the worst Christmas story you've ever read.
   
   "One Trick Pony"--A beautiful cowgirl doesn't get her tee shirt in time, and is murdered by her alcoholic husband. He almost gets away with it, but continues to have bad luck with the women in his life. One of his girlfriends is shot in the stomach and her death is ruled a suicide even though "when the police got there they found Russ standing next to the dead woman, the gun in his hand."
   
   "The Computer Error and the Killer"--The author included this case because she thinks that "it demonstrates how charming and benign the sadistic sociopath can be when he wants to appear that way." A monster slips through the cogs of the criminal justice system and kills again and again.
   
   "The Vanishing"--A teenager who is about to go on vacation to Hawaii vanishes under strange circumstances. As the author states, "No one of us who searched for her could ever have guessed what [the teenager's] ending would be. Of all the possibilities, the truth was one that no one ever considered."
   
   "The Last Letter"--Mistresses are suckers for unrequited romance. According to "The Last Letter," one of the unhappiest endings to a love story features a husband who actually divorces his wife and marries his long-time mistress.



2. Now this is my kind of book, a bunch of true stories in one book! Well, six stories to be exact. One really loooooong one and the the others quite a bit shorter. But they are more to the point and didn't seem to be missing any pertinent information. If you want to get a taste of Anne Rule and what she's "like" this is a good book to start.



3. The story of Tim Harris, Florida State Patrolman, is one of Ann Rule's most memorable characterizations. When he used a phoney traffic stop to meet his future wife as a young police officer, she was a young and naive teenager. For years he abused her and groomed her to be the perfect servile victim. Only when she discovered she had a rival for his attentions did she begin to rebel against his authority. Not only did Tim abuse his wife, he abused females on his beat, also. Ann Rule, who is very fond of law enforcement, would disagree with me, but I don't find it surprising that a control freak like Tim Harris would find law enforcement an appealing career, for after all it gave him the opportunity to pull over and intimidate female drivers and get paid for doing it. There was a very similar case in California, a respected state trooper who liked to pull over attractive young female drivers on a deserted highway off-ramp. There were complaints about the California officer also, but the good old boys network shelters these abusers until they finally go all the way and actually commit murder. This book is Volume 2 of "Ann Rule's Crime Files", and contains several other interesting short cases in addition to the book-length story. Very good true-crime writing.



4. This was the first of Ann Rule's true crime books that I found myself skimming many of the pages.
   
   Rule begins with the title story, You Belong To Me, about a Florida Highway Patrol officer who kills an innocent woman out of rage because his wife is divorcing him and his mistress is getting smart to his lying, cheating ways. It's really an amazing story and quite humorous, in a twisted way, that this highly commended officer should end up committing a series perverse acts and serious crimes.
   
   After reading the good cop turned bad story, however, the others included simply leave a lot to be desired. I was very disappointed that one story was actually about a case that had been investigated as a murder but ended up only being a auto accident. Somewhat interesting....for Reader's Digest, maybe, but not a Ann Rule true cime book though.
   
   Still take the time to read it. Just don't expect the same quality as Rule's other works.



5. I don't, as a habit, read a lot of true crime but when I do I usually look for something that Ann Rule has written. Her books have always been hard to put down, always good reads. 'You Belong to Me' is a really creepy story of a Florida Highway Patrolman who despises women in general yet seems completely obsessed with the two in his life--his wife and his mistress. His position of authority only makes this book that much scarier--to think that a cop would pull you over and then be able to do whatever he wanted to do and you would be completely helpless. But there were signs that he maybe was not on the up and up and even though some of his colleagues picked up on them, nothing was done. My heart goes out to the victim's family in this case. A riveting read yet absolutely disturbing.

2 comments about Without Mercy: The Shocking True Story of a Doctor Who Murdered.

1. The style of this book was quite a change from the way Keith Ablow has previously written. Instead of writing fiction, he has chosen to write a bio about Dr. John Kappler. In 1975, Dr. Kappler, an anesthesiologist, secretly attempted to kill a pregnant patient by giving her the wrong anesthetic, deliberately sent a patient into cardiac arrest and with his car, ran down two innocent people. His fellow doctors not only rescued him from jail, but also allowed him to continue practicing medicine. At his trial, Kappler pleaded insanity, claiming he had heard voices telling him to kill people. This is the story of a doctor who became a killer and the medical establishment that looked the other way.



2. Dr. John Kappler was an anesthesiologist who had a nice family, lots of work, and seemed to live the good life. Unfortunately, he got it into his head every now and then that he had to kill one of his patients.
   
   This urge of his was in definite violation of the Hippocratic Oath, not to mention the law of the land, but his wife and colleagues managed to protect him up until the day the voice in his head commanded him to run over two people on a jogging path.
   
   The title of this book "Without Mercy" holds true for almost all of its characters, including the murderous Dr. John Kappler, and for the author himself who showed no mercy on Dr. Kappler's family when he wrote this true crime book. Nor did the jury show mercy on Dr. Kappler, who secretly attempted to kill three of his patients--including a pregnant woman who suffered permanent brain damage from his ministrations. The jurors did not believe Dr. Kappler was insane when he drove up onto the jogging path and killed a promising young psychiatrist, then permanently maimed a young mother.
   
   The author is a psychiatrist and a friend of the young doctor who was killed on the jogging path, and wrote this book in spite of the opposition from Dr. Kappler's family. In fact, Dr. Kappler's wife is portrayed as one of the chief villains for her role in covering up her husband's tendency to murder. I thought this was a bit unfair, since her response to his bouts of madness was to hospitalize him and make sure he took his medications until he seemed normal again. I think she was hoping that her husband would regain his sanity, and their family life could go on as before. I can see my own mother putting on blinders and doing and hoping just what Mrs. Kappler did.
   
   On the other hand, the young psychiatrist might still be alive if Mrs. Kappler had been completely honest about her husband's condition. Judge for yourself, and read the testimony of the psychiatrists who testified at Dr. Kappler's trial.
   
   "Without Mercy" is more of a psychological portrait than most true crime books, and suffers from a languid second half when the psychiatrists are testifying. However it also gives the reader a detailed look at how our judicial system treats an obviously mental ill physician. Perhaps the most frightening part of "Without Mercy" is the long-term cover-up of Dr. Kappler's homicidal treatment of certain patients--by his own medical colleagues.

5 comments about Dying For Daddy: A True Story of Family Killer Jack Barron (St. Martin's True Crime Library).

1. This is the son of Starla. This book contains many lies. I lived in the house with Jack Barron. Jack and my mother did not have sex. There are also many other false facts and disgusting lies. I find it offensive that my mothers name has been drug into the dirt by this book. Also, just to let everybody know, my parents never finaled the divorce and are still very hapily married. I just thought everybody should know this. To the author, you're an ill informed sad example of a man and you should have got your facts straight before you wrote this terrible book. This is something I thought every reader should know. I lived with the psycho Jack Barron the author didn't.



2. Often with true crime, you know up front who the murderer is, so the interesting part is what mistakes did he make, what circumstances or character development led to the crime(s), how the police solved it and how the trial played out.
   In this book, the motive is vague (insurance money, anger at father's desertion) and the character description doesn't really unfold enough for the reader to make an assessment.
   The police part is pretty ho-hum, without many breakthroughs, mostly bumbling along. The final trial isn't included in the book.
   I'm sure if I were a friend or family member, it would be riveting despite these drawbacks, but for me it was not a very satisfying example of true crime writing.



3. This is a pretty straightforward telling of a true crime story that involved Jack Barron, a man whose wife, son, and daughter all seemed to have died in that order in their sleep in Sacramento California within two years of each other. Thanks to a bumbling, seemingly incompetent, Coroner's Office and a fairly uninterested Sacramento County Sheriff's Department, what should have been obvious after his wife's death, went unnoticed by those who should have known. One cannot help but speculate what might have been had the authorities acted with some semblance of competence. Perhaps, there might not have been three more needless deaths.
   
   Consequently, Jack Barron went on to ensure that his little son and young daughter met the same fate as their mother. Still, no one in Sacramento law enforcement made a move to stop Jack Barron after each death, and the Coroner's Office still dithered in terms of its medical findings and conclusions. It was not until Barron moved to another jurisdiction, Benicia, California, and his own mother met the same fate as her daughter-in-law and grandchildren, did the Sacramento authorities really sit up and take notice, as law enforcement in Benicia was immediately suspicious of the circumstances surrounding his mother's death, especially when they discovered what had happened to the rest of Barron's family in Sacramento. The Coroner's Office for Benicia had no problem determining the cause of death for Barron's mother, given the medical findings. They were the same findings that had existed for Barron's wife. The only difference in the determination of the cause of death was the competence of the Coroner for the corresponding jurisdiction.
   
   While the story is told in a fairly straightforward fashion, it is a story that is somewhat premature in the telling, as the book ends with Jack Barron awaiting trial for murder in Sacramento, California for the deaths of his wife, son, and daughter. His trial for his mother's murder would follow the one in Sacramento. So, there is no trial information or resolution in this book. One has to go on the internet to discover the eventual result of the trial. The lack of this information in the book is disappointing, as it leaves the reader hanging. Those readers who enjoy the true crime genre will still get a modicum of enjoyment from reading this book but will be brought up short by the obvious drawback in the story.



4. I am always annoyed when I read a book that lacks grammatical correctness. It is a sign of poor writing skills and/or sloppy editing. For me, it detracts from the story line and interferes with the smooth flow of the book.
   I found the plot line to this book to be hapharard. At times it's difficult to determine who is narrating the story. The author is very repetitive. Also, don't look for a conclusion to the story.
   This book was written prematurely. My guess is the author couldn't wait to write the book so he could start raking in the bucks.
   Consequently, we're not informed of the outcome. Isn't that 99.99% of the reason for reading true crime books?
   This one's a rip off!



5. Dying For Daddy: A True Story of Family Killer Jack Barron (St. Martin's True Crime Library) I HAD NOT HEARD ABOUT THIS CRIME, AND TO BE HONEST, IT CAUGHT MY EYE BECAUSE MY MAIDEN NAME IS BARRON. I THOUGHT THE STORY WAS WELL WRITTEN AND THOUGHT-PROVOKING. IT IS FASCINATING THAT A PERSON'S MIND COULD BE SO WARPED THAT HE COULD KILL THOSE PEOPLE WHO LOVED AND CARED FOR HIM SO EASILY. THE PSYCOLOGY IS WHAT INTRIGUES ME.