5 comments about The Indiana Torture Slaying: Sylvia Likens' Ordeal and Death.

1. I went to order this book as it seems from the reviews it may be pretty good. I was shocked to see a price of $23 for a paperback. what's up with that?



2. I am from Indiana and this book is more than folk lore. Have heard about as a child and young adult but the facts in this book are scarey considering this happened 40 years ago when we thought the world was more normal...



3. Though the price of this book is steep, it is well worth the price so that story of this beautiful young girl's tragic life and horrid death is told and she doesn't go down in history as the girl that no one remembers. Indeed, I've never read of a more horrendous crime in my life, and feel that her killers should have been handed down more severe punishment. It's a book that you'll likely read more than once, as it takes time for the bulk of it to fully sink in to the mind. After reading this account, I will never forget Sylvia Likens. That's the way it should be.



4. I first heard about this book when the movie was on showtime, with Ellen Page. Got the book and was totally disappointed. Not in the story but the book itself. The cover is just a piece of heavy constrution paper and the binding looks like something I would have made at summer camp in the 70's. Amazon was kind enough to let me return the book and I called my locale library. The story is good, the writing is good but save your money for the next Stephen King Book. Thank You Jennifer



5. This book is written from the actual court transcripts which I thought was awesome. It's very horrifying. The book itself is very cheap looking. It's made entirely of paper and it's held together by a few metal things in the books spine. The story is what really matters though and it's a very intense one. Good book but poor quality.

2 comments about The Bone Garden.

1. being a true crime fanatic, I really enjoyed this book and found it hard to put down and often comical how this old lady could manage to doop even well trained law enforcement into believeing her crazy lies of self pity and even her cold blooded murder sprees went undetected by so many for years until 1 family finally got a great District attorney (whom came back to his job just for this case)to help them and someone finally listened to this crazy story! this book was wrote by the D.A. who has so much depth and insight in this story that that makes it even better! i wish we only had more dedicated D.A'S like the writer WILLIAM WOOD. he can definately give anne rule a run for the money! this is a shocking true crime of greed,and money that is to me still unbelievable! its a page turner and at times you will even laugh at how smart this diabolic old woman really is!SHES BRAZEN and its beyond me how she got away with so MUCH before she was finally stopped!again I look forward to any books "william wood (true crime only)puts out in the future months.good job and I more then welcome a note from Mr. Wood.. thanx for the great read. xcellent story I HIGHLY RECOMMEND!felinechar@aol.com



2. Author William P. Wood successfully prosecuted Dorothea Montalvo Puente, a serial killer, for lesser crimes years before the murders occurred. In his book, Mr. Woods openly second guesses himself and others as he chronicles the life and misdeeds of Mrs. Puente.
   
   The story is well written in an almost conversational fashion. Refreshingly for this reader, few pages are devoted to the trial itself. The most poignant lesson of the life of gracious and grandmotherly Dorothea Puente is that looks can be deceiving.
   
   If you are intrigued by serial killers or true crime stories, this is an excellent book.

No comments about Report of the President's commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy.

5 comments about Blind Fury: The Shocking True Story of Eugene Stano (Pinnacle True Crime).

1. I read this book during all the controversy over Stano's scheduled execution in Florida's quirky electric chair, nicknamed "Old Sparky." Gerald Stano's long-postponed execution was finally carried out in Florida in early 1998, bringing closure, after too many years, to this macabre case. After reading Flowers' account of Stano's crime spree in "Blind Fury", which she presents in journalistic rather than emotional style--detailing facts, confessions, figures, and evidence, I can accept that justice was done when Stano was removed from this earth. According to Flowers' account, Stano murdered more than thirty women, and possibly upwards of forty, though exactly how many will never be known. Excellent reporting of a true crime, in its third printing, Flowers' will remain the definitive work on Gerald Stano and serial killers. Highly recommended for true crime readers.



2. Written in an amazingly Dick and Jane style, this is the single worst book of any kind, not just true crime, I've ever wasted my money on.

   Flowers writes in the stacatto fashion of the Dick and Jane books we Baby Boomers grew up with, with about as much detail.

   After pages of vapid short sentences, Flowers keeps the second half of this book to a frustratingly boring recitation of the trial that sounds as exciting as a typing lesson.

   It is beyond me why this book was published, but if you are looking for a good true crime read, trust me, skip this one.

   Absolutely awful, this book is best used by tearing out the pages and using them for dusting cloths.




3. When the prolific serial killer Gerald Eugene Stano was recently executed in Florida, I was inspired to find out more about this man and his crimes. Flowers book is an incredibly detailed and thorough study of Stano's extended killing spree, and his eventual capture and conviction. Anyone who enjoys a good crime story will love this book. While I do not believe in the death penalty, Flowers gives the reader a strong and well-presented argument for limiting the long appeals process that is part of capital cases in Florida. This is a thought-provoking and entertaining book.



4. This book was such a waste of my time and money that I'd strongly recommend you waste neither.

   Flowers' emotional tone sounds about as interesting as if she were reciting the alphabet. A synopsis of this book might run thus: "He picked her up hitchiking. Then he stabbed her. Then he dumped the body. Two days later, hikers found the body. Then...the next day...he picked her up hitchiking. Then he stabbed her. Then he dumped the body. Two days later, hunters found the body." You get the picture.

   Absolutely the worst true crime I've ever read. WHO IS ANN FLOWERS?




5. BLIND FURY,published by Pinnacle, NY in 1993, was a lead title for Doubleday's True Crime Book Club and has been widely read through five mass media printings. It is a comprehensive study of the case of serial killer Gerald Stano, who was executed in Florida in 1997 for the murder of Cathy Lee Scharf - one of his known 41 victims. Stano is believed to be the most prolific killer of the last century. It vividly chronicles the homicides while giving insight into the criminal mind and criminal justice system.

2 comments about Murder Creek: The 'Unfortunate Incident' That Befell Annie Jean Barnes.

1. This book confirmed what I suspected for many years--that the wealthy folks in Brewton looked upon folks in East Brewton as trash. Being from East Brewton, it was of interest to me to see how there is still a cover up to this murder that took place in 1966. Since most people involved in this "incident" are dead, and the few living still won't talk about it, there is no definite conclusion as to who killed Annie Jean. Therefore, the author has produced a work that shows how poor people have not received justice in Alabama, as the wealthy are protected, and even traces this injustice back to the Alabama Constitution that was enacted at the beginning of 1900.



2. If you are expecting to find out about the death of Annie Jean Barnes after reading this book, don't waste your time. You won't know anymore about what happened after finishing this book than you did after reading the dust jacket. It could be argued that Annie Jean, 42 years after she died is still being used. One must wonder if contact was lost with the victim's children because they had similar feelings about the author's project. A large percentage of the book is irrelevant and unnecessary political commentary. Mr. Formichella while I agree that Alabama needs a new constitution, Mrs. Barnes life and death is not the proper situation to debate the point.

5 comments about Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

1. Does Mass Equal Conclusive Fact? Former federal prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi seems to think so. Bugliosi prosecuted Charles Manson, in the easiest murder trial of the century. Here Bugliosi has a much more difficult time and it shows.
   
   Had Bugliosi read or researched what other trained, professional snipers determined about the JFK "hit", he might not have wasted his (or our) time with this literary anchor. Unlike many of VB's fellow attorneys, I read the WCR and also Case Closed. However, I also dissected and gained a great deal more factual insight from Garrison's "On The Trail of The Assassins: and one slim book called, "Kill Zone: A Sniper Looks At Dealey Plaza." Then, having picked up a battered 30.06 rifle with scope, I attempted to hit a stationary target with three quick rounds in less than 6 seconds. Then I penned my own critical essay called "Count The Bullets: Blow Away All Arguments" (Google).
   
   Former top US Marine sniper, detective and author, Craig Roberts deduced: "The reason I knew that Oswald could not have done it, was because I could not have done it." Credited with numerous kills while serving in Vietnam , Roberts turned an objective eye on the shot heard `round the world. After he visited Dealey Plaza, after viewing the so-called sniper's lair, on the sixth floor of the book depository, and after staring at the large oak tree overspreading much of Elm Street, Roberts said, "I walked away from the window in disgust. I had seen all I needed to know that Oswald could not have been the lone shooter."
   
   But Roberts, a retired police investigator, wanted to know what did happen. Not content to dismiss the improbable feat, he delved into the crime from every angle.
   
   "First, I analyzed the scene as a sniper...I looked at the engagement angles. It was entirely wrong...Here, from what I could see, three problems arose that would influence my shots. First, the target was moving away at a drastic angle to the right from the window, meaning that I would have to position my body to compete with the wall and a set of vertical water pipes . . . This would be extremely difficult for a right-handed shooter. Second, I would have to be ready to fire exactly when the target emerged past some tree branches that obscured the kill zone. Finally, I would have to deal with two factors at the same time; the curve of the street, and the high-to-low angle formula--a law of physics Oswald would not have known."
   
   From my research in "Count The Bullets: Blow Away All Arguments," I decided to examine the OBJECTS STRUCK rather than focus on the sound of gunfire witnesses claimed to have heard. Bugliosi, a competent prosecutor rather than a damn good detective failed, as did the Warren Commission, to perform this simple task. And simply by counting the objects, we realize Oswald would have needed an automatic rifle with a ten shot magazine to kill Kennedy.
   
   Case Closed.



2. Bugliosi combines 4 Days in November with reviews of evidence and the life of Oswald, and Conclusions of the Warren Commission to prove that the Kennedy Assisination was the work of one man. As you read it, though, you wonder, at least about possible Soviet involvement since he was in contact with the Soviets in Mexico just weeks before the assassination. Could he have been an Manchurian Candidate? My only question.
   
   Like a trial Lawyer he starts off with his premise that he will prove that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone and then he proceeds to attempt to peel back the evidence a little at a time. This books is really quite a read. Frankly, I have been caught up in reading the many different perspectives of the authors of the conspiracy books over the years and when he asks how many of them and how many of us and others who believe there may have been a cover up had ever read the Warren Commission Report. Apparently, none had or rarely have.
   
   I have one of the more famous of the books about the consiracy, frankly it is rather unreadable to me, a jumble of information that from the start leads nowhere. There are others that are very compelling, but if Bugliosi is correct, that the Warren Report, much maligned, has never been read, well, what can I say, I need the full picture, so, I will read on.
   
   This has been his lifes work after leaving the world of prosecution. One area that remains though is he mentions that no one has ever come out to say it was a conspiracy among the conspirators. However, if you believe the Alex Jones website that E. Howard Hunt had a 'deathbed confession' before he died and also that a pupported mistress of LBJ had information regarding the VP at the time. Interesting as these may be, neither of those two apparent revelations ever made a ripple in the conspiracy world.
   
   Bugliosi has a way to get to the heart of the matter. Not always agreeing with him, he definately writes to your heart as well. You would think that if he is willing to take on the current president he would be willing to think the 'Military Industrial Complex' would be a target of his.
   
   No matter what the real conclusion, this book will challenge all of us to think about the cold blooded murder of a president that many of us looked at for hope. I still think about, looking back, at how much our nation changed after this day in history. We became a much sadder folk, and went a little inward with despair, almost imploding in Vietnam. May the truth prevail some day.



3. The good `ol Texas Oil Boys (increasingly invested in defense industries) want to control, possibly by eliminating, JFK so as to expand & preserve the nation's War Economy, about which JFK seems to have had second thoughts, with an eye on de-emphasis.
   
   So they hire the C.I.A. to deal with the issue; especially in the case of the need to off Kennedy, whom else would YOU hire to kill the U.S. president on American soil?
   
   The C.I.A. (as in "Corporate Interests of America") tries first to muscle their way past Kennedy in a showdown over Vietnam in the months just prior to 11/22/63, a "last chance" of sorts for the President. Waiting in the wings is Oil Lackey LBJ, whose political career is on the line due to scandal.
   
   Then, the decision to kill JFK becomes necessary & final and the C.I.A. does the dirty deed, providing a covert operation complete with designated patsy at no extra charge and backed by a fine "cover thy butt" propaganda & hit squad apparatus.
   
   Madeline Brown has publicly stated that LBJ emphatically informed her that the assassination was the work of "the Texas oil boys and the C.I.A," a connection well represented and aptly symbolized in the form of Texan and C.I.A. bigwig David Atlee Phillips.
   
   In the immediate aftermath of the murder, the hotshots from Texas exert their influence over the Dallas Police while LBJ and Hoover work towards snuffing out any potential independent inquiries. In addition, Johnson's new power as the nation's Chief Executive very quickly puts him into position to control the autopsy of JFK at Bethesda (as the new Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces) and soon after to force Earl Warren to head up a Johnson-controlled committee of investigation.
   
   The short-term goal of eliminating John Fitzgerald Kennedy has been stated, and begins paying off when the U.S. fakes an incident in the Gulf of Tonkin less than a year later that sparks the Vietnam War, and tons of profits for the likes of Brown & Root, Bell Helicopter and LTV.
   
   And that's the truth, whether Vince likes it or not!



4. This is simply more of the same LIES the gov has been feeding the American public since the day JFK was killed.This guy is a moron and doesnt know anything.He even profited from the Charles Manson case. Go research "Operation Mockingbird" and see for yourself.Anyone with a brain can see JFK being shot from the FRONT in the zapruder film. His head goes BACK away from the grassy knoll.



5. For a proper assessment of Bugliosi's disinformationist book read Jim Di Eugenio's review on CTKA Probe Website !

5 comments about Presumed Guilty: An Investigation into the Jon Benet Ramsey Case, the Media, and the Culture of Pornography.

1. Mr. Singular poses the question, "What if Jon Benet's death was connected to the dark world of child pornography?" He poses this question to the police, district attorneys, friends of the ramseys -- and he believes it is enormously significant that his question is universally met with a long silence, followed by the comment, "that's very interesting." Has this guy ever been in therapy? Doesn't he know that the responses he's getting are either pure politeness or an attempt to discover just how deep his craziness runs?

   He offers no evidence to support his scenario and not only raises more questions that he answers, but he questions his own answers -- every other sentence in this book ends with a question mark. This is investigative reporting?

   Mr. Singular castigates the media for presuming the guilt of the ramseys without evidence -- but he feels no shame about putting forward his own nightmare scenario and presuming its validity without offering a shred of evidence.




2. Any reading into the JonBenet murder investigation must include this book. Singular includes much information and speculation that doesn't make it into the mainstream press, but is, quite frankly, common knowledge regarding possible child-pornography connections to this gruesome and tragic event. While it is true that Singular raises more questions than he answers, the timing of the book (published in 1999) made that necessary. He had no answers, and the questions, at that time, were not being raised.

   Now, as more and more children are disappearing off the streets, from in front of their homes and even from their own bedrooms, this book requires a second and third glance. There is far more going on here than meets the eye, and it has been going on for far too long.

   JonBenet is a symbol for what is happening across America today, and she will not rest in peace until we know what happened and why, and until we know enough to put an end to it, once and for all.




3. Presumed Guilty, by Stephen Singular
   
   Stephen Singular is a freelance journalist who did his own investigation into the murder of JonBenét Ramsey. This book lacks an index, a table of contents, photographs, or diagrams. It is an account of his experiences while reporting on this crime. Its main value is the reports on the practice of journalism (Chapter 28). Crime news has been highlighted in the 1990s. Talk show hosts knew who was guilty, they didn't need any evidence to jump to their conclusions (p.3). Well educated journalists were acting like a mob who wanted a verdict first and a trial later (pp.6-7). [Corporate concentrated ownership? The attacks on President Bill Clinton suggest this.] Real news was buried (pp.11-12). Did the power elite run Boulder like a private club (p.20)? [Is it different in other towns?]
   
   Singular investigated the child pornography racket on the Internet and told Boulder D.A. Alex Hunter about it (p.25). The Ramseys cooperated with the police by giving samples but no formal interview (p.35). When they appeared in public they were harassed by the press (p.36). The Boulder power elite shunned the Ramseys. People assumed a resident of their house killed JonBenét(p.37). The Boulder police rejected help from the more experienced Denver police or the Colorado Bureau of Investigations (p.41). The Ramseys needed a lawyer to bury their daughter (p.65)! Were pageants for children a sort of pyramid scheme (pp.70-71)? Chapter 9 tells of the extensive interviews of the Ramseys by the Boulder police on 12-26-1996. After a police interview the Ramseys held a press conference (pp.83-85). D.A. Hunter had been warned to "be careful". Numerous powerful people had been in the Ramseys' house before the crime (p.138).
   
   'Part Three' continues his reporting. Singular tells about Boulder and its ruling elite (Chapter 19). D.A. Hunter would not prosecute the Ramseys unless he had the evidence to convict (Chapter 21). Chapter 23 discusses child pageants and their implications. [Were they related to the eugenics movement in the early 20th century? Does the interest in the death of someone rich and beautiful result from jealousy?] Chapter 24 tells of the personal intrigues between the D.A. and the police. Could an astrologer solve this crime (Chapter 25)? The ransom note is in Chapter 27. To learn about contemporary culture and tabloid journalism read Chapter 28! Singular's theory is in Chapter 30; can you believe it?
   
   'Part Four' says several Boulder police went to the FBI headquarters to speak with experts. When they returned they questioned hundreds of possible suspects in the Boulder and Denver areas (p.225). The grief after Princess Diana's death affected millions who only saw her in pictures in the press (p.226). The comment of Police Chief Tom Koby bears repeating: the less you know about an event the easier it is to give advice. [Or is it?] Chapter 33 tells about the arrest of a huge international child porn ring, one of them living close to Boulder. The 'Epilogue' ends in February 1999. The Grand Jury did not indict either John or Patsy or anyone else. It remains an unsolved case to this day. There is a palm print and DNA to identify someone.



4. I was disappointed from the first few pages of the first chapter with Mr. Singular's references to Kenneth Starr and the investigation of Bill Clinton (re "presumed guilty" comparisons via the media) and referenced again in the final pages of the final chapter.
   Unfortunately, in the chapters between the first and the final, there is little that hasn't been surmised or said before in this sad case. Had been anxious to read this book and hear the fine detail of its previewed ideas. However, after reading it the ideas seem more like interesting conjecture than plausible answers to the lingering questions of this unsolved murder.



5. Books don't get much worst then this one. I read an interview that this author did with Ralph Bellamy and he was asked. "Why do you think that the public was so intent on believing the Ramseys were involved with the death of their daughter?"
   
   Singular's response was "people need to hate and they need to focus their hatred on someone." Wow that is profound Stephen, you just crushed my world view. I thought that maybe alot of the public like myself maybe a little suspicious of the Ramseys because they were not cooperative with the police from the very beginning. The got lawyered up the first day of the murder and John Ramsey still planned on flying in a private plane with his wife and son to Michigan only about an hour after he discovered that his daughter was dead. Now none of this means that the Ramseys killed their daughter in and of itself but it is suspicous and would raise some eyebrows.
   
   This author is not worth refuting anymore then I would attempt to refute someone who said that martians killed jonbenet. It's just a waste of time and so is this book. If you are into wild eyed conspiracies and think that the CIA, the Mafia, the government up to the president of the U.S.A. was involved in the assasination of JFK. If you believe that president Bush orchestrated 9-11 and you think that you have been abducted by aliens, that Elvis is alive and so is Bigfoot, then this is your book. If on the otherhand logic is in your vocabulary then pass on this piece of trash.

4 comments about Hunting the Devil/Pursuit, Capture and Confession of the Most Savage Serial Killer in History.

1. This is the story of Andrei Chikatilo, a sadistic sexual serial killer convicted in Rostov of 53 murders of women and children (although he undoubtedly committed more). Lourie focuses on detective Issa Kostoev, who led the years-long investigation that finally caught Chikatilo, but not before an innocent man was executed for his first murder.
   
   This book provides an interesting insight into the Russian legal system as it struggled to capture Russia's very own "Jack the Ripper."



2. The subject matter of this book - Andrei Chikatilo - is extremely interesting, though unbelievably dark, and the book itself lives up to the task. Chikatilo was one of the most terrible serial killers in history, with 53 official victims (and a few unofficial ones more), and certainly one of the most savage and furious. Here is a man who had orgasms while mutilating genitals and used his knife as some sort of [...]replacement, not to mention the rest.
   
   What I especially appreciated in the book is how is the narrative is shared between the killer and those looking for him, more especially Issa Kostoev, the man in charge of arresting the "Rostov Ripper". As the title of the book suggests, you will learn quite some interesting things about how the pursuit of this killer was led, and what kind of problems the hunting had to face; and that will be quite stunning. Corruption, treason, base sexual desires, etc, etc. While hunting for the Devil, there will be many demons on the way: police officers abusing their functions to beat and rape arrested people, all sorts of mentally challenged perverts thought to be potential killers, etc. The whole thing has a feeling of intense dystopia and is quite stunning.
   
   Both lives this book is concerned with, Issa Kostoev and Andrei Chikatilo, are cast against a background of falling empire, as the USSR slowly went to its demise. It's almost eerie how Chikatilo's own fall coincides with that of the Soviet Block. It's very interesting, because in a way, it all begins with it, and ends with it. Kostoev, as a child, suffered from Stalin's unjust removing and persecution of his whole people (in which he lost many a sibling) and Chikatilo as a child had to go through hard times too (though not quite comparable).
   
   Richard Lourie does a great job of not only exposing the facts of the affair (and he had a ton of document for this, as well as having been with Issa Kostoev personally, attending Chikatilo's trial, having all the documents of the case, including audio-tapes and all) but also in putting all of it in perspective and giving the reader a good insight of Russia and of a society not quite functioning, and changing. The reader is made to follow Kostoev in that long pursuit of that demonic killer which took many years, and many lives.
   
   The writing is gripping; I read the whole book in two readings, reading for 5 hours each time or so. This is truly the best kind of "true crime" I have read, because it does not lose itself into cheap novelisation while suing narrative devices to shape the whole thing into a convincing and riveting book.
   
   I haven't read any other book on Andrei Chikatilo, but this one is definitely a classic on that killer, if only for the documents available to the author, who speaks Russian and knows Russian culture, a fact that is very important and whose impact you can feel reading the book.
   
   The range covered here is impressive: the killer, the dysfunctions of the system, the life of Kostoev as he pursues Chikatilo, Russia, history, etc. It's always relevant and very informative. However, none of these overshadow the gruesomeness of the killings, and you won't be spared details, so not a book for the faint-hearted.
   
   Most definitely one of the best books of the kind, and undoubtedly among the very best books on Chikatilo, if not the best.



3. You will not sleep well after reading this book...that is how shocking, sad, demented, and torturous the subject and the man of this book is. What a horrible fiend who killed for his own deranged reasons, which are disgusting and terrifying at the same time. Wickedness comes in many places, and this man was truly awful. A very interesting and well-written account.



4. This book arrived promptly and in good condition. I've not yet read it.
   
   I'm extremely pleased with both the vendor and the product.
   
   Dr. John E. Touchton Sr.

2 comments about When the Husband is the Suspect.

1. I could give this book two stars just because I disagree with some of Bailey's conclusions; I hardly think anyone other than Bailey still believes O.J. Simpson is innocent!
   
   But more importantly, I've read more than half of this book and am not sure I will be able to finish it, because it contains so much unbearably awful writing. Sentences that don't make sense, no matter how many times I re-read them, annoy me. In some places, a comma is used instead of a semicolon, creating a run-on sentence; in some places, a clause is repeated twice; in some places, Bailey will refer to "that person" (Marilyn Sheppard had sex with "that person") without first telling us to whom he is referring.
   
   I find this book, like so much true crime, difficult to recommend.



2. This subject is so interesting to me, and the approach this book takes is just excellent. The overview of the cases - many cases I am familiar with, but Bailey has added more details in background and court information - and the knowledgeable, objective analysis is so interesting. I could not put this book down and having read it I have a much better understanding of the tragedies these cases were to all involved.

5 comments about Hastened to the Grave: The Gypsy Murder Investigation (Hasand to Grave).

1. While I was out of town, some strange stuff happened in my old neighborhood, so I grabbed this at the public library to read on the bus to work. BAD CHOICE: The laundry sat, the kid whined, bedtime came and went and the book didn't make it through one morning's commute. Who were the good guys and the bad guys? Why do some people attack wrongdoing with tenacity, and others just treat it like business as usual? I wish some fact checker had gotten out a map of the city so they hadn't displaced Balboa Street to the Sunset, and moved Colma into the city. You wouldn't know if you live someplace else, but details is details. The story is riveting. I came on line to research it further (yeah, sick.. but it coulda been one of my parents: they went to West Portal for deli), and found this reviews section. My recommendation: Read it and think about it. What would you have done? What are you doing? What can you do?



2. I can't believe someone had the courage to write this book. I am sad to say that it is more serious than this book could ever expose. It is hard to fathom that people could be so vicious and sick and to do such crimes. My grandmother was a victim of some of these sick, twisted people. I am so glad that Jack Olsen had the guts to write this book. I could not put it down. I wish there were more books on Gypsy scams, crime and murder.



3. My first Jack Olsen book and definitely not my last. Read it straight through the night. Although I found the focus on Fay Faron a bit much and would have prefered more pictures of the victims and especially the perps (the better to watch out for them), this book was an excellent read. The outcome is absolutely amazing--proving once again that police politics win rather than justice. Thank goodness that people like Fay Faron exist. Taking into consideration that we all will grow old, this book should be read by everyone.



4. I have read all of Jack Olsen's true crime novels and consider myself a huge fan of his work. However, I was very disappointed in this book because of its focus on Fay Faron, who I found annoying. The story was a good one and Faron was an integral part of the story, but Olsen's intense focus on her took away from what could have been an outstanding book, like all his others.



5. Do not be misled by the hype on the cover! "Jack Olsen's particular gift is his ability to illuminate the souls of his characters."?? I feel bad for author Mr. Olsen. I couldn't find any illumination. There is no real emotion. Eight pages of chilling photos?? The most chilling photo is of private investigator Fay Faron in a cheesy Sam Spade get-up. This book is amateurishly written. Maybe the point was to bring to our attention the problem of scams targeting the elderly. In this it has barely succeeded.