2 comments about In Love and In Danger: A Teen's Guide to Breaking Free of Abusive Relationships.

1. I thought this book was great. I found it while I was looking for information on doing a project for school. It has signs to look for if you think you're in an abusive relationship, and stories about girls that have gone through this situation. There is also a story from a mother's view. I thought it was a wonderful book. I think anyone that thinks they might be in this situation should read this book.



2. I am surprised this book does not have more reviews. I have been using this book with clients for the past several years. It is an excellent book that helps families recover when their daughter has been in an abusive relationship. It is also very simply written so that young teens can benifit while using the book with a therapist or just reading it on their own. "In Love And Danger" is an important book for teens and their families.

5 comments about Final Truth : The Autobiography of a Serial Killer.

1. This has got to be one of the most difficult books I have ever read and I've reada LOT of books. It's a brutally honest, unapolgetic account of murders committed by Pee Wee Gaskins. I've had to put it down and take a break from it more than once as the subject matter is so intense and graphic. To think that there are people out in the world like him that have so little regard for others that they will take them and hurt them in unimaginable ways and then murder them when they're done is truly frightening. This book so rattled my nerves that I finally had to put it face down as even having to look at his eyes on the cover of the book bothered me! It's a difficult but worthwhile read if you want to find out how a serial killer thinks. Pee Wee's urge to kill came from his "bothersome" feelings - and after awhile he didn't even wait for the "bothersome" feelings - he killed for the sheer pleasure it gave him. My heart goes out to all those that suffered so mightily at his hands and hope they have all found peace on the other side. As for Pee Wee - well he's got some pretty major bad karma going on - wouldn't want to be him wherever he is now. This book is one that will never be forgotten - it's indelibly imprinted in my memory.



2. Pee Wee Gaskins is probably the most infamous serial killer in South Carolina history. This "as-told-to" book was published posthumously. I've talked to a number of people over the years who knew Pee Wee personally and/or worked on his cases in some capacity. He was not known for telling the truth, so despite the fact that he supposedly had nothing to lose by delaying publication until after his execution, most people I have talked to believe he greatly exaggerated the number of people he claims to have killed in this book. Having said that, if even half of what he claims is true, this is still one of the most disturbing true-crime books I have ever read. Parts of it left me chilled to the bone. It also helps answer the question of what causes a human mind to go so bad. After reading about his up-bringing, you realize that a deeply disturbed mind is often the result of a deeply disturbed childhood. This book should be read by anyone who is interested in delving into the psyche of a serial killer. However, I don't recommend reading it before going to sleep at night. Your dreams are going to be troubled for a while.



3. I have read this book twice and each time I enjoyed it thoroughly. Pee Wee Gaskins tells his story in gory details, he leaves nothing to the imagination. Gaskins tales are sick, interesting, horrifying, fascinating - the book is a page-turner, it flows. The murder details in this book are so atrocious that at times I felt as if I were reading fiction written by a twisted author. The author was, indeed, more than twisted, but his book is no fiction.



4. Never received book I ordered a month ago so reordering again. I did read parts of this book years ago & I'll never forget it. It was shocking, chilling, disgusting & I couldn't put it down. I remember visiting a friend who was reading it & I just picked it up for what I thought would only be a moment. I just kept reading it until I had to give it back to my friend. She had borrowed the book from someone else I didn't know so I never finished reading it & could never find it again until now. Recently my daughter & I somehow started talking about killers & I thought to look here & glad I finally found "Final Truth". I'll update when I get my book I had to reorder. My daughter will read it too so I'll get her take on it. She won't believe the crazy sick person he was.



5. You won't be able to stop turning the pages and when you do you will be totally freaked out for days. A sick inside the head look at a serial killer from childhood to the electric chair.

5 comments about Our Guys.

1. I live less than a block away from Glen Ridge, NJ, so naturally, I was very interested to read this disturbing account describing high school jocks sexually assaulting, in a brutal manner, a retarded girl in the basement of the house where two of the perpetrators lived. I still recall reading about the incident in the news (at the time I lived in NYC), and wondering how kids could be so cruel.
   
   In "Our Guys," Bernard Lefkowitz does an admirable job at covering some central themes surrounding the harrowing incident: i.e. the so-called alleged "consent" issue of the victim; the culpability of those who witnessed the event but did nothing to try to stop it; the ostracism of the one student who revealed what happened; the "jock culture" encouraged by Glen Ridge; the town's propensity to look the other way, and give every benefit of the doubt (and even support) "our guys," even when it was clear that something very ugly happened in that basement; the breaks that the perpetrators received from police and the Courts; the defense lawyers who attempted to portray the victim as a Lolita who was in control of the circumstances (one lawyer bizarrely repeatedly referred to boys being "magnetized" to her, and visa versa, when she developed breasts) and portray their clients as basically good kids, but "boys will be boys."
   
   The book reads like a train wreck -- ugly and disturbing, but you can't look away. Lefkowitz, who completely convinces the reader that a crime certainly took place, isn't shy about making very definitive conclusions, which, at times, I took issue with. First, I can certainly understand the school's position in waiting until all the facts were known before taking any steps against the students in question. Let's not forget that Duke University recently came under fire for jumping to conclusions in the ongoing case involving the Lacrosse players and a stripper who initially accused three of them of rape. In the Duke case, of course, the "victims" appear to be the accused, and the perpetrator both the stripper and an overzealous, unethical prosecutor (it often just depends on what the facts eventually reveal).
   
   Second, I don't think that Lefkowitz's attack on the "values" of the town of Glen Ridge, or the so-called "jock culture" in general, are entirely fair. The Scherzer twins and Archer Brothers, were, pure and simple, bad kids. You take away this one incident, and you would still say that. The fact that they were decent athletes and good looking may have contributed to their ability to get away what they did, but those qualities certainly don't cause one to be bad.
   
   Third, some of things Lefkowitz describes are questionable in my mind. For instance there's a three day party at a classmate's house, where the drinking is rampant, and the students basically destroy the house. No neighbor calls the police for an entire weekend in a quiet suburb? How is that possible? A boy who repeatedly exposes himself during class and no disciplinary actions are taken? Most of the girls mentioned in the book seem to have weak characters and are completely under the spell of these boys. Where are those girls who despise these guys, as I'm sure their must have been?
   
   Any parent of children of high school or pre-high school children will be frightened and horrified by "Our Guys." However, knowing a number of people in Glen Ridge, I can tell you that when they discuss the high school, they're proud of the academics, and athletics rarely comes up. Maybe things have changed. Or maybe Lefkowitz tended to over-exaggerate one of his central themes: that the Glen Ridge "culture" somehow created these bad kids who committed this, and other terrible acts.



2. This book catches your attention within the first 30 pages. The description of how a group of high school athletes violated a developmentally disabled peer with a broomstick and a baseball bat was hard to read. But nonetheless very interesting.
   I wondered what the next 400 pages held if the author had described the event already. The rest of the book describes the town of Glen Ridge, where the alleged rape took place. The author describes the boys behavior, bizarre masturbation in classrooms, "voyeuring" (which is when the boys would engage in sexual acts with girls and let their friends watch from a window or closet), as well as increased, almost obessive fascinations with porn. I found it very interesting and thought it was a great idea to put into the book the societal factors of the boys behaviors into the book because it may explain why the boys acted the way they did.
   Also, i feel that the author tried to give both sides of the story during his description of the actual court hearings. However, it did seem bias in most cases in favor of Leslie.
   I really enjoyed the book, thought it was written well (even though it seemed repetitve at times), and also gave a good look at how a society in a small town can influence a young mind so profoundly that teenagers cannot form morals or respect for others. I recommend this book for all, especially those looking to work in sociology or with mental health.



3. "Our Guys" is a book that should be required reading in most schools. Especially in high schools across America. The author introduces us to the detailed account of the Glen Ridge raping in 1989, and displays all facets of the story to the reader. Perhaps by reading about a suburban town, like most others in this country, we can all gain a better understanding of the nature of young adults, and the dangers of communities trying to cover up serious crimes for fear of media coverage.
   
   My only issue with the book is that the author spends far too much time on a perpetual soapbox, letting the reader take in pages upon pages of commentary and analysis. It is clear that the author has a problem with "jock culture", and school athletics. The book's important story sometimes suffers a detour because of the author's insistence that the reader clearly understands the author's perspective on the community, the defendants, and the victim. It would have better suited the reader if the author's commentary were relegated to a section of the book, as opposed to appearing throughout the narrative.



4. This book could have been sensationalist & pedestrian given the subject matter &, frankly, the tendencies of most True Crime writers (pump out that book quick before the media blitz stops). I would imagine that when you are writing about something like the gang rape of a retarded teenager by a group of suburban athletes, many of whom had known her since childhood, it would be very easy to write something slick & prurient. Mr. Lefkowitz manages to avoid that.
   
   Mr. Lefkowitz spent 7 years researching this book, interviewing (& re-interviewing) hundreds of people either involved in the case or somehow connected to the town of Glen Ridge, NJ where the crime occurred. He also read most of the literature on rape and on gang rape, in particular, that was in print prior to the book's publication. He obviously has a point of view - he finds this crime shocking, horrible, & unforgivable. Perhaps more importantly, though, he has curiosity. How could this happen in a place like Glen Ridge, NJ?
   
   This is an excellent read, absolutely compelling throughout.



5. I figured that this book wouldve been dented and worn, but turned out to be perfect. Great book :)

5 comments about Cries in the Desert (St. Martin's True Crime Library).

1. In looking over many of the other reviews, I can not help but notice that many of the reviewers did not actually read this book. Certain negative reviews have nothing to do with the book at all. For those interested in the book, I would suggest reading the reviews of people that obviously read the book not the star rating of this book.
   
   When the story of David Parker Ray first made news headlines in 1999, there seemed to be a degree of shock in how something so extreme as this could happen. Quite literally, David Parker Ray abducted women and made them sex slaves in the trailer known as his "toy box". He was able to carry this on for so long because his victims walked the fringes of society. John Glatt makes clear that we may never know the extent of David Parker Ray's crimes. He once claimed to have killed as many as 14 people, but he is not serving over 200 years in prison for any time of murder.
   
   One of the portions of this book that I appreciated most was Glatt's history of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. While it is a great source of trivia questions, the history has faded with the passage of time.
   
   The extreme nature of David Parker Ray's crimes may make this book difficult to read for some. The author does not shy away from details. Admittedly, I would have liked to have seen Glatt go into more details in some areas of the book. Still, this is not a deep enough flaw to warrant strong crticism. As a whole, I found the book to be informative and interesting.



2. This book moved at a good clip and it gave me chills of how people can be so sick, especially the women who helped this maniac in his crimes. Worth the read if you like true crime, but I sure am glad I have an alarm system in my home and a gun in my bedroom because this book will make you realize how evil people can be when they can come across as very normal. Great true crime book.



3. This is one messed up story, and the fact it is true, and people like this live among us is scary. Not for the faint of heart, and if you love true crime, I would recommend this.



4. I work with high profile, violent offenders. It's hard for me to find books that I feel I've learned something from. This book gave me some insight into criminal thinking that I have never had before. Plus, it was in great shape & a very reasonable price!



5. After reading Secrets in the Cellar, I just had to have more of John Glatt. Now, I am disappointed. "Cries in the Desert" was not quite what I was expecting.
   
   Like others have noted, the cast of characters is very large. Glatt gives us a thorough biography of every character, which I found unnecessary. When there are so many characters, the story begins to lose focus.
   
   Glatt also has a tendency to repeat himself. The first time he quoted the torture chamber (i.e. "Toy Box") tape David Roy Parker made for his victims, it was shocking. The third and fourth time, I didn't need to read it again.
   
   A good chunk of the story deals with the legal wrangling after the suspects were caught. Court proceedings are not exactly the most exciting thing in the world.
   
   As I tried to maintain focus, Glatt sends me off on another tangent when he writes in detail about the "Hollywood Video Slayings", which really has nothing to do with the case I am reading about. I also get to hear about the air conditioning problem in the courtroom and a public defender's job as a defense contractor after he quit the case. Too many impertinant details clutter the story.
   
   A good effort, but very much less organized than "Secrets in the Cellar". I wouldn't have recognized the writer but for the name on the cover.

5 comments about Torture at the Back Forty: The Gang Rape and Slaying of Margaret Anderson.

1. Author Dauplaise delves into the complex details surrounding this horrific crime and presents them in a clear, concise manner. From the onset, the reader is impacted by the vicious brutality inflicted on Margaret Anderson. Mike Dauplaise humanizes this woman. The biker subculture and attitude of the time is explored and the story of the manhunt to capture those involved adds to the intrigue.



2. Well I am shocked by all those raving reviews. I am so disappointed with this book just because of them. I expected a great book but it wasn't great at all. The author just touched a little bit on the crime (they did not really know what really happened) People say they got to know the victim Margaret? well not at all. Maybe 1 chapter was about her but then you still do not really get to know her.
   Most chapters are (it is a very short book only 165 pages) are that the cops are wondering where they were hiding, and you get to hear many different names which makes it confusing and to be honest not very interesting, plus most people were lying to the cops. Then they find them and you get the trial. Well most boring trial ever. I plead the 5th is all they say.
   
   I was glad I finished it and am a bit pissed of that I spend my money on this based on the amazon reviewers. Are these all reviewers who get the book for free before the book is published? I hardly write reviews because my English is not good enough to really say adequate what I mean but in this case I had to.



3. Mike Dauplaise does a fantastic job of taking the reader back in time to the quiet community of Green Bay and exposing a heinous crime committed by a group of bikers. He then digs into the biker subculture that few people would know even existed in this Midwestern community and the exhaustive efforts of the Green Bay police department in bringing the killers to justice.
   
   Dauplaise engages the reader with a variety of emotions as you learn about the victim, Margaret and that fateful night. My heart goes out to her family and her friends.
   
   Once started, I was not able to put the book down. Definitely a must-read!



4. Dauplaise tells a story that is truly disturbing. While I couldn't get the images out of my mind, neither could I put the book down until I was finished. I loved the cut to the chase way Dauplaise wrote this book. Unfortunately, this is a story that had to be told and was told in a way that you won't forget Margaret Anderson. A definite read for true crime fans.



5. This book started with so much potential to be a great story, but it got slow and boring really quick and I found myself skipping over a lot of the "police" running around stuff. A very sad story but too much focus on cops and not enough on the crime.

5 comments about Evil Beside Her: The True Story of a Texas Woman's Marriage to a Dangerous Psychopath.

1. I'm a fan of Ann Rule's books and I've often looked for other writers who cover a true crime as well(or almost as well)as she does. Kathryn Casey is the first to impress me with her ability to be thorough and never boring or sensationalistic in her telling of the stories. I would recommend this author and this book to anyone interested in true crime books. Her style is different from Ann Rule's but she also researches and writes extremely well.



2. John Lennon didn't have James Bergstrom in mind when he wrote "Loser" yet this is as close to a perfect theme song for the serial rapist, wife-beater and all-around-creepy guy on display in Kathryn Casey's The Evil Beside Her. The basic situation couldn't be any more unsettling: rape victim finds herself married to a serial rapist and can't get anyone to believe that he is the deviant the police are seeking. In lesser hands this would be a tale of exploitation and female helplessness ripe for a Lifetime movie adaptation.
   
   Fortunately it is in the hands of True Crime great Kathryn Casey whose abilities as a story teller continue to impress me. She captures just the right rhythm for telling the story of a young woman who drifts into a marriage with a very odd young man, then stays with him as his behavior becomes increasingly bizarre, controlling and violent. Casey gives us such a sense of the ordinary days that it the battered and terrorized woman's ability to tell herself "that will never happen again" becomes comprehensible. Linda Bergstrom, the wife of serial rapist James, is slowly acclimated to the insane world of her husband until it seems if not normal than at least ordinary.
   
   On the nature/nurture debate we have strong evidence for nature in the Bergstrom clan who all demonstrate moral tone-deafness. We also have yet more proof that while all whiny losers may not be serial rapists and/or murderers, all serial offenders are whiny losers. Based on this book and Jack Olsen's I: The Creation of Serial Killer I'm rethinking my stance on incarceration and capital punishment. Forget execution and supermax imprisonment, just put on these yo-yos in a group setting where their endless complaining about their own victimization can torture each other. These guys aren't relentless killing machines, they're non-stop kvetching machines.
   
   Kathryn Casey is one of the bright lights in the True Crime genre, consistently turning out quality books informed by original research and reporting. Any fan of the genre should make it a point to read her books.



3. I have read this and Escape (escape from polygamy) within the last few weeks. Both are well written books about heroic women.



4. Evil Beside Her - wow, is that an appropriate title! I really feel sorry for the wife of this psychopath, even more than his other victims, because she had to live with this nightmare day after day. I am glad it all turned out well for her and that he is now behind bars. As an Ann Rule fan, I can say this isn't quite as well done as most of her books, but the author does a great job following all the evil and making her characters 3-dimensional. If you love True Crime, get this book!!!



5. 
   As an Ann Rule fan, I am becoming more and more impressed by Kathryn Casey. Her books are well researched and written with a sensitive hand. Evil Beside Her is no exception. Unlike some reviewers who have posted here, Casey appears to understand the cycle of domestic violence.

5 comments about Pure Murder (Pinnacle True Crime).

1. I have read several of Cory Mitchells books and enjoy the way he tells the story. I remember all the issues these criminals created after the murders but I never truly knew about the murders themselves. Now thanks to Mr Mitchell's concise way of story telling I can say I'm much more informed about this event.



2. This is the first book by Corey Mitchell I have ever read. Is is a very amazing writer. He made me feel like I was right there watching the whole thing. Although this is very well written, it is horrifying, and very sad. It also made me mad as hell! I think every parent should have their teenage children (especially girls) read this one. I am 42 years old and I don't think I have ever seen more evil than these five boys. They are sub-human if you ask me. I actually had to stop a few times in the book because I was so disturbed, it actually made me shake with rage at one point. My deepest regards goes out to the girls families. There is no words that could describe the loss and pain that they endured, and I felt their pain and loss right along with them as I read. I pray to god that they(the murders) all suffer and burn in the depts of hell! I also cursed out loud when I heard the low lifes slip thru some of the craks in our system.
   I would just like to address one more thing pretainting to this book and that is to all you anti-death penalty people in the world you need to read this book before you get out there and march around with your signs. What if these girls were your daugters would you still be out there with your signs, I highly doubt it and if you did then to me, you really don't care about justice. As for me I will always believe in the death penalty with crimes as heinous as this one was. Read this book! It took me about 3 days to read. Its hard to put down!



3. There's not much to say about this book. As a Houston resident who was well-versed in the facts of this heinous case, I can assure you that this book is, at best, an instance of sloppy work. The sensationalism makes my blood boil, but there's no need to pop a fuse over such a minor effort.



4. The pacing was superb for a true crime book. There was a great buildup of the people involved in the crime that seemed to truly try to show multiple views of the killers from childhood up till the conviction, which I appreciated. The crime itself was not told in an overly explicit or gory fashion, but didn't try to hide the horrific facts. As the story moved to the courtroom, the writer didn't forget to include the family and supporting people who still had a part in the story that was important to how the victims friends and families managed to make it through. This was a great read and the author should be proud of their great job telling a tragic tale.



5. Corey Mitchell does such a fantastic job of telling the story of this heinous murder that you will cringe as if you were actually there witnessing it. After reading this book, I became obsessed with the individuals who had committed this crime and researched them on the internet. Some of them are no longer with us, their ultimate sentences carried out. One seemed to be truly remorseful and I somehow found that a little satisfying. It just made me wonder how people who commit these types of crimes can fall prey to such animal behavior. I am truly at a lost to understand that. The book doesn't provide any answers and does it's job of describing of the events as they happened in gory and precise detail. But you will definitely want to know more!

5 comments about The Darkest Night: Two Sisters, a Brutal Murder, and the Loss of Innocence in a Small Town.

1. I read so many true crime books and consider myself a true crime addict. Most are ok books but a bit boring. This books kept me enthralled. It is written with warmth and consideration of the two girls who were brutalized. I think this book is one of the best books I have read in my many years of reading true crime books. I will definately keep an eye on this author. Jacki Warren in Albany, OR



2. Loved it, prompt, fast service and notified of tracking of book.
   Would use this seller again.



3. When someone who doesn't read true crime asks me why I'm devoted to a genre made up of quickie exploitation tales about serial killers I point them in the direction of one of the classics. Like any genre true crime has bad books, good books and some that are truly great which not only transcend the genre, they ennoble it. The Darkest Night has become one of those books that I recommend to anyone who thinks true crime is a wasteland.
   
   The story itself is haunting. Two young sisters are kidnapped and thrown off the Fremont Canyon Bridge. One is killed instantly but the other survives to bring her attackers to justice. The survivor never entirely escapes that horrible night though. It must be counted among whatever small good fortune Amy Burridge and Becky Thomson could claim that Ron Franscell is the writer who told their story.
   
   Franscell is simply an excellent writer. His four page description of what it was like to grow up in Caspar Wyoming is reason enough to buy this book. The empathy and compassion with which he tells Amy and Becky's story balances perfectly with his clear, reportorial style. Somehow Franscell manages to extend his compassion to the lowlifes, Ronald Kennedy and Jerry Jenkins, responsible for the crime. He tells their story as completely and honestly as he tells of their victims. The contrast between the bleak lives that created such pathetic monsters as Kennedy and Jenkins with the ordinary and seemingly safe lives of their victims is all the more breathtaking for taking place in the same town.
   
   Easily one best true crime books of the last decade. Highly recommended to all and essential reading for true crime fans. A big thanks to Dan Bogaty for pointing me to this great book.
   
   Note: Also published as Fall: The Rape and Murder of Innocence in a Small Town.



4. (Originally published at Basil & Spice online)
   
   By Wyoming standards, the horrifying 1973 murder of 11-year-old Amy Burridge and the rape of her older half-sister still looms as a contender for crime of the century. As a subject for traditional, in-depth true-crime treatment, however, the case pales beside more complex and gruesome events. It remained a mysterious "who-dunnit?" for just eight hours and the resulting trial unfolded as a slam-dunk conviction complicated only by a half-baked, desperate attempt at an insanity plea in which the defense doctors even failed to declare the defendant insane.
   
   In the hands of Texas journalist Ron Franscell, however, this case transcends the true crime genre to become a powerful exploration of good, bad and ugly. In The Darkest Night, Franscell nails the good of the two sisters, the bad of two criminals and takes a stab at the hardest part of the literary equation: the ugly that is easy to see but hard to explain. He delivers two kinds of ugly: the tragic ugly of a girl who died twice and the pathetic ugly of her tormentor's disgusting survival. The result is a book that deserves its awards and stellar reviews.
   
   The girl who died twice was Burridge's 18-year-old sister, Becky Thomson. The two girls were kidnapped from a Casper convenience store by a pair of local punks, Jerry Jenkins and Ronald Kennedy, who took them to a spot near the Fremont Canyon Bridge. After tossing Burridge over the bridge into the North Platte River to her death 100 feet below, they raped Thomson and pitched her over the rails as well. Although Thomson survived to identify her rapists and send them to prison, she never recovered from the emotional shock of the event and committed suicide 19 years later by leaping from the bridge at the same spot.
   
   Franscell paints a stark contrast between the guilt-wracked post-crime life of Thomson as a victim and the unrepentant existence of the rapists, particularly Kennedy, who became a trusty, enjoyed conjugal visits and even penned a ludicrous, cowardly memoir accusing Thomson of stalking him. Although obviously a fairy tale about his youth as a legendary pre-teen reincarnation of both Robin Hood and Lothario in 1950s Casper, Kennedy's memoir actually sheds more light on the mental state of a psychopath than a dozen psychiatric reports could do. Franscell offers a literary MRI of Kennedy's twisted brain by summarizing the memoir while dodging the temptation for editorial pot shots. He recognizes that some jokes require no punchline. Franscell even goes the extra mile by investigating some of Kennedy's outrageous historical claims, providing a few flakes of fact that add more perspective to Kennedy's blizzard of bull.
   
   Although he now lives in Texas, Franscell is able to add another dimension to his narrative from the perspective of his past--growing up in Casper at the time of the crime. He had no direct involvement but still manages to inject a personal perspective without overreaching to give the reader an insider feel for the events. He describes the book as a memoir of his personal quest for understanding what had been an influential episode in his development.
   
   In the end, of course, Franscell finds no complete answer to the question of evil's origins. But The Darkest Night does provide an entertaining and thought-provoking portrait of his search.



5. There is no doubt whatsoever: "The Darkest Night" is one of the saddest, grimmest tales this reviewer has ever read. Set in Casper, Wyoming it deals with an horrific 1973 crime. Two girls were lured from a parking lot by a pair of quiffs who promised to help fix their flat tire. Driven to a remote canyon, both are thrown over a bridge into a canyon, one after being raped. Amy, the younger lady, is killed. Becky, the eldest, survives and "The Darkest Night" becomes her story. Becky pulls herself-somehow-out of the abyss alive! Readers may anticipate that poor Becky will survive her ordeal. One has to root for such an obviously nice and plucky young lady. Since a good review should not divulge resolutions, this one won't. But the resolution is not pretty, it fact it almost drove this reviewer to tears! This is a tough one, bordering on horrifying.
   
   Author Francell deserves credit for doing his homework. He absolutely researched this crime as well as any author before him. But, it says here, he got way too close to Mr. Kennedy, the prime perp. Far too much of the story, herein is Kennedy's and not that of Amy or Becky. Also, much of Kennedy's "biography" is fictional. It's unknown if the publisher required filler or not, but the net effect is to downgrade a rating for DN by at least a star. This reviewer has referred to the "Ann Rule Rule" is previous posts. It is absolutely in effect. The back cover reveals manifestly too much, as do the centerfold photos. Skip over those! That stated, this is first rate, heart tugging true crime. Becky is the queen of undeserving victims. A final note: Many true crime tales encompass local color into the story line. Not here! Wyoming is portrayed as a stark, brooding, dark and hostile place. That only adds to the general fog of gloom that pervades "The Darkest Night". For all the foregoing, DN is still recommended for the stout of heart.

5 comments about Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption.

1. My grown daughters and I were telling scary dreams, while my husband listened, looking bemused. Finally he spoke up, "There are a lot of bad men in your dreams..." The oldest girl was quick as ever, "That's because we're women. Men dream about monsters and things. Women have bad dreams about men."
   
   We all get it. Women have to live with men's overwhelming strength and potential for violence, including rape. It's no wonder men are the metaphor for danger in our dreams. We have an on-guard reflex toward them, and a heightened caution. Yet when a woman has been raped, she can find herself questioned by someone who is trying to prove that it was her fault.
   
   Jennifer Thompson was a petite but determined college student when she became that statistical woman. Dutifully at home with the doors locked, she woke from deepest sleep to an awful assault and a knife at her throat. With all her courage, she worked to stay calm, to find a way to survive, while a dark man forced an unbearable intimacy. She willed herself to note the details of his identity even as she looked for a chance to run.
   
   She got away with her life, barely. It was fierce anger and unrelenting fear that made her willing to undergo invasive questioning, the prospect of a trial. There was a police sketch, then some photos, and eleven days after the rape, Jennifer was facing a line-up. She felt a fresh surge of terror. If she didn't choose the right man, right then, her attacker would be released and surely find her, and this time he would kill her. She wrote a number on a piece of paper and slipped it to the detective.
   
   Number 5 was Ronald Cotton. He was only 22 years old, more interested in parties than work, and he had a record. But when he heard that the police were looking for him, he knew his own innocence. He was determined to explain his whereabouts and clear things up quickly, borrowed a car and went right to the station. But it wasn't going to be that simple. A confused misstatement and some glaring prejudice, snowballed the line-up into a conviction. Sentenced to life plus fifty years, Ron began his own struggle to survive.
   
   This is a "memoir of injustice and redemption." White and black, have and have-not, woman and man, they suffered. No justice in it. Then, after eleven years in prison, Ron was completely exonerated. He had nothing, but he was free. Jennifer, living with traumatic memories, was further devastated by guilt, and fear of his revenge. Yet despite the heavy obstacles, astonishing redemption eventually came.
   
   Now they are friends, and fellow activists for issues such as wrongful conviction, racial inequality and sexual violence. But especially, they teach forgiveness. With Erin Torneo's able assistance, as Ronald Cotton and Jennifer Thompson-Cannino turn their agonizing experience into narrative, they make something powerful and good, rather than simply tragic and lurid. Alternating their voices, they tell us what happened, and we understand how they got here. Together they offer us reason to hope--that freedom is inside us, that truth can save us, that forgiveness can release us from a nightmare.
   
   In "Picking Cotton," both a woman and a man are victims, and both are strong survivors. For me, a little parity of suffering and strength levels the field a bit, and seems more like how things really are. Maybe this book will diminish, though not exorcise, those "bad dreams about men." Maybe...
   
   by Susan Schoch
   for Story Circle Book Reviews
   reviewing books by, for, and about women



2. This book delves into the issue of faulty memories and how that leads to false conclusions and even wrongful convictions. One of the major causes of wrongful convictions is faulty eyewitness identification, which hopefully DNA testing will help alleviate somewhat.
   
   It also shows the viewpoint of the victim and the accused perpetrator, especially what each person was feeling at the time.
   In the book, a young woman by the name of Jennifer Thompson was raped by an African-American male, and she went to the Police to identify her attacker when she was later summoned by the authorities. She thought that she spotted her attacker in the picture of Ronald Cotton, and despite his insistence that she had spotted the wrong man, he ended up in prison for 9 years for sexual assault. Cotton was released due to DNA, which showed that another man assaulted Thompson (and this guy was at one time in the same prison as Cotton!) and that Cotton was correct that he didn't rape Ms. Thompson.
   
   Despite being in prison, Mr. Cotton showed no anger toward Jennifer Thompson, who had by that time married and became a mother (now going by the name of Jennifer Thompson-Cannino.) The two ended up becoming friends, and have teamed up to speak out about faulty memories and faulty eyewitness identification, and wrote the book I'm reviewing.
   
   My only gripe about the book is that I wished that had spent more time on both Cotton and Thompson-Cannino's childhoods, which could help me wonder what they had felt when they had met each other for the very first time, and as the years went on, right up to when she found out he didn't assault her back in 1984.



3. I saw an interview with Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton on "60 Minutes" about a year ago, and the concept of their book fascinated me: a white woman misidentified her rapist, sending an innocent man to prison for years. When DNA evidence exonerates him, they meet, he forgives her for her mistake, and they become close friends.
   
   The book delves into a lot more of the darker emotions on both sides: the rage and fear that dominated both Cotton's and Thompson's lives before Cotton was cleared of the crime. Both of them now speak on behalf of groups who work on behalf of inmates who insist they're innocent. Thompson-Cannino had been a proponent of the death penalty until she spoke at an event benefiting an inmate who, like Cotton, was convicted chiefly on the basis of eyewitness testimony.
   
   This book really makes you think about the fallibility of memory, and later on, about the power of forgiveness. These two people have pulled beauty out of the mess.



4. This case provides a graphic demonstration of how false convictions can be obtained based on eyewitness identifications. For a legal summary, see Convicted by Juries, Exonerated by Science: Case Studies in the Use of DNA Evidence to Establish Innocence After Trial, U.S. Department of Justice, 1996, pp. 43-44.
   
   Two white women were raped. One identified a black man named Ronald Cotton from a photo array and subsequently in a lineup. The second identified another man in the lineup. Ronald was tried for the first rape and convicted based almost exclusively on Jennifer's testimony; evidence of the result of the second lineup was excluded.
   
   The conviction was overturned on appeal on grounds that the jury should have heard about the results of the second lineup. After follow-up (coaching?), woman 2 identified Cotton also. The second trial was for both rapes, and again Ronald was convicted based on the eyewitness testimony. Evidence (account of a fellow inmate) that another inmate had spoken of committing the rapes was excluded.
   
   The attorney filing the appeal of the second conviction failed to contest the exclusion of the evidence about the other man; the conviction was upheld.
   
   In subsequent proceedings, two new attorneys in the case requested DNA testing. The results exonerated Cotton and produced a match when compared to the DNA database for violent criminals - to the other inmate who had spoken of committing the rapes.
   
   In 1995, Cotton was released after spending over a decade in prison and officially pardoned by the governor of North Carolina.
   
   The foregoing narrative is told in "Picking Cotton," which was jointly authored by the first rape victim (Jennifer Thompson-Cannino) and the defendant (Ronald Cotton), but the gripping part is not the legal action - it is the personal stories of these two people, both of whose lives were changed forever.
   
   The most remarkable part of the story is what happened afterwards, when Jennifer and Ronald reached out to each other and became fast friends. Years later, Ronald and Jennifer would be talking at a soccer tournament (children of both were participating) and one of the other moms asked, "How do y'all know each other?"
   
   I loved Ron's response: "We go way back." Maybe there is hope for the human race after all.



5. This book was a great read from beginning to end. Great read for anyone that enjoys memoirs. Demonstrates what can happen when there is true forgiveness!

5 comments about Lucky: A Memoir.

1. This book definitely needs a mature audience to handle. It describes in a lot of detail the rape of Alice Sebold and all of the court proceedings that followed. As having to deal with this in my own life, she provides gems of knowledge that really can only be learned from experiencing this type of event and it shows true genuine understanding of this problem. She really provides a lot of experiences that are personal but important because many rape victims will have to go through it (having people disbelieve her, feeling detached, changing in the eyes of others, the idea of saving herself or going unsaved). The book also proves that some rape cases can be solved in a court room but subtly reminds the reader that it usually isn't that way (with the other parts of her story) which is important to remember. I also feel that Sebold goes into details of pain that comes from rape that has nothing to do with the action, such as her relationships with others and how others sometimes just can't stand the idea of being around someone who has experienced such a terrible thing. Sebold discusses what no one really wants to; that sometimes as a society, people don't want to be near those who have suffered terrible events for some unknown reason. The only thing that I feel this book is lacking is explaining more about how she eventually healed. She mentions she did and it takes a long time for her, but the details aren't as descriptive as the beginning. I feel she discusses more the trauma than the healing (which is ironic given what she does write about in reference to the healing) however I do feel that is something maybe too personal to share so I can understand the lack of details. All in all, I feel it is a great book to help out as therapy, to help understand what it might be like, and just in all to read about what people want to forget about how life can be.



2. I was told to read this book in one of my college courses, and I never forgot how much it touched me. Unlike all the other books which had been assigned over the years, this is the one that remained on my book shelf long after I graduated. It is an inspiring book which touches your heart and helps you to understand how a person feels on their road from victim to survivor. I truly recommend reading this book...Never again will I call a person "lucky" after being attacked (read the book to understand this).



3. This book was brave and from a personal perspective it spoke to me. She was honest and not a bit of this memoir is inaccurate. It spoke to me personally, and I hope to everyone else who has been a victim of sexual assault or knows someone who has been. This type of crime does indeed shatter a person's life, and sometimes recovery takes a life time. She described her journey so well, and I am glad she was brave enough to write about it, and share her experience. Many victims of crime, especially rape and sexual assault, feel alone and unable to face what happened to them. let alone go to trial and write a book. Mrs. Sebold sets a great example for other women, and demonstrates there hope and recovery after something as traumatic as rape. I especially appreciated the information about PTSD, since I have dealt with that disorder in my own life.



4. Since I really liked "Lovely Bones", I was so excited to read another work by Alice, especially since it got such great reviews. How disappointing. There was little if any cohesiveness. The trial was the best part of the book, and after that--nothing.



5. Alice Sebold has gained much popularity with The Lovely Bones and is an excellent writer. This book is no exception. I do have concern that readers will be unprepared for the graphic nature of this book. If not prepared and given to a young reader, this will end with either lots of unanswered questions or feelings that need to be addressed very carefully. Because it is a true story, it does not come with a happy ending and a bow. It is life. Read with that in mind and if shared with young adult or teen women, discuss. Don't wait for questions, use it as launching pad for a very difficult conversation. Don't assume by the silence that someone has processed the magnitude of the subject matter. Talk. Talk. Talk again. This book will be with you for a long time.