5 comments about Innocent Victims (Onyx True Crime, Je 357).

1. Fort Bragg, NC. An innocent man is sent to prison for the murders of a young wife and her two little daughters.. No, it's not the McDonald case of 1970, it's the 1985 case of Katie, Kara and Erin Eastburn, murdered savagely in their own home. This time its not the husband, Captain Gary Eastburn who is found guilty, but another soldier on the base, Tim Hennis. The only evidence pointing to him is the so-called eyewitness Patrick Cone, who comes across as mentally retarded or at least, stupid and inept. There is no physical evidence linking Hennis to the crime, he did adopt a pet dog from the family shortly before the murders. The Eastburns'15-year-old babysitter reportedly had an obsession with Dr. Jeffrey McDonald and exchanged letters with him on a regular basis. She was a drug user and pretty weird, according to this book. But when one of the hired investigators, (who helped put McDonald away), tried to claim McDonald masterminded a plan to get the girl, Julie, to wipe out another family so he would be more likely to get parole flabbergasted me. That guy sounds like a real nut to me. I won't finish the story and ruin it for you, but its very good, and justice does prevail although there is no closure. Of several of the crime books I've read, "Hush, Little Babies", about Darlie Routier, the woman on death row for killing her two little sons, (Texas), "Fatal Vision", the McDonald case, (North Carolina), and this one, the only one I believe deserved to be found guilty and sent to prison was Susan Smith, "Sins of the Mother", and "Mother Love, Deadly Love".(South Carolina). I guess I wouldn't want to be in the South anywhere close to where there's a murder going on!



2. I thought innocent Victims was well written and could not put this one down. It did make me feel a bit nervous and jumpy espeically if your home alone. Twenty-one years ago, a wife and two children were killed in their Fayetteville home in front of the youngest child. But now, after two trials, a conviction and an acquittal, sources indicate that the case has been reopened. I am really intrested to see what the outcome will be this time around. I have always had so many unanswered questions about this case and Tim Hennis. I pray that justice will finally be served and these senseless horrible murders won't have to go unsolved any longer.



3. The book was good, however new DNA tests done over the summer of 2006 connect Hennis to the murders.
   The Army has charged Hennis and he is awaiting an Article 32 Hearing in April 2007 to see if the case can proceed to trial.
   An Article 32 hearing is the military version of a civilian Preliminary Hearing, in which a judge or panel will decide if there is enough evidence to go to trial.
   
   We shall see how this all unfolds soon.
   
   PS. THe military can charge and try someone who was aquitted in a civilian/state court, and it is not considered double jeopardy.



4. This book was excellent with a capital E. Everything about it was exactly how the movie was, and that's what I liked about it. Everything was the same nothing was changed. It was a sad book that depicts the way how sick people live in this world. This man Tim Hennis was sent to prison for a crime he didn't even commit, and whoever did it was never caught and only god knows when that person or persons will be punished for the muders of Kara, Erin and Katie Eastburn. I would recommend everyone who loves to read, to read this book it is worthwhile.



5. Scott Whisnant's book will stay with you long after you are finished reading it. The victims - Kathryn Eastburn and her daughters, Kara and Erin - and the terribly way they died will make you cry. A mind-boggling case of a guy "mistakenly" convicted and sent to Death Row for a crime he allegedly didn't commit. I read this book and was outraged at how Timothy Hennis was treated by the justice system. Afterward, I Googled his name to try and find more information (the book was written over a decade ago) and lo and behold, DNA evidence (techniques were not available at the time of the murders, 1985) links Hennis to the crime. I hope the military trial finally gives closure to the Eastburn family, who have suffered enough.

5 comments about Man with Candy.

1. Jack Olsen has crafted a well-written non-fiction book about the heart rending loss of almost 30 pre-teen and teen-aged boys from one of Houston's suburbs and their subsequent torture and murder at the hands of one of America's most evil human monsters.
   
   The book was written about the time of the murders: in the 1970's. This fact makes it all the more engaging since the reader is given a unique view of what Houston was like at the time of the murders: 1971 through 1974.
   
   So many true crime books of this nature seem to be thrown together in a very hasty manner in an effort to cash in on the interest that occurs at the time of and just after such serial killers operate. They tell us just the facts that can be gleaned from news sources and court documents. The books are cold and the reader never really relates to the very real human loss that occured. Mr. Olsen's book is not that type of book.
   
   We get a bit of history on not only Houston but the suburb where the murderers - Dean Corll and Elmer Wayne Henley - procured just about all of their victims. Most true crime writers don't really interview families of victims and create a "real" book. Olsen has done this.
   
   Reading about a murderer's motis operandi and reading about the horrors of murders themselves is something that just about all the hack true crime writers give us. Olsen's presentation is different - more like Capote's with In Cold Blood. He makes the crimes real and personal because he introduces us to each of the boys' families and loved ones. We learn about the boys as real people, not just names and victim numbers.
   
   This isn't a book about a murderer and his protege as it could have been. This is a book about the loss of life delivered unto a decent hard-working community just outside of Houston. As many of the families of the victims of Dean Corll and Elmer Wayne Henley have said over the years - Corll and Henley are remembered but their victims have been forgotten. Olsen makes up for this disparity.
   
   Certainly you get the gory details, but since you've first learned about the victims and their unique lives, you feel more connected to them.
   
   If I had one complaint, it would be that there is not one picture of the boys who were murdered (the cover has three, but they are unidentified). There isn't a need for post mortem photos or even pictures of the murderers, but it would be more emotionally engaging had there been pictures of the boys themselves. However, due to the finances of the families of some of the boys, it is entirely possible that there simply were no photos of the boys as they looked at the time of their death.
   
   Although one of the most heinous of serial killings to ever take place in the U.S., as with most things, time allows people to forget...These boys should not be forgotten...Read this book and remember them.



2. The real story doesn't begin until the middle of the book.
   It told me what I thought I wanted to know, but now I'm disgusted by the same.



3. Dean Corll... a John Wayne Gacy before there was a John Wayne Gacy. Corll was a homosexual loner who had no friends other than the many male children who clammored around him for handouts of free candy and a chance to shoot a few games of pool and listen to the stereo at Corll's apartment. When young boys began disappearing at an alarming rate from the poor and lower middle class section of Houston known as The Heights, the police were, at best, indifferent. Many of the boys who disappeared had histories that argued against impulsivity and running away, but this did not appear to concern local authorities.
   
   Corll brainwashed, abused, and bribed two teenaged boys, David Brooks and Wayne Henley, for a period of 3 years... promising money and material goods each time they procured other teenage boys for his amusement and murderous fantasies. The deaths of 27 boys would have gone long undiscovered had Corll not been shot in the head by Henley, who only then contacted the police and told of the horrors he had witnessed. (Thank God for modern day Amber Alerts! Given that many of the missing boys were held hostage and tortured for 2-3 days before being murdered, the Ambert Alert system that is now an integral part of child abduction cases could have saved the life of at least one child and may have spared Houston a 3 year reign of continuing terror.)
   
   While the story itself is well researched and well written, I did experience some disappointments. As other readers have mentioned, there are no photographs. (Although there IS an excellent photograph of Jack Olsen on the back cover.) Photographs of even some of the missing and murdered boys, and a photograph of the now infamous "boat shed," where 18 bodies were unearthed, would have added considerable interest.
   
   I was born in Texas and have lived in various parts of Texas almost my entire adult life, including very near Houston. I can say that the "language" used by the author, purportedly to add interest and realism to the many conversations and comments in the book was nothing short of outrageous. (For example, "I was rill skeered!") True, many people who reside in Texas do have accents, but I have NEVER lived anywhere or known anyone who spoke like this. Not only did this inclusion of the cultural "language" force me to re-read and decipher words and entire sentences, it added nothing to the book... except perhaps the impression that all Texans are uneducated, ignorant, and one shallow step from the banjo-playing hillbillies who terrorized a white water rafting crew in "Deliverance."
   
   While the book suggests that David Brooks and Wayne Henley were incarcerated for their participation in procuring other victims for Corll and their assistance in burying some of the bodies, the book DOES NOT reference a trial or applied sentences for the boys. How does a True Crime book written by an experienced True Crime author not include such basic information? Does anyone know what happened to these two boys?
   
   I struggled with whether to rate this book a 3 Star Book or a 4 Star Book. While the story was certainly interesting and, as the parent of 3 young children, terrifying on a primal level, there were obvious problems that detracted from the reading experience. I do not regret reading THE MAN WITH CANDY, but there are better True Crime books to explore.



4. First off, the book itself was in very excellent condition. The books content is a very somber and hideous account of one of the most tragic and horrifying murders of young kids this country has ever seen. From 1971 to 1973 many young teen-agers met the end of their lives in very torturistic ways. Any-way, This case was not widely reported back then. By todays standards of media reporting; this case would have been front page news for literaly 6 months or more. Never a more sinister serial killer than this guy, Dean Corll.(The sickest of the sick) for sure. Lanc B.



5. This book grabs your attention and holds on to the end. It's like the City Confidential t.v. program, Mr. Olsen has the knack of painting the whole picture not just focusing on the crime. I was just introduced to Mr. Olsen and I am looking forward to reading more of his work.

No comments about Murder in Minnesota: A Collection of True Cases (Minnesota).

1 comments about An Inch from Murder: My Life As a Male Victim of Sexual Child Abuse.

1. I appreciate your having the courage to come forward and share. I find that it really helps other victims to know that they are not alone in their pain and their feelings. I am also writing about the experiences of my own childhood sexual abuse. My experience was very different from yours but I know all too well your pain.
   
   I was referred to your book by a defense attorney in Richmond that is handling the capital murder case of a young man here in Virginia. He has been accused of killing the man that abducted and assaulted me as a child. He was also the victim of childhood sexual abuse. She was hoping to gain some insight into this young man's mind by reading about your experiences.
   
   We are working very hard to save this young man's life so maybe your desire to help others through this book will result in saving him as well.

5 comments about At Large: The Life and Crimes of Randolph Franklin Dial (True Crime Library).

1. The amount of information is thinly stretched out in this...thin book! The writing is good but the stories are recycled over and over and not much is discovered. Dial, to me, came off as a big B.S.er. I didn't find his philosophy or effette personality to be remotely interesting. Keep this book in a glass case---read only in the event of an emergency(nothing else to read!)



2. This book was captivating, easy reading, but yet confusing. It almost seems like a few of the "badges" were tainted, and that's why they stopped pressing to find out who paid Dial to kill Hogan. Could the warden's wife really have made "almost identical" calls? Or was it the same, maybe taped, message? There are too many unanswered questions. If Dial is still alive, I am sure of this; He has a copy of this book to add to his collection of his personal accompishments, and, He is an artist that is proud of his work, and he will surface again,with more of his creations, and stories to tell.



3. with Dial's capture today, 4/5/05, this provides a more satisfying ending for the book. My thoughts and prayers are for the families of all those that Dial hurt.



4. Dial has been captured, with the warden's wife, too. Dial, a sculptor and painter, was convicted of the 1981 murder of a karate instructor. He had obtained trusty status at the Oklahoma State Reformatory, and he ran an inmate pottery program with Bobbi Parker and had access to the couple's home during the day in staff housing on prison grounds.
   
   Bobbi Parker's mother received a phone call from her the night of the 1994 disappearance traced to Hurst, Texas. "I can't talk now," she said, crying. "I'm OK. Tell the kids I'll see them soon."
   
   A day later, she made a second call, this time from Fort Worth to a friend. It was the last message her family got from her. "Tell the kids I love them and I'll be home soon," she said.
   
   In a jailhouse interview with reporters Tuesday, Dial, 60, said he took Parker at knifepoint when he escaped.
   
   "I was a hostage-taker and will probably live to regret it," Dial said. "But now I don't. Doing a life sentence, at my age, I wouldn't trade it for the past 10 1/2 years."
   
   Dial said their relationship was never romantic and that they lived in separate rooms. He likened Parker's relationship to him as "Stockholm Syndrome," where kidnapping victims become sympathetic to their captors over time, often out of fear of violence.
   
   "She was living under the impression if she ever tried to get away, I would get away and I would make her regret it, particularly toward her family," Dial said. "I didn't mean it, but she didn't know that."
   
   What an amazing story this is now! Even better!



5. I so enjoyed this book it was hard for me to put it down. The story of Randolph Dial has interested me for years and I like to read/hear other's theories. This author is a talented man that knows his stuff and presents his information with candor. I saw this writer on national television and was impressed with the way he presented himself and his subject. Well done, Mr. Sasser!

5 comments about The Murder of Tutankhamen.

1. I highly recommend this book if you enjoy reading historical interpretations of limited facts with an open mind. Bob Brier is one of my favorite authors, because his obvious love of Egypt comes through in all the books that he writes. In this instance, he explores the known facts regarding King Tutankamun's death and comes to the conclusion that it was his grandfather, Aye, who arranged for the King's death so that Aye could assume the throne. Aye apparently killed off the widow, Annkesenamun, to boot after he married her to legitamize the claim. Do I think this is what happened? No, but I enjoyed the approach and the summary of information currently available on the subject. The book is enjoyable, easy to follow, and I felt that the new viewpoint was worth to consider.



2. The first thing I have to take exception to is the description of Bob Brier as a "respected Egyptologist". He is not, despite the various blurbs, an actual Egyptologist. Egyptology as a profession usually requires some kind of course of study in Egyptian archaeology, Egyptian art, or Egyptian language and literature. Dr. Brier's degrees are in psychology and parapsychology. Apart from his television shows and popular books, he does not participate in academic conferences or write scholarly articles. Few professors teaching ancient Egyptian history, art, language or archaeology will refer to his works.
   However, he is very popular for his folksy style. This book reveals his knack for creating much from little. In this case, rather than writing on the entire history of the Amarna period, Brier has chosen to write an entire book about the supposed murder of Tutankhamen. This book was the first in a series about the topic (the others are "The Mysterious Death of Tutankhamun" by P. C. Doherty and "Who Killed King Tut?: Using Modern Forensics to Solve a 3300-Year-Old Mystery" by Michael R. King, et al) and pretty well set the template for the rest. The problem with this book, and those that follow, is the lack of new evidence and/or direct access to the mummy of Tutankhamen. When Brier wrote this book he was using somewhat old x-rays which revealed a blurry spot on the back of the king's skull. This blob could be interpreted as the result of blunt force trauma. However, more recent x-rays don't show the same detail and any damage to the back of the skull can be explained in various ways, including the fact that the body was dismembered for photographing many years ago and a dowel was forced under the back of the skull to prop it up.



3. I still love the idea that Aye only married Ankhesenamen to protect her from the servant she feared; but thats just my own little idea.
   The truth is that no one really knows how Tutankhamen died, and probably never will due to the poor care that was given to his mummy, but one of the best things about archaeology is that you get to play around with ideas about how a person lived and died based on what you find and Bob Brier does a great job, he does a wonderful job explaining all the clues that would lead to Tutanhamens murder (and on the tv doc. even suggests maybe Ankhesenamen may have killed him due to her two miscarriages), so if you have always been interested in knowing one way the boy king died this is the book for you it doesn't bore you with the facts it tells you a tale of his life, his parents lives, and I really dont want to ruin it for you, lol, you're just gonna have to read to find out!



4. It was a fun read (and inspires me to find out more about the Amarna Heresy), but essentially airy speculation.
   
   I see a logical problem at the heart of Brier's scenario: He envisions Aye, Tut's vizier, making arrangements to sneak an assassin into the royal bedchambers. Presumably, Aye says to the man, "Here's your mace. The pharaoh's bedroom is that way. Hit him in the head -- but only one (1) time."
   
   I suspect the phrase "...beat his skull into bloody pulp" would have been more likely to come up.
   
   Sounds more like a hunting accident or fall from a chariot, to me.



5. Exactly as promised, Bob Brier explores one possible explanation for the King Tutankhamen's death. Be prepared to leave this book thinking that his explanation is not only possible, but likely. A vivid repainting of the scene of Tutankhamen's death will pull you into this wonderful and ancient civilization, and also prep your mind to accept Brier's theory, a theory which is certainly possible but self-admitted speculation. Brier covers the Amarna period in perfect depth for the layman; he assumes nothing and his account of Tutankhamen's family is compelling. A paleopathologist by profession, Bob Brier's real specialty is mummies, which makes him excellently qualified to study Tutankhamen's. The case is centered on three facts: that Tutankhamen's skull indicates a possible blow to the back of the head; that after his death, his wife (Ankhesenamen) wrote several mysterious letters to the Hittite king pleading for his help in finding a suitable prince of royal blood so she would not have to marry a "servant;" and that she later disappeared without a trace, but not until Tutankhamen's own vizier/servant married her and became Pharaoh. Circumstantial evidence? Most definitely. Unlikely? After reading this book, I would say not. Brier can be credited as being the first to publicize and scientifically examine this theory, although others had admitted to the possibility before him. Excellent read, highly recommended for anyone interested in ancient Egypt.
   
   If you are a fan of Bob Brier, he also published a lecture series through The Teaching Company on Ancient Egypt.

5 comments about Jack the Ripper: The American Connection.

1. Only rarely do we get to read books that are as good as this one. Shirley Harrison has solved the mystery of Jack the Ripper's identity, and explains everything in a wonderfully readable style. I could not put the book down. It reads like an incredible mystery novel/historical detective thriller/tragic love story. Highly recommended!



2. David Forshaw doesn't know the half of it.
   
   When it comes to the "unsolved mystery" that is Jack the Ripper, the Ripperology establishment doesn't just shift the goalposts for Maybrick advocates, it lines a brick wall between either end to make sure that nothing goes through.
   
   There isn't the slightest bit of evidence - not the slightest - that Montague John Druitt slaughtered five or more Whitechapel prostitutes in 1888 - just the musings of a police official, long after the fact, who was not even on the case at the time. But one can be a Druittologist without risking one's standing in polite Ripper society.
   
   There's no evidence that Francis Tumblety was the murderer either - he doesn't resemble any description of the Ripper and he might have been in custody when Mary Jane Kelley was murdered. The case against Tumblety is also based entirely on the long-after-the-fact musings of a retired police officer. But one can be a Tumbletonian without incurring the wrath of Mr. Harris.
   
   There's no evidence that Joseph Kelly...but why stretch this out? Just mention Liverpool cotton broker James Maybrick (who bore an uncanny resemblance to one police drawing of the Ripper) and the Maybrick Diary and Watch (which have not failed any test designed to expose modern forgeries) and Ripperologists roll their eyes, foam at the mouth, and have nothing coherent to say - unless it's to demand a 19th century videotape of Maybrick killing prostitutes before even agreeing to consider him as a suspect.
   
   Even without the videotape, the case against Maybrick is exceptionally strong, and a handful of Maybrickians have, for the past twelve years, struggled against the background noise to perfect the case against him - something not demanded for any other suspect.
   
   Shirley Harrison, who first brought the world the Maybrick/Ripper Diary back in 1992, takes pen in hand again to discuss the trials and tribulations that she has undergone since then - and to review the case against Maybrick, as well as the leads that she has followed up on since 1992.
   
   Much of this book seems to be written off of the same template as Harrision's first or borrows from Paul Feldman's book, though there are a few tantalizing clues that have developed since then which don't quite add up to a proverbial "smoking gun".
   
   If the diary and watch themselves are not "smoking guns", then nothing else has been found which amounts to one - and yet...and yet...Ms. Harrison finds nuggets (American rumors of a Ripper diary circulating in St. Louis in 1888, British rumors of a diary written by Mrs. Maybrick in 1889, first revealed by Feldman, memoranda of deceased correspondents who knew or suspected a Maybrick/Ripper connection before the publication of Ms. Harrison's book, etc.) which make the "smoking gun" seem...ever...so...close. Actually, along this line, while Ms. Harrison borrows liberally from Paul Feldman at times, she ignores interviews that he conducted with living Maybrick descendants that really do suggest that their elders carried a terrible family secret to their graves.
   
   And she does allow herself to get sidetracked. In reviewing the evidence against Maybrick - scientific and psychological - she would have done better to leave Sir Jim's astrological reading out of it. That's only going to provide more fodder for her critics to chew on.
   
   It's actually quite amazing that Ms. Harrison, out of an abundance of caution, downplays some of the more intriguing evidence, such as the "Diego Laurenz" letter to the Liverpool Echo, while displaying no caution at all in wasting time and paper on astrological indicators.
   
   Most disappointing of all is that the book does not come close to living up to its promise to incriminate Maybrick as having committed a number of serial murders in Austin, Texas in 1884-5. The jacket cover has the temerity to promise to place Maybrick "at the scene" of these eight murders, which occurred in the space of about a year.
   
   This promise isn't fulfilled, and Maybrick's involvement in the eight Austin murders is left open as just one more tantalizing possibility. The trouble is that the Maybrick Diary itself, (and again, it was Ms. Harrison who introduced us to it) does not even remotely hint that its author committed ANY earlier murders ANYWHERE.
   
   To the contrary, the Diary's author seems to treat serial murder as a brand new game. There is a reference in the Diary to one or two murders in Manchester, England in 1888 that are not regarded as part of the Ripper canon, and the earlier Manchester murder is described as Maybrick's "first". If the diary is genuine, its language downplays the notion of any Maybrick/Ripper murders occurring before March 1888.
   
   I think that Ms. Harrison is trying a little too hard to gild the Maybrick lily here. I also think that the best part of the book might be the postscript written by Liverpool psychology professor David Canter.
   
   Professor Canter doesn't unreservedly endorse the diary as a genuine historical document, but he does provide a wonderfully clever critique of just how accurate it is, how true it rings, and how perfect a forgery it would have to be. At one point, he wonders mischievously what in the world the genius who is supposed to have "forged" it has to gain by remaining silent at this late date.
   
   Professor Canter might well turn out to be the Maybrickian's answer to Melvin Harris - only wittier and more genial. His writing provides a reminder that when the Diary is removed from the clutches of hysterical Ripperologists screaming "Fake!" and shown to students of the human condition, such as psychologists and lawyers, the skepticism largely vanishes and it is regarded as one more intriguing blueprint of that condition.
   
   Surely, as the years go by, more of these students will continue to review this fascinating document, and surely this is one more reason to believe that posterity is on the side of the Maybrickians. Tempus Omnia Revelat!



3. ... these words will be here to warn you. This book has had millions of reprints. It gets a new title every year just so that all the 1 star reviews vanish over for a new term.
   
   The hoaxer admitted forging the diary.
   
   Okay, say the name on the tip of your tongue - The Diary of Jack the Ripper - and watch as the dollar signs flicker before your eyes. It was bound to happen sooner or later. The reason why the Diary is still popular today is because a few Ripperologists attached their name to it and few have had the guts to actually say that they where wrong and walk away from it. The Diary is essentially a mini-volume of notes allegedly written by James Maybrick, around the time of the Whitechapel murders, that sign at the end as "Jack the Ripper". So how does it read? Well it is reasonably fair to say that it is very creative reading and does keep you entertained, but then again that is exactly what it is meant to do. What we know today is that it is undoubtedly a forgery because the owner of the book Michael Barrett simply admitted to forging it himself. End of story, really. So you might enjoy this book but remember that it is only fiction and the case is still far from solved.
   
   What one must remember is that James Maybrick is still a Ripper suspect and was a Ripper suspect long before the advent of the Ripper Diary so don't discount this suspect just on the bases of this book being a forgery.
   
   Click on the authors name and have a good look around. I am sure you will be impressed and the message will finally sink home. Shame about the Ripperologists who went pair-shaped hooking up with this book as the Real McCoy. There have been a few causalities because of it.



4. OK, here's the lowdown: The author takes an alleged diary of James Maybrick which claims he was Jack the Ripper, but the person who "found" it admitted to forging it. The contents of the diary contradict known facts of the case yet mimic errors that were introduced in Ripper books released shortly before the diary was announced. The contents of this diary clearly state that the Ripper had seven victims and seven victims only. There is even a supposed pocket watch of Maybrick's that has his name, his claim to being the Ripper, and the initials of these victims, which conveniently showed up for the first time at exactly the same time the diary did but from some other person. So that's all pretty ludicrous, but some people will believe anything I guess...
   
   Now we have a new book from the same team who tried to push that forgery off on us... But here they claim, what do you know, that Maybrick also killed off a bunch of other people while running around the United States. But these supposed victims died in completely different ways then the Ripper victims did, and there is absolutely nothing that indicates either the Ripper or Maybrick had anything to do with them.
   
   So if you accept the fact that the diary was forged, Maybrick is clearly innocent and this book is bunk. On the other hand, if you want to believe the diary is real, then it's pretty clear he only had seven victims and they were in England, and thus this book is still bunk.
   
   No matter which way you go on the question of the authenticity of the alleged Ripper diary, this book is simply nonsense.
   
   Don't waste your money.



5. I first read Shirley Harrisons 'The Diary of Jack the Ripper' and was completely intrigued. Here for the first time was REAL evidence against someone thought to have been the Whitechapel murderer. Evidence that seemed to be more than circumstantial and to my utter surprise everyone seemed to revolt against the very idea. Instead of reading what the book had to tell with an open mind, people automatically claimed it to be a hoax, bashing everything the author implied. To date, Shirley Harrison and Paul Feldman have spent many years trying to solve the mystery of this elusive diary and subsequently, the watch. Its been the most expensive Ripper investigation to date. And still today, no one has conclusively been able to prove that the diary or the watch is fake. People jumped on the band wagon when Michael Barrett 'confessed' to having supposedly forged the diary. Anyone with half a brain have since realised (as the author did) that this could not possibly have been true. All the evidence he gave to support his 'confession' has been disproved.
   
   Why people are so vehemently against the idea that James Maybrick could have been The Ripper I dont know. It seems strange that many would rather accuse men with a lot less evidence stacked against them, than seriously consider a man who could clearly have been guilty.
   
   However, as much as I enjoyed her 1998 updated version of the 'The Diary of Jack the Ripper', I found this version to be a complete waste of my time. There was no real evidence to connect James Maybrick/The Ripper to the US killings as the cover of the book suggested. Instead I was treated to a template of her first paperback with a few revisions here and there. Utterly disappointing.

4 comments about Faces of Evil.

1. If you ever had the talent to draw people, you could be a great portrait artist. Lois Gibson writes about her traumatic rape as a young woman in Los Angeles but also her aspirations to be an artist. She just didn't decide one day to be a forensic artist for the Houston Police Department. She had to convince them that her forensic art was necessary to track down and find horrendous criminals who were guilty of rape and murder. She opens the book about the case of LaShondra, a young girl who was badly beaten and decomposed. Ironically, she gets the case on September 11, 2001. She writes about how she uses her own experience to help the traumatized and argues that Elizabeth Smart could have been found sooner if they had used the portrait developed by her sister, Mary Catherine, months before she was actually found. Rather than going by instinct of an actual witness, the police felt it was not in their best interest to use the drawing even though it's not Lois' but another forensic artists. In cases where the fugitives are dangerous criminals to society, forensic artistry can be a necessity in order to catch him. This book is a great argument for the use of forensic artists in major police departments around the country. I encourage those with the talent of drawing people and faces offer their talents to even the smaller town and city departments. It's tough enough getting a job like that as Lois will tell you because it just didn't happen overnight. She had to fight for the reason of having a forensic artist on the Houston Police Force. But Lois writes about how witnesses provide the necessary information in order to apprehend dangerous criminals. This book is a great read for true crime buffs like me. Lois does use her personal experience to help with traumatized victims with a great touch of comfort and respect.
   I just can't help wonder why she wasn't contacted for the BTK case.



2. I know the author personally and have witnessed the astonishing things she accomplishes with an artist's touch. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys seeing evil take a back seat to the artisan who works in tandum with law enforcement to put a face on predators.



3. I found "Faces of Evil" one of the best books I've ever read. I just couldn't read it fast enough. I had the honor of seeing Ms. Gibson, the Author at a conference in my city. Her story inspired me to purchase the book and I'm glad I did.



4. I picked up this paperback and couldn't put it down. I even had my wife read it just so she would know the slime that was out there. I'm not someone that wants to draw, I couldn't draw a matchstick person, but I read a lot of true crime and Lois put together a large amount of infomation in that area. She told it in a great manner. I highly recommend this book. Mick Addington

5 comments about Rope: The Twisted Life and Crimes of Harvey Glatman.

1. Readers who like their serial killers to be charming, cunning monsters will be a little disappointed with Harvey Glatman. A nerdy TV repairman with a taste for bondage photography, Glatman was essentially a rapist who murdered his victims almost as an afterthought. Author Newman reports that Glatman regularly scored high on IQ tests, which puzzles this reader, since at no point in this narrative does the killer display an ounce of intelligence (at the time of his arrest two of his victim's bodies hadn't even been found, so whiz-kid Harvey helpfully leads the police to the corpses). Newman is a skillful writer, but there's little of interest in the last 200 pages of this book.



2. I have read a lot of true crime, and I found this to be one of the duller, more forgettable offerings. First of all, the subject Harvey Glatman is not terribly interesting either as a personality or as a murderer. Second, the book was overly long for the volume of information contained; the second 1/3 - 1/2 is pretty much a rehash of the first part, with no new information coming forth. Best about the book: Glatman, as a true-crime genre subject, is a bit refreshing and even oddly likable insofar as he's not into sadism, and such murders as he committed were (to him) an unpleasant necessity for avoiding punishment in his misguided search for pretty much straight sex.



3. Much better written, researched, and documented than most books of this type, Michael Newton does a very good job detailing the "life and crimes" of the unappetizing Harvey Glatman.

   As other reviewers have pointed out, there are some redundancies. And, yes, Glatman is only moderately interesting (though let's not kid ourselves -- once you've read about one of these weirdos, you've pretty much read about them all). In addition, there's way too much filler in this book. There are numerous examples, but I'll mention only a couple.

   First: At one point, Mr. Newton describes the crimes of the exceptionally repulsive Melvin Rees. Why? What on earth does he have to do with Glatman? Why not bring up Penny Bjorkland while he's at it? Carole Tregoff? And let's not forget good old Jack the Ripper.

   Second: Many pages are devoted to the history of Jewish immigration to the U.S. This is an interesting topic, nicely addressed by Mr. Newton, but it's completely irrelevant to the Glatman case.

   I'll add that I was a bit disappointed in not knowing what happened to some of the key players -- Lorraine Vigil, for example. And when did Mrs. Glatman die? And I was surprised that Mr. Newton didn't quote, or even mention, Dr. David Abrahamsen, a forensic psychiatrist who knew Glatman.

   Despite all my belly-aching, this is the book to read if you're interested in Glatman. Why you should be (and why I was) is another matter.

   P.S. Don't kid yourself that Glatman wasn't a sadist. Sure he was. That's why he used a rope, instead of his gun.




4. I've read a number of true crime books in the past. None of them has dealt with a character as strange as Harvey Glatman, a mousy little guy from New York who came to California to meet girls, and wound up tying them up and strangling them. It's a curious, strange story, and it'd be interesting if it weren't for Newton's obsession with getting every last fact before the reader.

   The book includes a summary of each of the killings. Glatman essentially kidnapped the women, tied them up, photographed them, raped them, then strangled them, abandoning the bodies in the desert to the south or east of L.A. He was caught when his fourth victim fought back, and managed to get his gun away from him, running away right into the arms of a Highway Patrol officer getting off work. All of the facts of the crimes as far as the author can discern them, Glatman's trial (he pled guilty and requested execution as soon as possible) and subsequent execution, and even the disposition of the victim's personal effects, are covered in detail. It's fascinating for the most part, if a bit much.

   The problem comes in the author's decision to go beyond that. He spends a chapter not only going over the killer's early life in New York, but briefly surveying the history of Jews in New York City (Glatman was Jewish and from N.Y.C.). The author seems obsessed with displaying a command of the study of serial killers which would no doubt be interesting in a survey of them. Unfortunately, given that the book is supposedly about Glatman, it's mostly distracting. To make things worse, the killings themselves are described in detail, mostly reconstructed from the interrogations the police did after Glatman was arrested. Several chapters later, the interrogations are repeated almost word for word, so that you go over the same material again. It's a bit much.

   Lastly, remember that I said Glatman took photographs? They were apparently destroyed after his conviction (some of them were nude) but a newspaper in Denver got some of the milder ones and published them, and Newton reprints them. They're nothing compared with modern pornography: women bound wearing clothes, with frightened expressions on their faces. The idea that the fear is real, though, is a bit unsettling, and some may be squeamish about this.

   All in all this is a solid true crime book, if a bit heavy on the detail and extraneous material.




5. I am kind of surprised by some of the other reviews here. I found Rope about Harvey Glatman to be one of the most interesting books about real crime. First, the crimes are done in the 1950s in Southern California. He was no Ted Bundy because he at least went quietly to his death. He was the only child of older parents who never really understood him at all. His crimes start early and escalate into murder. He almost got away with it until one woman was smart enough to escape his capture. Rope is written with a lot of detail in explaining culture, society, and how Harvey was raised and his adulthood. We will never really know why Harvey got his thrills from tangling a rope around the neck of his victims and watching him to die. We can understand after his death, that his mother, Ophelia Gold Glatman never even went to claim his ashes at San Quentin. I think this book is very well written and interesting to read over again.

3 comments about Killer Cults: Shocking True Stories of the Most Dangerous Cults In History.

1. This book was to detailed about the early years of the leaders of the cults and not detailed enough about the actual details of the cults itself. It left me wanting to know more....



2. The book was a little lean on details concerning the various beliefs and teachings of the cults. Other than that, it was a pretty interesting read. I don't feel I wasted my money on this book.



3. This book is just what the title of my book review suggests, a sample of various cults in recent history. While the book is good at giving basic information about the cults, it lacks the details true crimes fans like myself enjoy.

   James J. Boyle discusses 11 recent cults in his book. These groups include: Charles Manson and his family, Jim Jones, Gordon Kahl and his militia, Hare Krisna leader Kirtanananda Swami Bhakipada, John Africa and MOVE, Jeffery Lundgren and his Mormon movement, Mexico's El Padrino, Yahweh Ben Yahweh, Roch Theriault and his experimental surgeries of live members of his group, David Koresh and the Branch Davidians, and the environmentalist group known as "cirlcle of fire". In his synopsis of each of these groups he does give some good information. Some of the information I had not read in other sources. For example, the book states Charles Manson's favorite pick up line. This is not mentioned in "Helter Skelter". Nor is it mentioned in the book "Helter Skelter" that "Helter Skelter", the Beatles songs was named for a roller coaster in England. However, examples of these types of details are few and far between. Having never heard of El Padrino, I found it particularly interesting. Boyle sites books which give a more detailed accounts of each of the cults. This can add to your research in any particular story interests you. The few pictures also add to the presentation.

   This book sets out to give the reader a sample of cults. It is successful in doing this. More interested readers will be able to find more detailed accounts of each story in the original sources.