No comments about Secrets Can Be Murder: The Killer Next Door.

4 comments about Every Contact Leaves a Trace: Crime Scene Experts Talk About Their Work from Discovery Through Verdict.

1. This was an interesting book. It was a fascinating look into a world most of us never see. Should be required reading for criminals so they realize that the police will not give up and every crime has evidence left behind.



2. This is a collection of excerpts from interviews with more than 80 police officers, homicide investigators, prosecutors, defense attorneys and, most importantly, criminal forensics technicians and scientists.
   
   There is no "story" here, no unifying theme or grand scheme. It's just bits and pieces about the underlying premise that every contact at a crime scene leaves a trace of itself. Broken into nine chapters, the book covers crime scene processing, crime scene interpretation, trace evidence, evidence from bodies, DNA, what goes on in the crime lab, the reality of cold cases and the rigors of tesifying at trials.
   
   In a way, the treatment is almost too light, not really providing detailed information about the various forensic disciplines examined. However, that may be a blessing since many of the disciplines are very, very complex.
   
   Instead, Fletcher allows the real-life players to talk about their work, how it fits into the criminal justice process and their own feelings about being confronted with death and mayhem. Some of the interviewees were apparently not very articulate and the excerpts could have benefited from some editing.
   
   On the whole, Fletcher provides a solid overview of forensics in the real world and demolishes without trying the myths perpetuated by CSI and other television concoctions.
   
   Jerry



3. If you want to know what REAL criminalists do and how they behave at a crime scene then this is the book for you. To hear what actual forensic technicians have to say about their craft in their own voices is Connie Fletcher's strength.
   
   What makes this book so valuable is the number of experts she interviewed and the range of skills represented. Real criminalistics ain't like CSI and several of the professionals in this book want you to know it!



4. A note to anyone that is a fan of Fletcher's books. This text is the same as another book: (published the same year in paperback version) "Crime Scene: Inside The World of the Real CSIs."

5 comments about Vulgar Favors: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace, and the Largest Failed Manhunt in U.S. History.

1. I'm somewhat baffled by the number of reviewers who read specific cultural and political agendas into this book. I am not saying that they're wrong, just that I didn't perceive Orth as being particularly anti-gay or pro-gay. I actually thought her depiction of gay communities in San Diego, San Francisco and South Miami Beach was sympathetic. Gays and lesbians in this country still, in most instances, endure lives constricted by homophobia, familial indifference and the potential for victimization by intolerant heterosexuals. Any book that can put a human face on homosexuality for a mass American audience should be welcome as a step toward enlightenment and tolerance.

   As for Andrew Cunanan, the demons that drove him to serial murder arose from the values imposed on him by his parents at an early age, not his sexual orientation. Cunanan was a quintessential narcissist and a sociopath, always a dangerous combination no matter what social milieu. Cunanan's pathology is a great deal clearer than most heterosexual serial killers with the same personality traits because his extroversion put his materialistic cravings on public display. Had Cunanan been more circumspect in his behavior, he might have killed many more men before being run to ground.

   What speaks to me most in this book is Orth's depiction of a smart man who sacrificed his own personality in order to fulfill his fantasies of wealth and celebrity. When his aging body and drug habit finally caught up with him, Andrew Cunanan was a man filled with a deadly despair. Weak and inconsequential, he took up a gun to make himself a man of means, counting his riches in infamy. It must have been a cold, unfulfilling dish.

   Orth's primary targets for criticism aren't the gay residents of the communities named above. Instead, she reserves her barbs for the various police departments and the FBI who bungled the search for Andrew Cunanan. Had a truly coordinated effort been launched to capture him, Cunanan would never have gotten close enough to Gianni Versace (...). Instead, agencies seemed content to expend the least possible effort in finding Cunanan. If nothing else, Orth's book is a damning indictment of how law enforcement doesn't ensure public safety in the gay community with the zeal it normally reserves for the larger heterosexual community.

   In the end, Cunanan's perverse inversion of values would taint the lives of everyone he knew, save his younger sister Gina, the only Cunanan who refused to sell her story to the tabloid media. Ironically, Cunanan would have been delighted to know that his infamy was earning him column inches in Vanity Fair and top billing on tabloid television. His name in lights -- that simple vision drove Andrew Cunanan to murder five people.




2. I live in urban Minneapolis, Minnesota so I watched the Cunanen case unfold from the beginning. I am also a fan of Maureen Oarth. Her meticulous research in Vanity Fair articles carried over into this book. I was most concerned with the Minnesota aspect of the case and her work on it seemed excellent. I was less familiar with the later outstate aspects of the case by Oarth's book seems to make sense.

   Reactions of some in the gay community, who seemed to judge the book by a "political agenda" seemed to mirror the response to Randy Shilts classic book on the AIDS epidemic "And the Band Played On". Many of the worst critics of Shilts classic book were from the gay community.

   As they say, those who don't learn from history are destined to repeat it. Law enforcement and the gay community cooperation on the Cunnanen case went from excellent to horrible. In Vulgar Favors Oarth describes the extremes, and everything in the middle, in great detail. It provides a foundation on how this "odd couple" can work together better in the future.

   I recall reading somewhere that there were several gays on the books editing and publishing team and they didn't have any problem with the book and it's contents.

   I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Cunanen case who has an open mind. Gays are like everyone else, you have to take the good with the bad. Early on the Minneapolis newspaper wouldn't even use the word "gay" to describe Andrew Cunanen even though they listed several of his lovers with obviously male names (like duhh!). The local gay press ironically, tended to be supportive of Vulgar Favors and the Vanity Fair coverage because it got coverage and awareness for local gay community issues like substance abuse and cooperation with police.

   Again I highly recommend this book.




3. Sheesh! Andrew's story is fairly absorbing as far as those of serial killers go, and Orth has collected an impressive mountain of facts about it. However, this book's shortcomings far outweigh any of its strong points:
   
   1. The text is fairly clogged with spelling errors and illiteracies of every kind. I mean, I'M embarrassed to read them, and I had nothing to do with the book!
   
   2. Why couldn't we have pictures? Because Orth didn't want to stoop to sensationalism? Then how to explain the completely inaccurate and misleading title? At no point is it ever alleged that Cunanan performed "vulgar favors" for Versace, hence I must conclude that that title was chosen only for the basest of reasons.
   
   3. There was no reason the book needed to be this long; it could have been much shorter and still effective. The author seemed unable to weed out uninteresting aspects of her story, instead dumping EVERY damn fact in her possession on us (e.g., do we really need two entire chapters on the history of the FBI's fliers?!?)
   
   4. Orth just can't seem to make the characters come alive, although she evidently suffered from no lack of rich material.
   
   5. Her prose style is mediocre and over-stylized at the same time.
   
   6. I suppose this is inevitable when writing the life of a serial killer, but here I must accuse Orth of "playing the ending" too much. What I mean is that she goes back into his life in high school (and before) reading all these sinister meanings into the most innocuous teenageisms (what high-school boy, for example, isn't a barefaced liar?). As if he'd spent his entire life preparing to go berserk and kill Versace. Brother! Only somebody with a ludicrous and gratingly shallow understanding of human nature would have slanted her facts thus.
   
   Avoid this one: A weak and forgettable effort.



4. Nine years after the crimes, this book's flaws are all the more apparent: overwritten and in desperate need of an editor's hand. The reader has to wait more than 300 pages to get to Gianni Versace. The buildup, many extraneous details about four previous murders of obscure individuals by Andrew Cunanan, while interesting in its way, is not why anyone would want to read this work. This reporter never met a detail she didn't decide to incorporate into her writing. There are reams of tedious detail about police investigations, with many gratuitous quotes by cops who are unimportant to the theme. No one really cares about the non-celebrities who preceded Versace in death at the hands of this particular psychopath.



5. It was well written for the most part, but I detected a lot of homophobia between the lines. Orth comes off as judgmental and seems to blame the victims....they deserved to be murdered because they were gay and were guilty of risky behavior (Note to Mrs. Russert: straight folks are promiscuous and do drugs, too).
   
   Orth wrote a lot of things about the victims that I don't think belonged in the book - who cares whether or not Gianni Versace had or didn't have AIDS?
   
   Andrew Cunnan's sexual orientation had nothing to do with his being a serial killer. This individual was the product of psychotic parents (SOME people should NOT reproduce) who made Andrew what he was: an overindulged, spoiled, narcissistic sociopath with an out of control ego and a huge sense of entitlement.
   
   As I said, good book for the most part but maybe the story should have been told by someone less prejudiced.
   
   And, by the way, I am a heterosexual woman.

5 comments about Before He Wakes: A True Story of Money, Marriage, Sex and Murder.

1. Good true crime book about a female psychopath. In order to get spending money and get rid of pesky husbands, Barbara killed them in their sleep for their insurance benefits. This book was well-written, descriptive, and in depth. Barbara was apparently an amazing employee and spotless housekeeper, she just couldn't stop competing with the Joneses or stop cheating on her husbands. There was something going on with the relationship with her mother that just wasn't quite right - of course her mother always stuck up for her just like Pat's mother in "Everything She Wanted", by Ann Rule. It's amazing how similar these psychopaths are when you've read as many of these books as I have.

   I keep remembering how one of her former friends saw her driving around in her convertible, a big grin on her face, just out enjoying herself, right after her second husband's death (before she was arrested). I wonder if her two boys ever realized that she deliberately lied about and kept them from seeing their paternal grandparents. In my opinion, the death penalty should have been carried out on Barbara. She is breathing up other people's air.




2. I read this wonderful book a few years ago and it was truly riveting. i saw the movie this morning and at the end of the movie, which i think was made in the early 90's, that Barbara will be up for parole in 2006- how in the heck did she avoid life in prison without parole?



3. Barbara Stager got away with killing her first husband, even though there were those (including her in-laws) who suspected the shooting was not accidental. When she shot her second husband, Russ Stager, while he slept, there were too many people who suspected her, and who knew Russ had feared what Barbara might do to him.
   
   I also agree with another reviewer that Barbara is evil for how she brain-washed her two young sons against their paternal grandparents. Not only did she murder their father, she wanted to deprive his parents access to their biological grandchildren. The fact that the Fords handled it as well as they did shows what truly decent, moral people they were/are.
   
   Barbara was originally given a death sentence - and rightly so. Later, she was re-sentenced to life by a new jury. A woman who could plan and commit the murder of two husbands should never see the light of day again. Because she was given a new sentence of life, she will be eligible for parole.
   
   I wish I could give this book 4.5 stars. The only reason I don't give it 5 stars is that I feel the book got bogged down in one small section after Barbara's arrest, and during her trial for killing her second husband, Russ Stager. Its the part about Barbara's creative check writing, hot checks, forged checks, etc. Other than that, I give the book 5 stars.



4. "Before He Wakes" is a frightening tale of sleeping with a monster and a bit of a cautionary tale.
   Barbara Stager - - devoted wife, loving mother, churchgoer, obedient daughter or cold blooded murderer? If you believe this book, not to mention the State of North Carolina and good, basic common sense, she is nothing more than a cold blooded murderer, masquerading as the devoted wife, loving mother, churchgoer and obedient daughter.
   This book is an in-depth profile of a female sociopath. There are many true crime books on the market disecting the male sociopath but female sociopaths are more fascinating, perhaps, because there are fewer of them.
   Jerry Bledsoe's writing is strong, the story is too bizare for fiction and the characters come to life.
   In reading this tale, my heart bleeds for both Larry Ford's and Russ Stager's families, just as much victims of Barbara's as her husbands were. So self-absorbed, indulged and without conscience was she that she thought nothing of putting bullets in her husbands' sleeping bodies so that she might collect the insurance money. Pure evil.
   Definitely a good read - - and will make you think twice about the person you sleep next to!



5. Barbara Terry Ford Stager can take care of herself. When her first husband, Larry Ford, and father of her two sons, Bryan and Jason, got int he way of her affairs and manic spending, she shot him the chest as he slept. The end result: she was able to claim insurance funds when political disputes resulted in Ford's death being declared "an accident."
   
   Forward a few husband-hunting months later, Barbara marries Russ Stager. It doesn't take long for her adultry and spending habits to surface. While a spender himself, Russ Stager has enough sense to realize when he's in over his head and attempts to, with the help of his parents, curtail their financially frivilous lifestyle; but, as is expected, this doesn't stop Barbara from spending freely and living the high life.
   
   But when Russ discovers that his wife is even willing to steal from his personal accounts, something has to be done. And once again Barbara is widowed from an "accidental shooting" that she claims occured when she accidentally fired a pistol under Russ' pillow, shooting him in the back of the head while he slept.
   
   I don't believe in coincidences and neither did the Durham County law enforcement officials who investigated this case. At first response, they believed Barbara's story but when Russ Stager's ex wife, JoAnn Snow, brings to light the circumstances surrounding the death of Barbara's first husband, the Stagers' financial dillema, and conversations between her and Russ, detectives derive a new theory on why Russ Stager died.
   
   Barbara is arrested this time for murdering her husband, much to the relief of Stagers' parents and Larry Ford's parents, who have longed for justice for their slain son. In true sociopathic form, however, Barbara truly believes that a jury will not find her guilty of murdering Russ because , she just isn't capable of such an act.
   
   Yet the jury does believe she is indeed capable and finds her guilty of First Degree Murder; a capital offense. Subsequently, they declare the penalty of death. With a bit of legal wrangling this sentence is converted to life in prison on appeal. As we all know, however, life in prison does not necessarily mean "life" and Barbara is eligible for parole in 2006.
   
   I found this book to be extremely well written and thoroughly researched. Unfortunately, I had watched the Lifetime television movie about this story before reading this book. The book greatly outdoes the movie. The movie freely used creative licensing to fictionalize a lot of details. So be sure to read the book first!

5 comments about Thrill Killers: A True Story of Innocence and Murder Without Conscience.

1. Don't waste your money or your time with this poorly researched hackjob. Save your money and do a Google search for the victims of this horrible crime instead. The author includes nothing original nor anything that you can't find on the internet with merely a cursory search. He conducted no interviews and doesn't even credit the newspaper articles he ripped off. He clearly wanted to make some money off the tragic deaths of two young people as quickly as he could without paying proper tribute to the victims or the families of the victims. I wish that I could have given this "book" no stars.



2. One of the best true crime books I've read in years. Thrill Killers tells the story of a small town police department and a tragic high profile double murder. The lead detective puts the reader in his head and into the criminal investigation and trials of five murderers. The senseless act is made all the more real as the book delves beyond the dramatic headlines and introduces the reader to the two victims and their families. As you read the book, the connection you feel toward them will provoke strong emotions. Even if you wanted to put this one down, you won't be able to.



3. The authors of this book most certainly did their research on this horrific event. Anyone who lives in RI or Massachusetts will remember this crime as it touched all of us. The author(s) did a wonderful job capturing the emotional impact these senseless murders had not only to their families/friends but to the detective on the scene. I felt a connection to not only Amy & Jason, but to the detective as well and although I knew the ending, I did not visualize the many details found in this book until I read the book. No other publication brought this story to true form the way Thrill Killers did.
   
   I recommend this book to anyone who reads true crime stories to not only understand a piece of the sick puzzle, but, to also feel a connection to the innocent people forever affected by evil senselessness.



4. Thrill Killers was a fascinating, behind the scenes look at a senseless crime which originated in Providence, RI. The true story was told by the detective on the case and offers a look at the under-belly of Providence, RI. The story not only provided an inside look at this heinous crime committed by five losers, but I truly felt sorry for the victims and the pain suffered by their families.



5. Being closer to this than most people because I knew Amy briefly and being from R.I. I felt closer to the horror more then most readers would. I followed the story from the beginning with disgust and vengeance enveloping me. Reading this book brought back those same feelings.
   The photos are as disturbing now as they were then. Great job.
   Donald Reddy

1 comments about Lizzie Borden: A Case Book of Family and Crime in the 1890's.

1. The book, even though difficult to find, is worth a good look. There's LOTS of information and it doesn't seem as though the book leans one way or the other....innocent or guilty. What IS included are excerpts from the trial and inquest transcripts and clippings from newspapers of the day. If you can find it, GET THIS BOOK!

4 comments about Outlaw: The True Story of Claude Dallas.

1. I thought that this book was a pretty good adventure. The characters were interesting, the plot was cool, and all in all it was a pretty cool novel. His later book "The Descent" was far, far better, of course, but this one was pretty good.



2. I thought that this book was a pretty good adventure. The characters were interesting, the plot was cool, and all in all it was a pretty cool novel. His later book "The Descent" was far, far better, of course, but this one was pretty good. Learning a little bit about Claude Dallas was an interesting moment of history.



3. Jeff Long has written a most interesting story of the last old west type shootout that may ever occur in this country. It is true. Dallas was a guy who came from Virginia and wanted to be a cowboy. He went west and became what he had always wanted to be, and he was good at it. He had a superb work ethic. Along the way, he acquired some of the trappings of a real cowboy. He had a Winchester rifle with an octagonal barrel. He was a good shot, both with the rifle and pistols. Over time, when he was living in Nevada, he spent his winters trapping coyotes and cats, with an occasional mountain lion thrown in. His last winter season he was trapping right along the Nevada/Idaho line and ran into a couple of Fish and Game officers from Idaho. One of them, Bill Pogue, the senior of the two, had a bit of an attitude problem, according to Jim Stevens, a friend of Dallas's who had brought him supplies. Pogue and Dallas were like kitchen matches and gasoline. Pogue was most likely playing it hard and Dallas most likely was stubborn. The confrontation erupted in gunfire and Dallas, deadly quick, dropped both Pogue and his backup, Conley Elms. He finished them off, trapper style, with a gunshot behind the ear with a .22 rifle. I know Claude Dallas. The book pretty much portrays Dallas in a true light. Crowded, like he was that day, he would not back down. Later, when he was on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list, he was captured without a fight and without any firearms. I've liked this book well enough to own it and to read it several times. Jeff Long's work is first rate all the way through. Though this book is no longer in print, it is a book to own.



4. To read a 20 year old book written about events that happened 25 years ago is an adventure that begins with one big question -"Will the content still be fresh?"
   
   In the case of The True Story of Claude Dallas you will not be disappointed in any way.
   
   The more I read the more I appreciated the depths to which the Dallas story taps natural instincts of survival, independance and drama that are indeed timeless.
   
   But more than the Dallas story the author succeeds in painting a beautiful picture of the land, customs, and people who inhabit what remained of "the west" in the 70s and 80s. And this again has a magical timelessness to it - man against the elements, man on his own, man against the encroachment of government and other men.
   
   If you have ever driven thru Northern Nevada you have most certainly passed thru Winnemucca - and can remember the romantic bleakness of the landscape. And as you drove thru and stared out from the comfort of your car you probably wondered "who the heck lives out here?"
   
   This book answers that question - not just in terms of the people of the land, but of the spirit of the place and its link to men everywhere.

5 comments about Serial Killers.

1. Joel Norris, in this book, shows his penchant for getting names, dates, and facts about real crimes wrong, while also managing to invent several nonexistent crimes. As with his other works, the inaccuracies and errors make this book useless for any serious investigator. Absolutely unreliable.



2. The thing that puzzles me about this book is that no-one else seems to have picked up on its author's psychobiological theories, even though "Serial Killers" was published in 1988. I've read more recent books on true crime and haven't come across Norris's psychological or physical profiles of serial killers. I don't know whether this means his assertions are being ignored, or whether his work has been superceded or found to be incorrect.

   At any rate, it is very absorbing reading. Dr. Norris takes the reader right into the bizarre, distorted mind of a serial killer. The author should know how they think, since he is a psychologist who has worked within the American prison system and has had the opportunity to interview several serial killers face-to-face, including Theodore Bundy, Henry Lee Lucas, and Bobby Joe Long. In his preface, Dr. Norris claims to performed five hundred interviews over a period of four years (my assumption is that he interviewed the same person multiple times, as I don't think there are five hundred serial killers in prison even over a four year period). What he found was that the patterns of parental abuse, violence, neglect, childhood cognitive disabilities, and alcohol and drug abuse were virtually identical for all of the convicted killers that he interviewed.

   One of most important developments in the battle against serial murder was the formation of the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit in Quantico, Virginia. Dr. Norris discusses several of the cases they solved, and also goes into detail about patterns of behavior they detected. For instance, serial killers are compulsive trollers, who travel over ever widening areas to locate their victims. The trolling patterns appear very early, even before they commit their first rape or murder. They also experience a biological rhythm very akin to a menstrual cycle. For some, the cycles of behavior are akin to deep brain seizures that alter perception and behavior without physically incapacitating the individual.

   Dr. Norris focuses about a quarter of his book on five serial killers who tell the stories of their lives and their crimes in their own words. The five are Henry Lee Lucas (sentence commuted to life in prison by then-Governor George W. Bush in June, 1999), Carlton Gary (still on Georgia's Death row), Bobby Joe Long (still on Florida's Death row), Leonard Lake (committed suicide while in custody of the San Francisco police), and Charles Manson (in San Quentin, awaiting parole).

   The chapter on Charles Manson is especially interesting, because the author discusses serial killers in groups, i.e. 'killing pairs' or 'families.' Almost 28% of all serial killers bond with others and commit their crimes in company. Killing pairs such as Leonard Lake and Charles Ng, the father/son team of Joseph and Michael Kallinger, the Kenneth Bianchi/Angelo Buono team of Hillside Stranglers, and the homosexual companions Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole all emerged as subjects of study in the 1980s.

   If killing pairs are so common, why were all of the criminal profilers (those on T.V., at least) so surprised when the Maryland sniper deaths turned out to have been caused by not one, but two men?

   Maybe they should have read "Serial Killers" before going public with their theories.

   Last of all, Dr. Norris develops his own profile of a serial killer, including a list of "Twenty-one Patterns of Episodic Aggressive Behavior" that includes items like "Ritualistic behavior," "Extraordinary cruelty to animals," "Evidence of genetic disorders," etc. I found this author to have planted himself firmly on both sides of the nature versus nurture debate.

   I bought this book second-hand and one of the more disturbing things I discovered while reading Dr. Norris's list of twenty-one behaviors, was that someone who had read the book before me had initialed eight of the twenty-one items!




3. very imcomplete.Speck,isnt in book..theres beter ot there fast service.very fast using frrree delievery jimmi



4. I thought this book was a lesson in how to write "off the cuff" and not back it up with scietific data. There are no references to any research articles and his only expertise seems to be in his claim that he has interviewed a few serial killers. For example, where does he come up with his phases of serial killing? What validity is there to an aura phase, at which point the serial killers senses become heightened? This book is rubbish if you are interested in a scientific, rather than an imaginative, view of serial murder.



5. Basically, Norris describes various killers and their crimes, and then goes on to make broad "scientific" statements about the psychology and biology of serial killers, without much real evidence at all. If you buy into the theory that webbed fingers and large earlobes are good predictors of psychopathic behavior, maybe this book is for you. Otherwise look elsewhere.

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 Crimson Stain: The Shocking True Story of the Only Amish Man to be Convicted of Homicide (Berkley True Crime).

1. Eddie Gingerich is a pretty frightening example of the downside of living in an isolated, doctrinal community. He was headed over the edge and there wasn't much in his community frame of reference to get him the help he desperately needed. The book is impossible to put down. The publisher has helpfully provided an unintentional promotional gimmick by printing "Crimson Stain" with such cheap, smelly inks and paper that you begin to sympathize with Eddie as he works away in his shed, inhaling the "petrochemical fumes" which allegedly contributed to his insanity. It's a whole new way to bring the reader into the book's world. Fisher is a good true crime writer, and it's involving from start to finish.



2. I remember when this crime occured, but only recently saw this book. It was a great read. I thought it was very inciteful, as opposed to a lot of "true crime" tabloid-type accounts.

   A few quick comments:
   - The details leading up to the crime and the murder itself were well described. As other reviewers have mentioned, the section on the trial was weaker. The author could have started with describing the trial and presented the details in various flashbacks at appropriate points. I've never written a book myself, so I find it hard to be too judgmental.
   - Given the reluctance of the major figures in the book to become involved in the trial or any other activity outside their own community, I was very curious as to how the author was able to compile such detailed accounts. A preface or additional material on the method he used and the main players he interviewed would have been nice.
   - The story was great in providing a complex look at the Amish society which is usually only seen in cliched calendars and tired stereotypes - the peaceful, simple folk, who shun the evils of the outside world. This would make such a better movie than "Witness."
   - A very minor point. The author wrote disapprovingly about the local residents who drove by the murder scene after hearing of the crime. I thought that this was pretty ironic in that the disapproval appears in a paperback account detailing the lives and personal problems of the people involved. Curious nonparticipants are exactly the kind of people that would be reading the book...If another edition ever comes out, hopefully it would include some additional information about the participants in the intervening years.




3. The book is a meer thin paperback that took me months to read and I didn't even get to finish it I was so bored to tears.

   Jim Fisher repeated himself over and over in every chapter. One was like reading the other. I read about 5 books a month, this was the most boring book ever in my life to read. Don't waste your money on this book ... if you "must" read it try your local library, or buy it through Amazon.com for a buck 75 or less/




4. Ed is shunned from his Brownhill Amish community and is allowed to see his children for one hour once a year. He writes and receives letters from them and his family. He is currently at a specialized Amish community with people of his faith who also have similar mental problems, where he helps counsel, and works 15 miles away for a Mennanite farmer doing mechanical work. He recently rebuilt a molding machine that can be used to make tongue and groove flooring.
   
   He's staying on his medication regimen and communicates "normally", and clearly. He sounds like he is in fairly good spirits over the phone. I talked to him for about a half an hour on October 30, 2005 and we talk several times a year.
   
   Katie's mother moved to NY state to get away from the area and the memories of all that had happened. Katie's brother, Emmanuel Shetler, built my house and several out buildings.
   This entire tragedy would have never happened if his community and family understood that mental illnesses do exist and that Eddie suffered greatly. By simply saying "the Devil" was in him or made him do it, is a poor summary of the situation. With the proper medication, from the right doctor, this could have all been prevented.
   
   And for those of you who labeled Eddie as a quick-tempered bully, I've known Ed 2 years before the tragedy and never heard him raise his voice. We drove 6 hours to Lancaster, PA to look at a diesel engine that he saw advertised in an Amish paper, and when we got there and saw the engine, it was not as described in the ad. He did not show any anger or hostility. Not one negative comment.



5. While the topic was interesting, the cause for the book was tragic. But let's talk about the actual writing of the book.
   
   I found the introduction of the characters and locations incredibly tedious and laid out in a manner that was very hard to follow. I nearly tossed the book after the first couple of chapters due to this. Introducing a large family in alphabetical order makes about as much sense as introducing the extended British Royal Family in alphabetical order, especially when many family members have the same first name. Sure, in the book, the family list identifies middle initials to distinguish the people, but the middle initials aren't used in the rest of the book. How about presenting the families in chart form, such as a basic family tree? That would have been so much easier to sort out.
   
   I also found myself getting really bored due to repeat information (nearly throwing the book out again many times) and *hoping* that something unexpected would occur, not because I thought the underlying story should have such twists and turns, but because the writer tries to entice us into believing there are possible twists of the story, and then leaves us flat because those events didn't really happen. I kept thinking, 'a-hah! the prosecution will call so-and-so as a witness" based upon the writing, but alas, false hopes all around.
   
   And, I don't think I'd be giving anything away here, after all the cover of the book states "The Shocking True Story of the Only Amish Man Ever Convicted of Homicide", but I don't understand why Fisher tried to make it sound as if there was a possibility that Mr. Gingerich might be acquitted of homicide in the latter portion of the book. The cover clearly states he was convicted. By the end of the book, I started just skimming paragraphs to find out what the sentence was for Mr. Gingerich's conviction. If I did pause to read a paragraph, I was faithfully disappointed.
   
   All in all, I'm so glad that I bought this book at a $1 store and didn't pay regular price for it. Had it been a library book, I would have just returned it without ever finishing it. I usually donate my used books, but this one is going straight to the recycle bin.