5 comments about Soliah: The Sara Jane Olson Story.

1. As a song of the era said: Something happened here. What it is ain't exactly clear.
   
   Kathleen Ann Soliah ("pronounced SOH lee ah - accent on the first syllable") was born January 16, 1947 in Fargo, North Dakota. She was involved with the "Second Team" of the Symbionese Liberation Army in California in the 1970's. (Most of the "First Team," who kidnapped Patty Hearst, was killed in a shoot-out with the LAPD in 1974.) There were bank robberies. There was a bomb placed underneath a police car.
   
   Time passed.
   
   In Minnesota on June 16, 1999, Sara Jane Olson, community activist, community theater actress, and doctor's wife in Highland Park, "one of St. Paul's most upscale neighborhoods," was arrested by a cadre of law enforcement personnel while driving her minivan, and extradited to California to stand trial as Soliah for alleged sins of the 70's.
   
   This is an intriguing part of Americana. But this book does not do it justice. Nor is the reader left, in the end, with a clear picture of whether justice has been done.
   
   Ms. Soliah is introduced in the beginning of the book, but then she all but disappears until "Act III" at page 113. In this interim, the author attempts to offer an historical context of the times.
   
   From her picture in the back of the book, suburban Twin Cities author Sharon Darby Hendry looks like she might be a part of the Baby Boomer generation- but from the way she describes the era, this reader did not get the sense that Hendry was THERE. If she was alive during these turbulent times, one gets the impression that she was busy procuring pedicures at the Edina Dayton's and attending Tupperware® parties. It's in the nuances and simple things. For instance: Arlo Guthrie's anthem "Alice's Restaurant" is directly quoted as "you could get anything you wanted there" (p.12) Uh, not exactly. I guess you had to be there. Ok, all you Boomers out there, Start singing! "You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant."
   
   Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley's version of the 1968 Democratic National Convention is unquestioningly set forth, even though it is later reported that "Attorney General Ramsey Clark was reluctant to enforce the new provisions [of the 1968 U.S. Civil Rights Act, which made interstate travel with the intent to incite a riot a federal crime] and viewed the Chicago violence as a `police riot.'" (p.22)
   
   To approximate the historical context, I suggests that you would be better informed getting Reunion: A Memoir, by Tom Hayden; In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution by Susan Brownmiller; and Father Andrew M. Greeley's novelized retrospective: September Song: A Cronicle of the O'Malley's in the Twentieth Century (Family Saga).
   
   I wanted to learn from this book by a local author. But the slant and downright mistakes caused me to view the entire work with a skeptical eye. The book ends with the 2001 pre-trial Sacramento court "reunion" of those accused in the robbery of the Carmichael Bank - in which Myrna Opsahl, who was there to deposit the weekend's Church offering - was slain. Yes. Something happened here. But what it is ain't exactly clear in this book.
   
   /TundraVision, Amazon Reviewer



2. What brings an obviously bright young woman to an obviously corrupt organization like the SLA and then, even more mysteriously, has her completely change her stripes and become, inexplicably, a soccor mom. Because Sarah Jane lived in my back yard, so to speak, I wanted to know who she was: the soccor mom or the terrorist. The book refused to answer that question for me, as it should, but rather than making judgements it told her story, using facts and the voices of people in Soliah/Olson's life. This book was better than a summer mystery and reads like a novel: I couldn't put it down. I heartily recommend the book.



3. Soliah captures the in-depth history of the 60's and 70's and wraps the story around Kathleen Soliah. It is difficult to understand how this woman could create a false identy for herself. Particularly because she lied to her three daughters about her name, age, and her deceitful past. She activily participated in the events of the SLA and should pay the price for her criminal actions. I would recommend this novel to the true-crime seekers and everyone who lived in this time era. Also, to the younger generation who are interested in the Patty Hearst / SLA saga.



4. The Last book on the Symbiones Liberation Army was written 20 years ago (Every Secret Thing, by Patricia Hearst, released in 1988 paperback as "Patty Hearst" in conjuction with the movie by the same name). Beyond this the books seemed to stop in mid to late 1970's so excluding Hearst's autobiography, the first book in a quarter century on the SLA. Opinions on the SLA and Hearst have often been politically charged with the strongest opinions often held by those who have limited knowlege of the subject.

   Sharon Darby Hendry, like myself, is a very long term Minnesota resident. We were both here back in the 1970's. Quite frankly, the SLA wasn't a significant Minnesota story in the 1970's. Even though I lived among the lefties in Dinkeytown all during the 1970's, and even though I had a loose connnection to SLA member Cammillia Hall I had to take a crash course in the SLA after the June 1999 arrest of Kathlenn Soliah here in Minnesota. I followed the case since the June 1999 Soliah arrest through my website ... reading more than a dozen old books on the SLA. Most are rare and unavailable so the first part of the book SoLiAh is a good primer on this era. It upsets the romantic view of the SLA by including the unpleasant realities, such as the assasination of Oakland's first Black School Superitendent Marcus Foster by the SLA, which, ironically, preached an anti-racism credo.

   The portion of SoLiAh dealing with the June 16, 1999 arrest and aftermath explained the dramatic events and they unfolded from a Minnesota perspective. With nine trial delays, at least five lawyer changes and the plea "flip-flops" the book had to follow events as they were unfolding. The last dramatic event was the January 2002 arrests in the Myrna Opsahl murder (the "Harris's" and Borton have since made bail, Soliah-Olson is serving time for the LA plea). Is they story and the book SoLiAh open ended?

   Absolutely! It looks like the Opsahl murder trial won't start before 2003 at the soonest. Has justice been done and will it be done? That is for the reader to decide but they can better ponder it with information and background on the case. The Opsahl murder was long considered unprosecutable even though it was obvious that the SLA did it. Just getting the January 2002 indictments is one of the greatest cold case revivals in modern history. Reading SoLiAh with an open mind will help the reader, especially those, not "there", or with a romantacized view of the old far left to understand it and to also understand the roots of the domestic terrorism threat facing the USA now.

   ...




5. I would give this a 3.5 star rating if Amazon allowed me to do so. This book contains interesting and useful information about the Patricia Hearst/SLA/Kathleen Soliah story, and yet somehow does not truly capture the "feel" or atmosphere of the times and events it describes. Hendry's explanation of opposition to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War is both oversimplified and overly brief, which limits her ability to analyze and explain the appeal of the New Left in general, much less the desperation and rage of the extreme, militant, revolutionary left of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Without such analysis, members of the SLA and Weatherman factions seem nearly inexplicable in their attitudes and actions, and this in turn limits Hendry's ability to make readers comprehend all that was at stake, or seemed to be at stake, in the SLA's worldview. Hendry could have explained this more effectively without, as one reviewer put it, "romanticizing" the violent, fringe New Left at this time.
   
   This book is most useful as a supplement to Patricia Hearst's memoir, _Every Secret Thing_, and to a good overview and analysis of the 1960s student and New Left movements, such as Gitlin's _The Sixties_ or Kazin and Isserman's _America Divided_. But no reader should pick up this book expecting to get a full or sophisticated explanation of how the New Left's early commitment to democratic socialism and participatory democracy morphed, for some activists, by the late 1960s and early 1970s, into an honest conviction that no peaceful solutions for change truly existed, that the U.S. politico-economic system was hopelessly corrupt and doomed, and therefore that electoral politics and working within the system were utterly pointless. Only by understanding such a worldview can readers truly begin to comprehend both the "logic" and the extremism of groups like the SLA. And only then can readers begin to understand what's at stake in the Soliah case and aftermath.

5 comments about Kids Who Kill.

1. I liked the stories because they were short and to the point, though some a bit depressing. But that's to be expected reading a true crime book about juveniles. Some I would have liked to know more about the outcome of the cases, but it was still a good book. I would recommend it to anyone that reads true crime books.



2. Fascinating look at the psychology of children and teenagers who kill.



3. This is a great little chilling book you cannot put down that, I categorize under "escapism" reading. I got my hands on it years ago, and I read some of the reviews where some complained that it was outdated. Well, it has to be somewhat outdated, because it takes time to do research on all these cases.
   I particularly like the way Dr. Ewing breaks down the categories of the killings that these children/teenagers commit:
   
   Family Killings
   Theft-Related Killings
   Sexual Killings
   Crazy Killings
   
   Just read the table of contents. Outdated or not, I do not believe motive or actions change much throughout the years. It is angering that some killings are purely senseless and stupid acts. Others are a result of neglect and years of sexual abuse, or physical torture, however they still have to pay the price. I recommend this book to anyone that has a troubled teenager or knows of anyone that has one, or is simply just interested in the subject matter.



4. This book spent volumes on statistics, and the stories of the children who kill were, in some cases, less detailed then the newspaper articles would have been. I wasn't looking for gore, and horror, but by the time I was finished with the book I didn;t understand what would drive a child to kill any better than I would have reading a psycology text book, or my local newspaper. I was very dissapointed.



5. My cousin frist recomended this book to me. The case studies intrested me greatly. The one disappointment with this book was that it mainly focused on child crimes in the U.S and not in other countries. A great book for anyone going into Crimnology.

No comments about A Cold Blooded Business: Love, Adultery, and Murder in a Small Kansas Town.

5 comments about Angel of Darkness: The True Story of Randy Kraft and the Most HeinousMurder Spree.

1. No one could have invented Randy Kraft, as fiction it would be too unbelievable. It boggles the mind that he literally got away with murder for 13 years. The author does a fine job laying out the facts of the case giving us a balance between the victims, their families, Kraft, his family and friends, the police and other serial killers who were operating in southern California at the same time. The plotting was well done and flowed smoothly making it a quick read. The only thing missing for me, was some analysis of what made Randy Kraft do such horrific things to people. But life isn't always tied up into neat resolutions. For anyone interested in serial killers or true crime, this book is a must!



2. Randy Kraft does not receive the same notoriety as some serial killers, but this is not due to a insignificant criminal career. Kraft is believed to have killer as many as 67 people, putting him in a league with only the Green River Killer. Dennis McDougal does a commendable job of capturing the madness of Kraft's 67 murder in "Angel of Darkness".
   
   Randy Kraft's killing spree spanned more than a decade. While evidence could only convict him of sixteen murders, the log of his murderous activities leaves many unanswered questions. The author recounts the stories of as many victims as evidence allows. Some victims remain "John Doe's", while other stories have yet to be ascertained. While this sets limits on the evidence, it does not take away from the story. Kraft, a confessed homosexual, began a spree killing gay men in the 1970's. Before his streak would end, teenage boys only guilty of hitch-hiking would compose a significant number of victims. The seemingly normal behavior Kraft displayed on most days makes his rampage more frightening. Not even his long term boyfriend suspected his crimes. While most people know better than to hitch-hike, the story brings the realization of the vulnerability of our loved ones to darker forces.
   
   Dennis McDougal proves to be an accomplished storyteller in the book. He lends the story and its victims proper respect while maintaining a interesting story. I commend McDougal for telling the story without constant repetition of tedious facts or writing on irrelevant sidebars. This is one of the best true crime books available. It is a shame that it is out of print.



3. Having no special interest in serial killers, I read this book only because I once hired Randy, I was asked to give a deposition after he was arrested, and I hadn't followed his story beyond that. I was amazed to find that he might be responsible for as many killings as he is now suspected of.
   
   Although the content of this book is excellent, I thought the writing was mediocre. Possibly this is because the approach was to "novelize" it. I would have preferred a more straightforward, factual approach, in which I would know which cases were actually attributed to Randy and which ones were not. As I realized that the author wasn't going to provide that information in context, I hoped that he would at least provide it after the fact, either during the trial coverage or possibly in some summary form at the end of the book. He did neither.
   
   While the content makes for a compelling read, and I would therefore recommend the book, I obviously wouldn't recommend the author.



4. Dennis McDougal is no Jack Olsen. Jack Olsen is a very deft and talented writer of true crime books. Dennis McDougal claims to be a journalist, but after reading this book, I have to seriously question his abilities.
   
   Angel of Darkness is supposed to be a factual account of the horrors that serial killer (the Freeway Killer) Randy Kraft dealt to southern California in the late 1970's and early 1980's. It should be compelling reading and it should make our hearts quake at the loss to families and friends of the poor, undeserving victims. It should make us realize that killers such as Kraft are unrelenting and uncaring monsters (as psychological profiles have revealed serial killers don't despair their victims like we do - they think of them as things rather than people).
   
   On both counts, McDougal fails.
   
   McDougal's approach is to throw facts out along with personal opinion. It is one that confuses and disguises the facts.
   
   This is a very difficult book to read. It is so jumbled in its structure that the reader must take great pains to glean information from the book. It's almost as if McDougal wrote his galleys (the draft of the book) on 3 x 5 note cards and then dropped them all, mixing them up, and never bothered to put them back in order again. Great shifts in time and great changes in reference take place in a single paragraph and enormous chunks of time and references are moved about in chapters. One minute you are reading about the Freeway Killer and his exploits and the next McDougal has switched to speak about the Bonin case and/or the Kearney case (both were serial killers with similar motus operandi operating in southern California at the same time as Kraft). The effect is confusion rather than enlightenment.
   
   It is painfully apparent this book was dashed together around the time of Kraft's capture. Unfortunately, McDougal didn't really bother to try to learn anything about the victims. He focuses almost soley on Kraft and his life. It's easy. It's all there in court transcripts and witness interviews -all available to the press.
   
   McDougal's book is emotionally devoide of any concern for the victims - he gives us only the smallest amount of information necessary and never really lets us connect with the victims or their families.
   
   It would have been preferrable to have simply had the court transcripts etc. copied and printed than to read this mish mash of poor writing.
   
   Jack Olsen's "The Man with the Candy" is probably the benchmark against which all other true crime books should be compared. If so, this one - Angel of Darkness - comes us severely lacking.



5. For someone who claims to be a "writer for the Los Angeles Times", Dennis McDougal's implied expertise falls terribly flat on many objectives in this narrative. While definitely a compelling read, I was struck by the amazing number of recurring mis-spellings, incorrect dates, lack of better descriptions of autos and other examples of careless proofreading that, unfortunately, proliferate. One example, a 1974 Mustang is not a "classic", even by today's standards, and it certainly wasn't when it was a year old in 1975. This is just plain "yellow journalism" at its best. In another instance, Mr. McDougal refers to a body that was "pushed out the rear door of a Mustang", implying the vehicle is a 4-door model. Again, this is tabloidism at its best, since no Mustang ever was built with 4-doors. We are given police report numbers, so why not license plate numbers of Kraft's vehicles? The referenced bars in Sunset Beach, The Buoy Shed and The Sable, are repeatedly mis-identified, as is the Rumour Hazzit club in Garden Grove. It makes me wonder how much other innacuracies Mr. McDougal parlayed? And if that is the case, is his research to be trusted? Or, like other reviewers have observed, was he in a rush to be the first kid on his block out with a book deal? Recommended only if you are a casual observer.

5 comments about Final Justice: The True Story of the Richest Man Ever Tried for Murder.

1. At the time of the Davis murders, I was living in Fort Worth and had a second-hand acquaintance with some of the people involved. Smith and Naifeh got it exactly right: not merely the facts but the "feel" of the case. Texas is a microcosm of the U.S., with all our best and worst qualities exaggerated. The Davis case exemplified our fascination with sex and sleaze, our love/hate relationship with the wealthy, and a legal system that's as much showmanship as The Majesty Of The Law -- and the results were an ironic commentary on what we truly value. (Somehow, the fact that Priscilla Davis was a mother whose 12-year-old daughter was brutally murdered got lost in the shuffle.) The book is engrossing and truly scary, and I highly recommend it.



2. This book is really, the most precise account of the murders and trials. Some of the other books on the murder trials of Mr. Davis are very goddy and don't focus on the facts of the case. I really think that Mr. Naifeh did an excellent job with the content and details of this novel.I hope that people will not simply judge a case or story by one book, and know that you must have a numerous amount of facts and reality before you try to judge someone or something.



3. it actually happened!!!

   Don't look at the facts. Facts are **BAD***!! Let's attack the victims and divert attention away from what the case was all about...the murder of a twelve year old girl and a family aquaintance.

   OJ's "Dream Team" (what a joke) must've used this case as a template for OJ's defense, because the similarities are eerie.

   Highly recommended.




4. This is a fascinating and disturbing tale that illustrates just how hard it is to convict somebody who has a lot of money and power. Cullen Davis, warped little rich boy dominated by his incredibly wealthy and megalomanic father, grows up to inherit most of the fortune and position. What does he do with it? He chases sex kitten type women, showers them with lavish gifts, and abuses them.

   Naifeh and Smith raise the true crime genre to something close to literature here. We have the usual litany of sickies and psychopaths, the usual police incompetence, prosecutors who can't prosecute, etc. The "final justice" in the title is somewhat ironic since multimillionaire Cullen Davis is never found guilty of any of his crimes, the worst of which was the cold-blooded murder of his wife's 12-year-old daughter; the least of which, perhaps the killing of her kitten. The juries in Texas just would not convict him (although they have put a number of poor people on death row). Instead they admired him for his money, stupidly since he just inherited it. And before the book is over, he blows most of it.

   We get a terrible sense here that people with riches in positions of power really can get away with murder. People look up to them regardless of their crimes. It helps us to understand how murderers like Sadaam Hussein and what's his name in Yugoslavia continue in power. It's not just that people are afraid of them, they look up to them and find ways to excuse their crimes. This is the human tribal mind at work: better our corrupt and evil leader than theirs, and better a corrupt and evil leader than no leader at all. The women in this one come off as particularly subject to manipulation by power and money, although that was not necessarily the authors' intent. They wanted to show just what a sick, sick man Cullen Davis is, and they succeed in that. But incidentally they revealed the women around him, especially his gold-digging wives, as sad, sad creatures who would be abused and wallow in it for the sake of being close to all that money and power and maybe getting a little of it. One has the sense that they couldn't help themselves.

   This is a good read that will rouse your sense of indignation.




5. ALL I CAN SAY IS " WHAT A STORY" .

5 comments about Kill the Dutchman!: The Story of Dutch Schultz (Da Capo Paperback).

1. This is probably the best book written about crime in the 1920s and 1930s, Dutch Schultz, and his life and times. Author Paul Sann has written a tough and revealing book second to none about this amazing era. A most read for anyone interested in these subjects.



2. This is one of my favorite gangster bios. Dutch Schultz was one of the most colorful and vicious mobsters of the Prohibition era and Sann's lively, tough prose brings the Dutchman vividly to life. No source notes for the more academic-minded readers but take it from me, it's "on the level" as Arthur Flegenheimer would probably say.



3. Paul Sann's effort in bringing back a violent period in America's history is successful in his account of the life of Arthur Fregenheimer, better known to intimates as "Dutch" Schultz, The Beer Baron of the Bronx. A detailed account of The Dutchman's demise is given and those involved in The Palace Bar and Chop House in Newark, New Jersey, in October of 1935. Three of Schultz's cronies in addition to The Dutchman were dispatched in a gunfight in which Charlie Workman shot Schultz in the mens' room. The book is filled with infamous names from the prohibition days in New York's underworld. Author Paul Sann has written other books regarding the post World War I era, and this book on Dutch Schultz illustrates the stressfulness of just staying alive for gangsters during this time period.



4. Kill The Dutchman reads like a classic Warner Brothers gangster picture starring James Cagney as Dutch Schultz. It's as if the real-life Arthur Flegenheimer was the proto-type of the ruthless gangster of the silver screen. With a sneer and brazen determination, Dutch Schultz, a man who sometimes spoke in crude criminal prose, emerges as the great anti-hero depicted in William Wellman's 1931 gangster film classic "The Public Enemy" four years before his "poetic" death.



5. "Kill the Dutchman" was written in 1971 by a grizzled veteran New York City newspaperman named Paul Sann. It chronicled the life and death of Arthur "Dutch Schultz" Flegenheimer, who controlled the Bronx beer industry and took over the policy, or "numbers," rackets in Harlem during the early Thirties. I must state that a large part of my problem with this book concerns the writing. It is riddled throughout with the author's glib comments and personal observations. An example: in recounting the hijacking of Schultz's beer trucks by members of the Vincent Coll mob, Mr. Sann interjects, "Remember when beer trucks were being hijacked, not jet planes?" - a reference to the rash of American planes which were overtaken by hijackers and forced to land in Cuba, a frequent occurence at the time the book was published. I'm sure that many readers might find this prose lively and colorful, but from a personal standpoint I felt it diminished the integrity of the story itself. However, if you are seeking a factual biography of one of the Prohibition Era's most celebrated mobsters, this is, unfortunately, probably the best one available at this time.

5 comments about Poisoned Vows.

1. I am fascinated by the criminal mind, and the story of Jill Coit is fascinating. I recommend the book to true crime enthusiasts. It is well written. I like the way the author chronicles a little bit of the history of each place that Jill Coit finds herself. Not too much--just enough. This woman was so intelligent had she pursued a more "legal" lifestyle, she might have become the first woman President of The United States. The author shows through out the story how focused, single-minded, and intent she is on using up and destroying every man she decides to date and/or marry. But after all was said and done, I don't think the author even knows what makes this woman tick. I know that I don't. It is no fault of the author, because Jill Coit is too complicated. It is extememly sad how her own sons had to testify against her in order to put a stop to this woman. Now that she is behind bars in one of the Countries toughest prisons, maybe she will begin to figure herself out. What is amazing to me is that she has absolutely no remorse, and I do not believe that she even realizes that she has lead her life in the wrong way. She is not crazy. She is just without conscious. Thanks to the author, I enjoyed this book immensely.



2. My major complaint with this book is that there isn't any completion to any part of the story. The main character marries man after man, dumps him, moves on to another victim, etc. There is no carry through with the separation, divorce, murder etc. Even when the "black widow" is brought to trial, the author ends the book reporting that she and her cohort have been fould guilty of murder in the first degree, but there's isn't an account of the sentencing phrase of the trial.
   The whole book is a series of "left up in the air." More time and atttention should have been devoted to finalizing the relationship with each husband.
   This said, the book is very well-written. The author moves the text along at a steady pace, but the chapters are a little too lengthy.



3. Jill Lonita Billiot was destined to be a coniving woman. By the time of her arrest for the murder of Gerald "Gerry" Boggs, her name "techincally" was as follows: Jill Lonita Billiot Ihnen Moore Coit Brodie Dirosa Metzger Steely Boggs Carroll. And one must not forget that Billiot (her birth maiden name) should actually be dropped and "Johansen" added as she manipulated an ederly gentleman to adopt her, whose fortune she later inherited.
   
   Many of Jill's marriage overlapped one another, making her a bigamist along with (most likely) being the record holder for number of marriages!
   
   Poisoned Vows offers a extremely detailed account of the path most traveled by Jill that lead to her convincing her boyfriend (an adultrious affair, nonetheless) to assist her in murdering the one man who was ready to expose her for what she was: a lying, cheating, manipulating, greedy female fatale. Gerald Boggs was distraught and angry when he learned that not only was she remained married to Carl Steely while they were married but she had also lied about being pregnant with and giving birth to a daughter belonging to him. Of course, this wasn't the first time Jill had lied about phantom children. Nor would it be the last time she would play a role in the death of one of her husbands....
   
   While I found the book to be difficult to read, offering details that are confusing; this is not an issue that can be blamed on the author. Clifford Linedecker did an excellent job in attempting to keep the facts sorted for the reader, even if the information is often repititious. I was a bit disappointed that Jill and co-defendant, Michael Backus, was still weeks away from sentencing at the time of writing this book; I feel that the book should not have been published with that info. Otherwise, however, this is an excellent read for any true crime fan.



4. The author describes Jill Coit's life as it was - however, I liked the book "Charmed to Death" better. I had to deal with Coit while working at the correctional facility and all I can say this that she continues to play her games with everybody in prison... if she does not get want she wants she finds ways to mess with the staff and threatens with law suits! She plays the staff against each other - but else is there to do for her? She got life without parole, that is her way of keeping busy in prison. There is also a movie out about her, but I was only able to get it from the United Kingdom on a European format DVD.



5. I wasn't sure I'd like this book when I bought it, but it ended up being a real page-turner! This woman was absolutely incredible and seriously insane to do what she did, and Cliff Linedecker shows us the events that led up to her victimization of many innocent people, mainly naive men who thought she cared for them. One of the better-written true crime classics. Shocking and unforgettable!

3 comments about Murder of Innocence: The Tragic Life and Final Rampage of Laurie Dann.

1. There is a movie, as the same title

   excellent everything

   there is people, like me, who feel REFLEX on this story (personality)




2. I have been reading true crime since I was about 11 years old and I must say this one will stay in my collection. I find that many true crime books are written without much attention to background or in-depth analysis. I began reading this after having just finished Jim Schutze's "Bully" and I had been dissapointed with the lack of depth in that book and how it seemed rushed. Cannot say that about "Murder of Innocence" at all! This account, and I have yet to read Eggington's book on this case so I cannot compare, goes into great detail to descibe Laurie Dann as the person she was from childhood to age 30 and describes her descent into madness in such a way that I kept wondering "What is she going to do next?" There are alot of characters to keep straightened out - as to who is a relative, in-law, roommate or just someone who slighted her somehow; indeed this book is for the serious reader and not one looking for a quick superficial account of a case. The manner in which Laurie hops from one college to another is amazing; clearly her parents never sat her down and seriously told her "You have a failed marriage and you have enrolled in college several times but dropped out. You seem to be lacking direction in your life and we want to know what the problem is and what we can do to help." More often, her mother was aloof regarding Laurie's problems, and her father, although he did seem to love her, could not, or did not want to, see how serious her problems were. Her parents were ostriches with their heads in the sand - probably hoping Laurie would skate through life and hopefully find her way without too much of a burden on them. I cannot help feeling also that her medical care could have been more aggressive, but it appears that her psychiatrist tried numerous times to keep in contact with her but Laurie treated doctors and dormitories like revolving doors. I highly recommend this book for anyone studying forensic science or psychology, and it should be recommended to those in law enforcement as well. Excellent job!



3. This is a very good book,with lots of photos that are revealing.The Principal of the school cradling that young child in the hard cover edition?Priceless..MAnly for sure,that's what a real man is.Hard to believe that some of the most ritzy communities were the scene for this.I know thE teacher who was not there, as it were, during the shootings.She had her son's confirmation to go to during one of her only days off that year and thAt day off ended in Laurie Dann shoOting some of her studentS.Very manly book with lots of Chicago Jewish histOry..

5 comments about Someone Has To Die Tonight.

1. Jim Greenhill's topnotch investigative writing is clearly visible in his true crime Someone Has to Die Tonight. While the story will chill the reader to the core, Greenhill's crisp writing and detailed characterization of each member of The Lords of Chaos will hold everyone's interest until the last page. The story chronicles how one teenage boy is able to control other seemingly normal boys to the point of committing crimes that escalate from pranks to murder. It is a wake up call for all of us who naively believe such things can't happen in our community. For those interested in true crime and psychological thrillers, Greenhill's book can't be beat.
   
   Tekla Dennison Miller, author, Durango, CO



2. This is a great true crime book, written in an unusual style, packed with incredible detail. It reads almost like a fiction thriller. The part that takes the reader thru the night of the murder, moment by moment, is absolutely riveting, edge-of-your-seat suspense. The portrait of alienated youth that it presents is quite disturbing and frightening. There is so much detail, it puts the reader right there in southern Florida with the "gang" called the Lords Of Chaos as they vandalize and rob for kicks, escalating rapidly into homicide. as the story unfolds. The author uses a style of writing that is fragmented, choppy and more prevelant in fiction. I've read 100's of true crime books, but never one written in this way. His sentence fragments may put you off at first, but its a good technique for moving the story along very fast. This is one of those books that is very difficult to put down until you are finished, a real page-turner. I look forward to more books from this writer---he seems to be a major new talent on the true-crime scene.



3. I guess I'm the only one so far in this review who didn't like the writing style of this book. I saw the Dateline NBC special about this story and I also enjoy reading true crime so I thought this book would be a winner for sure. But it just couldn't grab me because it didn't play out like an interesting story but rather a long, boring article with too many details. It was so hard to make myself pick it up after I laid it down, and when I did I just wanted to skim through page after page, and that's no fun. So after a month of playing that game I just gave up on it.



4. I was really impressed with the writer of this book. It kept me on the edge of my chair; in fact, I hated to come to the end. I would recommend to anyone who enjoys true crime stories.



5. This was a great book. Having followed the story in the newspaper as it happened years ago, I have retained an interest in the tale. I was enthralled with Greenhill's rendition of this tragedy from the very first page. Now, I'm waiting for the follow-up mentioned at the end of this book.

5 comments about Shallow Grave in Trinity County.

1. This book is a well written documentary of a fourteen year old girl who was abducted and murdered on her way home from school in Oakland , California in the mid 1950's. It tells of the police investigation and eventual apprehension and trial of the man believed to have been her killer.
   
   The time, place and people in this true story all relate to my experience at that time period when I was living in Berkeley. Strange to say but even after reading the book, I don't remember reading or knowing about the event. I found the story facinating, especially the careflly related investigation and the trial. I was amazed at how the evidence was analized with the tools of the time to make a case against the suspect.
   
   My recommendation is to read the book. It will make you think and wonder about the participants and their motives for a long time.
   
   Jan M.
   Now living in Trinity County



2. I read Farrell's "Swift Justice" a few years ago, and it haunted me for a long time afterward. When I came across this book, I expected that I would get just as involved with it, and I did. Farrell has a way of including details in a story that make it fascinating, even if you know the outcome (and I agree with the other reviewers who mentioned the give-away photo section). Some of the most interesting aspects of this book involve minor characters, such as the suspect who fears his co-workers' "sex vibrations", the mysterious eyewitness "Melody", and the teenage girl who became obsessed with the accused murderer. These people's own words, which Farrell diligently researched and quoted, give the reader a direct window onto the time period. The book is also full of the kind of scientific information that fans of CSI will enjoy.
   
   [WARNING--SPOILERS FOLLOW] The kidnapping and murder described in the book are so horrible, that I was hoping for the kind of cathartic closure you might get from watching a killer convicted on TV. But Farrell doesn't let the reader off so easy. Though there was ample physical evidence pointing to Barton Abbot, a few little loose threads will leave me forever wondering. And of course, the eternal question of why anyone would commit such a crime is not answered.
   
   As far as the victim's family goes, they are not painted as the sainted martyrs another reviewer complained about. In fact, one of the saddest aspects of the book for me was the parents' refusal to tell their other children what really happened to their sister. "We don't talk about it," the victim's mother said. Years later, her son admitted to Farrell the pain the situation caused him.
   
   Farrell shows how notorious crimes can drag down innocent bystanders: witnesses lost their livelihoods; a mother had to move out of state and change her child's name.
   
   All in all, Farrell has written a book that is not only a gripping true-crime story, but a valuable social history.



3. Harry Farrell's work is not only riveting, it is so well written it takes you to the time and place of the crime and its aftermath. Truly horrifying and disturbing and especially so to me as I grew up in the same general area where Stephanie Bryan was kidnapped. A lot of the landmarks and crime scenes in the book are very familiar to me as I used to work in Berkeley and drove the Tunnel Road and Ashby Avenue daily. It brought the horror home for me. The details of Stephanie's kidnap, sexual assault, and cruel, brutal, murder are heart wrenching and sad. This sweet girl was a highly intelligent honor student who avidly enjoyed reading and loved animals. I was truly aggrieved that such a beautiful human being had to die because of the despicable actions of a brutal sociopath who had no feelings or conscience. Burton Abbott's guilt is readily apparent to me and Mr. Farrell clearly and methodically illustrates this.



4. Harry Farrell, the author of SHALLOW GRAVE IN TRINITY COUNTY, is an excellent writer. This is the first book of his I've read, and he writes it as a journalist/newspaper reporter without injecting his personal opinions, always a positive in my view. Farrell's research is exhaustive and meticulous, and the material resulting from that research is presented coherently, intelligently, and highly professionally.
   SHALLOW GRAVE is the story of the kidnapping and murder in 1955 of a 14 year old girl. The book is basically formatted in three sections: the description of the crime, the police investigation, and the trial. While I often find the courtroom/trial sections of true crime books to be opportunities for uninterested writers to pad their books with filler, I can happily report that Farrell is not guilty of this. He is clearly interested enough in his book that his report of the trial is as well written as the rest of the book.
   However, while almost necessarily the case, the account of the trial repeats a lot of the information reported in the section on the police investigation, as the witnesses testify as to the same info. which Farrell has already presented in the section concerning the investigation.
   This can get tedious, though it is certainly not a deal-breaker. I feel that this section would work better as a series of daily newspaper reports, which of course at the time it was, rather than having it consolidated into a section of a book.
   The other disappointment I felt with SHALLOW GRAVE is that, while there was some, there was not ultimately not enough discussion of of the making of the personality of the sociopath Burton Abbott. However, I believe Farrell probably did the best he could with what he had, given that the case was about 45 years old when the book was written.
   Another positive I should mention is that the pictures in the book are very good, and that they - along with both Farrell's fine descriptions of the U.S. of the 1950's and his ear for the speech of the time - provide a vivid and fascinating backdrop for the book.
   I will certainly be checking out other of Harry Farrell's books.



5. Author Harry Farrell is an excellent historian, archivist and writer whose familiarity with California's bay area shines in one of the first widely publicized kidnapping/murder of a young girl. Gone missing on her walk home from school, 14-year old Stephanie Bryant's body is found, not by law enforcement or the FBI, but by two reporters from the San Francisco Examiner.
   
   The young girl was taken on April 28, 1955 and Burton Abbott, convicted of her murder, was put to death on March 15, 1957, less then two years after her abduction. A stark contrast to 1993's Richard Allen Davis, the convicted murderer of Polly Klaas who remains on California's death row today.
   
   Farrell expertly sketches the climate of pre-discovery, pre-Miranda justice. He also hauntingly underwrites the conclusion that paints Abbott the killer with enough doubt that the reader is left with questions about whether justice was truly served in the 1950's.
   
   All in all, an excellent read, leaving only picky legal buffs, like this reader, wanting more details about the intricacies of the trial.