No comments about The Porthole Murder Case.

4 comments about Murder Unpunished: How the Aryan Brotherhood Murdered Waymond Small and Got Away with It.

1. Inmates bent on running the asylum in an out-of-control prison dominated by homicidal gangs. Official corruption. Fraudulent land scales. A car bombing. Jurisdictional struggles. Hypnosis. A hung-over judge. Prosecutorial misconduct. A senile attorney.
   What might sound like the ingredients of an over-wrought novel are the facts of Durango author Thornton W. Price III's nonfiction true crime book, "Murder Unpunished," published by The University of Arizona Press on July 1.
   The cast of characters includes a future U.S. Supreme Court justice (Sandra Day O'Connor), a future Democratic presidential candidate (Bruce Babbitt) and the man who pioneered the psychological autopsy (Dr. Otto Bendheim).
   But most of the players in this extraordinary peek at Arizona State Prison run amok came straight from Satan's casting call, even down to the unfortunate Waymond Small, possibly one of the nation's least likable murder victims.
   The time is the late 1970s. In less than two years, there have been 14 murders and dozens of assaults at Arizona State Prison. The Arizona Republic has cast a relentless eye on the mayhem. The political pressure to do something ratchets up. And finally the Aryan Brotherhood takes a bridge too far with the murder of Small on the eve of his testimony to the state legislature.
   Price, the author, was a young attorney. One of the inmates charged in connection with Small's death-a group collectively known as the Florence Eleven-ends up being Price's first murder case.
   Tempting though it must have been, Price wisely avoids much use of the first-person in this economically written account of five murder trials. When he does resort to it, it's justified by the insight it offers.
   My own first nonfiction true crime book, "Someone Has to Die Tonight," is scheduled to be published as a Pinnacle mass market paperback in March. I know the challenge Price took on in combing through 16,000 pages of court records and conducting interviews with key players for his narrative.
   I also know how his involvement in the case probably made the task harder. I became a confidential informant in the case of a self-styled teen militia that I was documenting. Separating oneself from the story and keeping the narrative focused becomes more difficult when there's a personal connection.
   The Florence Eleven was the case for Price: The case that every cop, attorney or crime reporter knows about-the one you never forget. In spite of this, Price showed remarkable discipline in his writing, and it serves his readers well.
   My literary attorney, Bob Pimm, counseled me to make my book a train ride that readers wouldn't want to get off. The train needs to take off in the first chapter, he said, and the reader needs to want to say on all the way to the end.
   Price kept me on the train.
   "Murder Unpunished" has moments of writing that jumps out for its eloquence or economy. He describes one murder in two pithy sentences: "Even with a loaded gun to his head, the idiot wouldn't shut up. He'd dared him to shoot, so he did."
   And here's how one of the large cast is introduced: "With a thin, six-foot-seven-inch frame, Jerry Joe `Stretch' Hillyer looked like he'd survived the rack."
   And here, another: "Born in Scottsdale one week before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Tidwell's life began in as much ruin as the Pacific Fleet."
   Price knows we need humor in a dark tale ridden with murder, rape and drug abuse, and he finds it (somehow it always seems to be there, even in the darkest crime, often because of the extraordinary stupidity of some criminals, whose choices in life seem determined to provide job security for police and prosecutors).
   "Did you see anything?" a tired investigator asks in one of 650 inmate interviews after Small's murder.
   "No."
   "Would you tell us if you had seen anything?"
   And then there's Price's account of the state's attempts to hypnotize a witness, a chapter that may alone justify the book's $17.95 cover price.
   True crime is a tempting genre for the very reason that makes readers sometimes skeptical the writer could really know all he portrays. How could we know people's thoughts? How could we recapture dialog years after the fact?
   It's possible because of the uniquely thorough nature of investigative and court records, around which entire books can be built. It's not an easy task sifting thousands of pages for the specks of gold that add up to a compelling narrative. There are a lot of mediocre true crime books out there. Price's is not one of them.
   Here we find a writer unafraid to show a criminal's sheer enjoyment of violence. A writer who's resisted the temptation to include every fact or exchange he personally finds compelling, restraint that must sometimes have been painful.
   He knows court procedure and introduces us to terms such as the "slow-form guilty plea"-the trial of someone obviously guilty from the get-go.
   He shows us the Mau Maus, the Mexican Mafia, the Native Brotherhood and the Aryan Brotherhood out of control in Arizona's penal system and what was done to fix it. He gets the prison language of kites, fish and punks exactly right in a sometimes profane book that avoids overdosing on cussing and violence.
   He explains very well why prison crimes are so singularly hard to investigate.
   Down among the human dross, Price somehow emerges with none of the nastiness sticking to him or the reader. Better, he somehow makes us care.
   He gives fascinating insight into how the Aryan Brotherhood worked, like a business. And he offers some motivation without making excuses for his unattractive cast.
   The case comes as close to Durango as Chimney Rock, just off Highway 160.
   Despite a misprint in the spelling of Price's name on the cover (one of those palm to the forehead blunders that has probably cost some hapless copyeditor restful sleep) "Murder Unpunished" is otherwise flawlessly edited.
   This is entertaining, educational and compelling. I hope Price will find another case somewhere in his career worth writing about.



2. `Murder Unpunished: How the Aryan Brotherhood Murdered Waymond Small and Got Away with It' by Thornton W. Price III, has brought to life the events that I only remembered through newscast snippets and the occasional news paper editorial.
   
   `Murder Unpunished' allows the reader to contemplate the concepts of the law being rational, yet the interpretation of the law may seem irrational. The reader can also reflect on why a person can act despicable yet still receive grace. Mr. Price presents the reader with an opportunity to question the concepts of revenge and universal justice. These themes of duality, like old friends, are revisited here in the pages penned by Mr. Price from his autobiographical and historic perspectives that have matured over time. He is unapologetic.
   
   I for one wish to apologize for the state of Arizona's justice.



3. Murder Unpunished: How the Aryan Brotherhood Murdered Waymond Small and Got Away With It is a telling example of the truth that entering prison is like entering another culture or country. The rules, customs, and behaviors are foreign to those in the free world. People outside of the walls will never be able to appreciate or accept. The problem, however, is that the prisons are within our country and need to abide by the laws of the United States of America. This book did an excellent job of asking the question, "does justice occur after incarceration?" The short answer is, no. The bigger question to ask is, "when will this country enact laws that can adequately deal with prison gangs and the control that they have in our criminal justice system?" This book is a telling example of all the state and federal correctional facilities will experience with any prison gangs that occupy them. It is a must read for all correctional employees and lawmakers.



4. This book was very informitive about the code that convicts live under. Its a testament to learning to keeping your mouth shut when you do some dirt. Prison gangs are hardcore and the Aryan Brotherhood was formed in california with blood and sacrafice to protect white inmates, anybody who joins knows the commitment they are making as a soildier ( blood in blood out )

No comments about Where Shadows Linger: The Untold Story of the Olson Murder Investigation.

5 comments about Who Killed John Lennon?.

1. John Lennon's death never DID make sense to me outside of the context of some kind of conspiracy. When he died, I was 27 years old. I had lived through the trauma of JFK's, RFK's and MLK's assassinations. I did not believe they were lone nut killings either, they were too important, and the question "who benefits?" usually leads to an obvious motive and an obvious suspect, even if it can't be proven. Once he was dead, I understood that John Lennon was the last hope of a dying spirit, the spirit of the 60s, the hope of a generation that had dreamed of creating a world of freedom, love and non-violence. That, to me, was the motive of a generation unwilling to pass the torch of life onto the next generation, the very baby boom they had created at the end of WWII to expand their own egos, yet were unwilling to acknowledge as having minds of their own and perhaps valid resentments having grown up with the values of a war torn parentage. This book dovetails nicely with the other books I have read and reviewed (see more about me) and the evidence is startling and massive to validate Bresler's theory that Chapman was, indeed, a mind controlled killer. The fact is, the CIA's shenanigans go far beyond MK-ULTRA, and have not stopped yet. They are gathering power as you read this, and looking the other way will not stop them. I'm not sure what will, but letting anyone else do your thinking for you won't. Learn as much as you can and know your own mind. Question authority, as the mantra from the 60s challenged, and do not allow the dreams and visions of the flower children to be silenced. They are not dead. They did take root. The toxic poison that surrounds us all is a deadly threat, but as long as we are open to learning and knowing and speaking truth to power, there is hope.



2. This well researched book explores a possible political component to the 1980 murder of John Lennon. Outspoken and involved in political causes, the late former Beatle had a dossier by the FBI. He was considered an insurgent rebel by many politicos of the day.

   Bresler's book does an excellent job of following the man who killed John Lennon. He accurately chronicles the assassin's movements during the latter part of 1980 and his boyhood overidentification with the former Beatle. Bresler does not skip a beat, his work takes his readers along that sad, psychotic trail Lennon's killer took in late 1980.

   The assassin, caught in a love-hate obsession concerning John Lennon appears to be confused about his own identity. A former Beatles fan, the killer would, by 1966 turn against them because of John Lennon's comment that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. Irate and confused, the killer appeared to try to suppress his natural love for their music while justifying his hatred of John.

   It is indeed the killer's behavior that calls attention to his desire to emulate the late Beatle. The assassin marries a woman who is Japanese; he expresses an enjoyment for the same types of art and music that Lennon publicly endorsed. By late 1980 the lines between reality and fantasy blurred; on his last day of work, the killer signed out of his company log book as "John Lennon." He then left Hawaii where he was then living for New York. An extremely confused man, he overidentifies with Holden Caulfield, the young protagonist of "Catcher in the Rye" infamy. He, like Holden declares a moratorium against "phonies" and in his mind, John Lennon is one of those phonies His fantasies ultimately consume him and the results are...devastating.

   Bresler does an excellent job of chronicling the series of events that took place when and after John Lennon was murdered; he also does an excellent job of debunking many of the tabloid biographies of the day, e.g. Goldman and Guiliano's biographies of the late Beatle. John's youngest son, Sean, for example comes down hard on the Goldman book which portrays John as punitive and uncomfortable around children as a "total lie." He said that John did indeed enjoy being kissed by Sean and his older half brother Julian and that Goldman's statement otherwise was untrue.

   I was impressed with the accuracy and objectivity of this work. It will certainly hold a reader's interest and is an invaluable source of information. I'm lucky to have this. It would be nice to see this back in print.




3. Today marks the 25th Anniversary of John Lennon's death. I got Bresler's book from the library and read about half of his book last year and I must admit I'm starting to believe that his death was politically motivated. Not only that, he gives hard evidence that this government, particually the CIA, ordered Mark Chapman as a hitman to kill John Lennon (there is good reason why: They were getting revenge for not kicking Lennon out of the country for his actions against Vietman; since that England was not involved). When I read that the first person that came to mind as a conspirator was the lame-duck President of that time, Jimmy Carter. Why? Because he was in the same position as the other white Southern President before him, Lyndon Johnson: President about to leave office, decides to take out the biggest peacekeeper(s) in America (in LBJ's case-Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy) because in their eyes, their agendas were a threat to National Security while the FBI and CIA's powers are in the hands of the President. In the book the author gives an idea who was behind the conspiracy and picks an unlikely choice: The Y.M.C.A. since that it helped Chapman in the midst of his troubles. I know that I'm maybe crazy and Carter can deny all he wants just like Fidel Castro can deny that he was involved in President Kennedy's death.
   Speaking of that, in Bresler's book he brings up another distrubing fact that Chapman was under "mind control" to kill Lennon and there can be a possibility that's what happened to Lee Harvey Oswald when he shot Kennedy and in the book, he states that Chapman was like Oswald: Running into one disater after another.
   Not only does he talk about Chapman's behavior, Bresler portrayes Lennon as a musician who became an enemy of himself and began to gather demons (which included his "Beatles are more popular than Jesus" interview, the nude photos that he did with Yoko Ono while still married, and evenually his fight to stay in America). Out of all the things Lennon did to offend the American physic and sealing his fate of an early death, none was more damning than the Rolling Stone interview that Jan Wierner did in 1970 in which Lennon ranted about America being "f-ing pesants" and ended his sentence by saying "the (American) dream is over." In my opinion, I think he deserved to die.
   Another story the author brings up about Lennon came in the next year when he and Yoko Ono were at a Vietman protest on the University of Michigan campus and what they didn't know was that two CIA officers were spying on them. For those that aren't convinced yet that the CIA was involved in Lennon's death should consider this: His death occurred four years after the same agency try to kill another peace-searching musician, Bob Marley and failed as he survived despite being wounded.
   To close it out, I will try to get back to the library soon and finish up this somewhat fascinated and intriging book.



4. Have we really come to this?
   
   John Lennon was murdered by a clearly-deranged fan in 1980. Anyone who believes that Lennon was a grave enough threat to the USA and the world obviously has a bizarrely inflated opinion of the former Beatle.
   
   John was practically in hiding for the five years before his death and had distanced himself from the hippie peace movement which had faded away during the disco era. Upon releasing his return album, "Double Fantasy," he and Yoko gave many interviews about how they'd settled into private life and made a fortune off real estate and such. Come on, people, one of the main reasons his killer struck was because John had become such a sell-out.
   
   Even back then, the "bed-ins" for peace and all the anti-war posturing came off as more silly and mischevious than dangerous and anti-American.
   He loved America, he loved New York. We'd been out of Vietnam for five years.
   
   Documenting all the movements and rantings of John's crazy killer doesn't make his horrible crime a CIA conspiracy.
   
   Wherever John is, he's probably laughing.



5. Chock full of suppositions as to how Mark David Chapman was a mind-controlled assassin programmed by the CIA to kill John Lennon, since Lennon was coming out of retirement and was apparently going to speak at an anti-nuke rally (thus inspiring everyone around the world to abandon nuclear weapons and putting the military-industrial complex out of business). In the end, it's a bunch of mildly interesting bunk that lacks only the merit of being true...and if it IS true, one certainly wouldn't know it from the lack of evidence presented here (unless conjecture and innuendo count as evidence).

1 comments about Murder on Several Occasions (True Crime History Series).

1. Mr. Goodman makes little effort to conceal his disdain for Americans and homosexuals. Some of the chapters were good, but in other chapters he rambles off on tangents. The section on the kidnapping of the Lindberg baby has got to be the dullest, most uninteresting chapter ever written on the subject.

2 comments about The Chicago Killer.

1. This is a chilling true police story about the capture of John Wayne Gacy, one of America's most prolific serial killers. The story is told by the former Chief of Detectives for the Des Plaines, Illinois Police Department, Joseph R. Kozenczak and was co-authored with Karen M. Henrikson. The book offers two additional Bonus Chapters regarding the Use of Psychics in a serial Murder Investigation, along with an insight into the use of a lie-detector which helped in cracking the case. This book is a Silver Commemorative Issue, First Edition. Well worth reading!



2. Given his primary role in the investigation and arrest of John Wayne Gacy and his years of service in law enforcement, I wish I could say better things about Mr. Kozenczak's book.
   
   Unfortunately, I can't. I purchased the book thinking it would offer new insights into the case from a detective who was an active participant. Instead, this is a dull and disjointed book. The writing is awkward, the story is hard to follow, and there are enough typos scattered throughout to make you want to whip out your red pen and start making corrections.
   
   Plus, at least in the edition I read, there's an oversight that should have been caught prior to publication: Kozenczak omits one victim's name entirely--Greg Godzik--when he excerpts the portion of the trial where the prosecution named each identified victim and stated how their bodies were found.
   
   The most interesting part of the book deals with the role of one particular psychic in the investigation, prior to Gacy's arrest when no one but the police knew he was a suspect. Other than that, I can't say this book really held my attention or offered much in the way of new information on the case.
   
   This book was published 25 years after the death of Gacy's last victim, so Mr. Kozenczak has lived with this case for a while and probably knows it better than just about anybody. With that kind of familiarity, I guess I just expected a better book. Mr. Kozenczak has no doubt had a distinguished career and considerable professional achievements, but this book is a mediocre effort at best.

No comments about A Murder in Our Town.

5 comments about Bad Date: The Lost Girls of Vancouver's Low Track.

1. With more than 50 women missing from Vancouver, you'd think there would be a lot of books and writings on this unbelievable story. However, Trevor Greene appears to be the only one with guts to tackle this horrific story.

   Reminiscent of the Green River killings, but more prolific, these missing women are out there somewhere. Trevor does a great job of keeping objective as he talks about a tradegy that is beyond most of our understanding.




2. BAD DATE: THE LOST GIRLS OF VANCOUVER'S LOW TRACK is a riveting, compelling account of the girls and women who were addicted to drugs and/or alcohol, and who had to work the streets of Vancouver's "downtown Eastside," also known as "Low Track" as prostitutes to fund their drug habits. The accounts of the lives of these women are harrowing. Many of these girls tried drugs once and became hooked on them. In particular, the account of Sheila and Julia Egan, two sisters whose mother recounts the story of how they became hooked on drugs to the author, Trevor Greene, should serve as a warning to other parents to supervise their children more closely. The Egan girls became hooked on drugs merely by "hanging out" a little too much with other kids at a nearby strip mall. Sheila Egan has been missing for six or seven years now and may have been murdered by Robert Pickton--it is not known for sure what happened to her, but she is still missing.
   
   The tragedy here is that these women were talented, warm, caring human beings who became enmeshed and entrapped in a horrible life that was so dangerous, that it's no wonder they fell victim to someone who took their lives. Anyone who is in the fields of counseling, specifically school counseling or school psychology, or concerned parents who want to know how to protect their daughters from undesirable outside influences should read this book.



3. Trevor Greene is an officer in the Canadian Armed Forces and was recently seriously injured while on duty in Khandahar.
   
   This book shows the depth of this man as a human being. The murders in Vancouver's downtown eastside were allowed to happen by police and public indifference fed by racism. Captain Greene goes deep into conditions on the east side to help all of us understand this.
   
   That this man would go on to serve in Afghanistan speaks well of the quality of officer that the Canadian Armed Forces are attracting.
   
   Apparently there is an earlier book on the homeless in Tokyo that I am trying to locate.



4. This information contained in this book my seem to be dated or lacking since it was written just before Robert Pickton was arrested and charged with the murders of several missing women from the Vancouver area (some of whom are mentioned in this very book). Despite that, I think that anyone interested in the subject of these murders or with the plight of poor, drug addicts will find this book to both an illuminating and riveting expose. This book provides a glimpse into the horrific lives of some of the people at the lowest rung of society.
   
   This book will definitely not appeal to everyone. It is, first of all, deeply sad and disturbing for anyone not used to seeing or hearing about people who live their lives on the fringes of society, and who lives are a constant struggle for survival from day to day. Their lives are a constant cycle of getting high and finding the means to stay high. First of all, they get addicted to whatever their drug of choice is. Then they find that they must feed this adiction. Usually whatever income they have is not enough to support the habit or they cannot continue to hold a regular job and they must resort to other means of supporting the habit (like stealing or prostituion). If they don't feed their addiction, they must suffer withdrawal and that for them is a pain like no other. So, they steal or sell their bodies or whatever they must do in order to finance their habit. Prostitutes often are addicted to drugs in order to ease the pain of servicing so many.
   
   Also, not everyone would care to read this book because not everyone is sympathetic to such people. That never ceases to amaze, shock, disturb, or anger me. Often times, I have found that the reaction some people have to the pig farmer murders is more like amusement or indifference. The general concensus among many is that these women were lowlife, drug addicted prostitues who got what they deserved and that society is much better off without them. What is ironic here is that many of these women did not start out their lives this way and that for whatever reason they chose to or were forced to take the wrong path in life. Almost all of them had family and friends who cared for them and loved them deeply. For those victims who did not even have that, I say that they deserve even more sympathy because they never had a chance. No one has the right to make the decision if these victims deserved to live or not.
   
   One part of the book that really shocked and disturbed me was an excerpt taken from the diary of Sarah De Vries (one of the missing women mentioned in the book and linked to the pig farm). By all accounts, Miss De Vries was a lovely, smart young woman who was very much loved by family and friends. Why she would choose to do what she did is a mystery. In this excerpt, she wrote about a close call with a john who had picked her up for a "date" and then taken her out into a desolate, wooded area and tried to kill her. He nearly accomplished this, but she was able to escape. Trevor Greene says in his book that this is like a rite of passage that ALL prositutes go through, and even if they survive the first, there are bound to be many other similar experiences. Sarah survived that one, but she obviously had another that she did not surivive.
   
   Anyone with young children should read this book or a least be aware of the message. Most people think that this would never happen to their kids. I bet most of the parents of these victims thought the same. It is not hard to get mixed up with the "wrong" crowd.
   
   Trevor Greene must indeed be an kind and compassionate person for having researched this subject and then written a book about it. This is the kind of person who I admire and respect. I read recently that he was badly injured in Iraq while he was serving there. I hope he's well now.



5. BAD DATE by Trevor Greene is a combination sociological/social work study of the many prostitutes on Vancouver's Low Track who have gone missing since the 90s. Greene's focus is on the life style of the prostitute/victims, most of them drug addicted, and on their families, making it clear that the women are no less human than any of the rest of us. There is also focus on the sick men who physically victimize - to the point of killing - these women who are among the most vulnerable and who due to their addiction and transience are the least likely to be immediately missed. For the sexually conflicted, bullying men who need to satisfy their Madonna/whore lunacies by battering women who have done nothing to them, the prostitute/addict is a gold mine.
   
   Greene's work touches all bases of the subject including law enforcement, politics, disease, in addition to the main areas I've mentioned.
   Two items of note: 1. BAD DATE is not true crime. 2. It was published before Vancouver pig farmer, Robert Pickton, was arrested and charged with the murders of some of the missing women, but this doesn't make the book any less interesting.
   
   Trevor Greene has written about what is to me a heartbreaking subject and while doing so has demonstrated his understanding that we are all human beings and that the most troubled of us is as valued as the rest.
   Highly recommended.

No comments about Women and the Noose: A History of Female Execution.

5 comments about Fire Lover.

1. This is the first Wambaugh book that I've read. I've heard lots of good things about his books. I work in law enforcement and have enjoyed other true crime books written by former law enforcement personnel, so thought I would Wambaugh as well. I had seen the documentary about John Orr and wanted to know more.

   However, although the author is an excellent writer, this book was very biased and Wambaugh comes across to me as very arrogant -- a trait that I cannot tolerate under any circumstance. In fact, his bias that police officers are better than firefighters is downright cocky.

   Although I knew the story of John Orr and felt he was guilty, while reading Fire Lover, I found myself wanting him to get off from page to page because of the cockiness of the writer.

   I would NOT recommend this book to anyone.




2. I think he could have written in 200 words or less that he hated John Orr, thinks cops are better than firemen, and thinks prosecutors should always have the upper hand.

   One thing he could have included was photos, to make the book less boring. And, he could have explained just how we went from the judge disallowing Orr's manuscripts into evidence to the prosecution being allowed to use them as evidence.




3. This is an unusual book. I don't think I've ever read a book about an arsonist before, certainly not a non-fiction book, and the story that it tells is so fantastic that it's one of those stranger-than-fiction tales that defies belief.

   The book tells the story of John Leonard Orr. Orr was a frustrated individual, from a split household, who tried to become a policeman and failed, and wound up becoming a firefighter, both in the Air Force and then in the city of Glendale here in Southern California. He rose to become Glendale's senior arson investigator, actually teaching classes that other arson investigators, even Federal ones, attended. He was considered one of the leading authorities on arson fires and arsonists in California. Then suspicion fell on him and his activities, and he was arrested and accused of being an arsonist himself. The accusation was followed by a pair of trials.

   Now I live in Montrose (yards from the border of the city of Glendale) and used to actually live in Glendale, so it was interesting to read about the locale and the people of my new home (I've lived here for five years). Everything's reasonably well-recreated, though I didn't think Glendale was made that unique compared with other Southern California cities. Orr comes across as something of a nerd, a doofus who's always trying to fit in while never quite making it, and always cheating on the current wife with the prospective one, while paying child support to the ex.

   Wambaugh's writing style is interesting, in that he uses a lot of slang and emphasis to show what he means, and has a very conversational style. It'd be interesting to hear Ken Howard read this book: it reads as if it would sound better than it looks on the page. I will confess that the cast of characters is large enough that I had trouble keeping track of all of the investigators and attorneys involved, and I think it would have helped if the author provided a dramatis personae at the beginning of the book.

   One note: several of the other reviewers presented the idea that the author thinks cops are somehow better than firefighters. This is erroneous. It's his position, stated and restated through the book, that the crime spree was solved by a firefighter turned arson investigator, and that he was ignored by his cop colleagues until the evidence confirmed his suspicions. He does say, several times, that cops themselves sometimes think themselves firefighters, but he's clear that he thinks this is unfortunate. Strange when people have read the same book as you, and come to a different interpretation of what was written. Altogether a good book, though.




4. Having read and thoroughly enjoyed four of Wambaugh's earlier books, I was sure this one would be a page turner; however, it was strictly the story and not the writing that kept my interest. So my feelings are mixed and my rating is lukewarm. Wambaugh tries too hard to depict John Orr as evil, yet without the hard-sell, the reader would come to that conclusion anyway. I finished the book still feeling that there is more on John Orr that could have been included in the book. An additional thought - one reviewer mentions that Wambaugh copies Truman Capote's style of not including photographs of the characters, yet Wambaugh's own picture is on the back. I'd much rather see who I'm reading about.



5. In Fire Lover, Wambaugh attempts to get into the mind of a convicted serial arsonist, one who nevertheless has never (at least as documented in this book) admitted to his crimes. The story is well-written, intriguing, and at times even a page-turner. The few occasions when the story drags are most often in the telling of Orr's trials, when Wambaugh seeks thoroughness in telling the story of the trial, but occasionally at the expense of the reader's interest. But all told, this is a good, even haunting story of a true case.