Editorial Review

In the streets of New York City, the Slasher chooses his victim--and makes his move. As he wraps his fingers around the girl's pretty throat, his power increases. As he carves into her skin, his words become flesh. As he arranges her lifeless body in a loving tableau, his fantasies demand new, more violent sacrifices...

At first, NYPD detectives suspect a jealous boyfriend. But criminal profiler Lee Campbell senses something darker, even ritualistic, about the murder. More chilling, he's convinced he's witnessing the genesis of a full-blown serial killer. But time is running out. A new victim has been chosen. Campbell must search the most terrifying recesses of the human mind--and his own past--before the screaming starts again...

C.E. Lawrence is the byline of a New York-based suspense writer, performer, and prize-winning playwright whose previous books have been praised as "lively. . ." (Publishers Weekly); "constantly absorbing. . ." (starred Kirkus Review); and "superbly crafted prose" (Boston Herald). ... Read more

Reviews

Warning - many "fake" reviews are posted for this book
I saw all these wonderful glowing reviews for this rather pedestrian, paint-by-numbers book and I thought something smelled fishy so sure enough, when I looked closer at the "reviewers" it turns out that more than 3/4 of them appear to have been identities created solely for the purpose of writing a review for this book - feel free to check for yourself. To my eye, they are obvious fakes. I wasn't going to bother posting a review on this book because I thought it was pretty lousy and all the characters were overly typecast, but it made me mad to see all these bogus reviews so I decided to post to warn others!

Brilliantly unnerving!
"Silent Screams" puts writers like Michael Connolly to shame ... it is SO much better! Understand, you must want to read novels about serial killers, which is normally not my choice. But I've read Connolly and Dennis Lehane because I've been both an Edgar and Nero Award judge for many, many years .. and C. E. Lawrence's "Silent Screams" far surpasses everything I've read till now. Its protagonist, supposedly NYC's first police department criminal profiler, is both likable and deeply sympathetic. Even the killer, y clept, enlists a certain amount of reader sympathy or, at least, understanding ... but when the mystery and the suspense seem ready to climax, the author gives the reader a shakeup so perfectly logical that one declares -- albeit sheepishly -- "Of course!!!"

"Silent Screams" is the work of a writer with true skill in plotting and characterization. If this kind of harrowing experience is "your thing," get hold of it immediately!!!

Marvin Kaye
[...]

omg!!!
Totally cannot stop turning the pages. Beautiful detail, sense of place, rich characterizations. The suspense is understated and pervasive. The feeling of a breakthrough seems to wait around each NYC corner. I'm getting copies for everyone in my family. Best mystery I've read in years. Who is this C. E. Lawrence?

A Page Turner
Very well done thriller. I enjoyed the twist at the end. Never saw it coming. I highly recommend and I look forward to the book she is working on that will come out in 2010. ... Read more

Editorial Review

THE SECRET SERVICE. An elite team of men who share a single mission: to protect the president of the United States. On November 22, 1963, these men failed—and a country would never be the same. Now, for the first time, a member of JFK’s Secret Service detail reveals the inside story of the assassination, the weeks and days that led to it and its heartrending aftermath. This extraordinary book is a moving, intimate portrait of dedication, courage, and loss.

Drawing on the memories of his fellow agents, Jerry Blaine captures the energetic, crowd-loving young president, who banned agents from his car and often plunged into raucous crowds with little warning. He describes the careful planning that went into JFK’s Texas swing, the worries and concerns that agents, working long hours with little food or rest, had during the trip. And he describes the intensely private first lady making her first-ever political appearance with her husband, just months after losing a newborn baby.

Here are vivid scenes that could come only from inside the Kennedy detail: JFK’s last words to his tearful son when he left Washington for the last time; how a sudden change of weather led to the choice of the open-air convertible limousine that day; Mrs. Kennedy standing blood-soaked outside a Dallas hospital room; the sudden interruption of six-year-old Caroline’s long-anticipated sleepover with a friend at home; the exhausted team of agents immediately reacting to the president’s death with a shift to LBJ and other key governmental figures; the agents’ dismay at Jackie’s decision to walk openly from the White House to St. Matthew’s Cathedral at the state funeral.

Most of all, this is a look into the lives of men who devoted their entire beings to protecting the presidential family: the stress of the secrecy they kept, the emotional bonds that developed, the terrible impact on agents’ psyches and families, and their astonishment at the country’s obsession with far-fetched conspiracy theories and finger-pointing. A book fifty years in coming, The Kennedy Detail is a portrait of incredible camaraderie and incredible heartbreak—a true, must-read story of heroism in its most complex and human form.

Reviews

Well written and gives one a feeling as the person of JFK
This book is exceptionally well written, easy to read. Additionally it gives you a lot of information as to the insider workings of the secret service detail during those early 1960s era. The book also has many stories of SS agents interacting with the president and his quips, his human side, which frankly I was unaware of. I really like this book!!!

At Last The Truth!
Gerald Blaine has finally done the country right by providing the truth about what happened and led up that fatal day in Dallas nearly fifty years ago. In doing so, he has put to rest all the weird conspiracy theories that have sprung up and infiltrated the public's perception of what happened, particularly with younger people. The truth is that the Secret Service was a close knit band of agents, more like a brotherhood, dedicated to protecting President Kennedy, whom they greatly admired, as well as his family.
Imagine with the casket on Air Force One, being guarded by the Secret Service, with the Irish Mafia present, Dr. Burkley, General McHugh, as well as Mrs. Kennedy, that the body is spirited away within seconds just before it was unloaded to the vehicle that had pulled up beside the plane. All for what? To alter the wounds to show that there was second gunman? With all those people around it no one could have done it period. When will these conspiracy folks give up!
News Flash! It was Oswald and Oswald alone. Hard to believe that a loser such as him killed our beloved President but the circunstances that day added up to a perfect storm for him. Forget Oliver Stone et al. By the movie JFK he has done a gross misservice to the country whereas Blaine with his book had done the opposite!
For a sheer great read with many new incidents and facts that are brought to light Gerald Blaine, ably assited by Lisa McCubbin, takes the reader on a fantastic voyage of truth. Finally!

The Kennedy Detail
A very interesting read. Considering then and now the USSS has probably changed a lot. The men of the Kennedy Detail need to be proud of their work and the support they received from their families. I enjoyed the book very much and felt like I was getting a real insider's view and not the opinion of some conspiracy theorist or some self proclaimed USSS expert. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Reviews

A Valuable History, September 28, 2009
When HBO wanted to develop a crime series with the unenviable task of following "The Sopranos," they turned to Martin Scorsese to produce it. The great director chose to base the show on a history book by Nelson Johnson, BOARDWALK EMPIRE, first published in 2002 and now re-released in paperback. The cable drama, starring Steve Buscemi, is shooting this fall in New York and will air next year, with Scorsese directing the pilot.

When people hear the name "Atlantic City," they most likely think of gambling and casinos. But probably not many know that it was the birthplace of the American Mafia. On the Boardwalk today is a picture of a smiling Big Al Capone in a snazzy one-piece bathing suit on one of its historical markers. Few cities can boast of that. In just 30 years of the 19th century, Atlantic City went from being a 10-mile strip of sand dunes to a city based entirely upon two things: tourism and vice.

Nelson Johnson, a New Jersey politician and judge, decided to write the hidden history of Atlantic City; the result is this fascinating and meticulously researched book. Decades-long visitors to the resort like myself, as well as first-time travelers, will find it a good read. He based BOARDWALK EMPIRE on an amazing fact. For the first 70 years of the 20th century, Atlantic City was controlled by just three political bosses who were also, for lack of a better term, gangsters: Louis "the Commodore" Kuehnle, Enoch "Nucky" Johnson (no relation to the author) and Frank "Hap" Farley.

We have often heard of how gangsters historically corrupt elected officials and the police with bribes and payoffs. Atlantic City was different, though, because the gangsters and the Republican Party was one and the same organization. Atlantic City was a one-party city for decades. And here's the really odd thing: the vast majority of the public did not seem to mind because the Republican ward system was effective not only in turning out votes, but also in meeting the needs of the people. Nucky fed the poor. Eventually, the corrupt Republican leaders of the city would dominate and control the entire state of New Jersey.

Johnson takes us back to the earliest days of the resort, when it was filled with more flies and mosquitoes than people. A local doctor named Jonathan Pitney wanted to make some money, so he thought of creating a "health" resort on Abescon Island in the middle of the 19th century. Resorts of any kind were unheard of then, but Cape May, New Jersey, became the nation's first, catering to rich people. By 1870, a rail line linked Philadelphia, the nearest metropolitan area, to the island; Pitney's dream came true, just not the way he expected it.

Atlantic City became the first resort that viewed working class people, mostly from Philly in need of a little diversion after a six-day work week in the factories, as vacationers. The booming resort sought to give the workers what they wanted, which could be summed up in three words: booze, gambling and sex. Atlantic City was born.

The only business on the tiny island was tourism, and the cardinal rule was that the tourists had to go home happy so they would return with their cash the following season. Johnson quotes a local man who said it best: "If the people who came to town had wanted Bible readings, we'd have given 'em that. But nobody ever asked for Bible readings. They wanted booze, broads and gambling, so that's what we gave 'em."

By the 1890s, a Philadelphia newspaper identified 100 brothels on the island, but the cops looked the other way. As long as the payoffs were made to the local Republican machine, racketeers could operate in the open, which is amazing considering that this was Victorian America. Hookers and illegal casinos, and selling booze on Sundays (also unlawful at the time), were vital parts of the town's economy. When a reformist governor threatened to send the state militia in to clean up Atlantic City, boss "Commodore" Kuehnle reassured the local merchants. Johnson writes, "...If the governor did send down the militia, then Kuehnle would have the local whores greet them at the station."

Finally, a way to end war! Of course the militia never arrived, but then America went totally insane after World War I and passed the 19th Amendment prohibiting alcohol. This ushered in the glory years of Atlantic City, which already had seen the rise of huge Beaux Art and architecturally beautiful hotels that lined the Boardwalk like giant sand castles. "Prohibition didn't happen in Atlantic City," according to one expert. There was no need for speakeasies, booze was sold openly, and the famous beach became a major trafficking route for East Coast contraband.

At this time, Atlantic City was ruled by its most flamboyant "decadent monarch" in the person of Enoch "Nucky" Johnson. The author writes, "In his prime, he strode the Boardwalk in evening clothes complete with spats, patent leather shoes, a walking stick, and a red carnation in his lapel. Nucky rode around town in a chauffer-driven, powder blue Rolls Royce limousine...had a retinue of servants to satisfy his every want, and an untaxed income of more than $500,000 a year." He was also a virtual underboss of the Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel New York crime family, the founding fathers of the Mafia. When, in May 1929, organized crime groups from around the country decided to meet to create a nationwide "syndicate" and divide up the turf, there was no question where they were going to hold their meeting. Atlantic City was a wide-open town for gangsters, and Nucky was the perfect host, both gracious and generous.

The repeal of Prohibition and the changing American leisure and travel patterns after World War II sent Atlantic City into a long period of decline. And in reading these pages, Johnson's narrative achieves a bit of a wistful feel. I was reminded of the great Louis Malle 1980 film, Atlantic City, which captured perfectly that time. Burt Lancaster's character says at one point, "You should have seen the Atlantic Ocean back then." But still, the graft, corruption and one-party rule continued unabated until 1971, by which time the once famous resort had nearly become a crumbling ruin.

Johnson takes his history straight through the battle to pass legalized gambling in Atlantic City during the late 1970s and the early decades of the casinos. He is firm in his belief that not only did gambling save the resort from certain death, but it has the potential to make Atlantic City great again. Some might argue this, pointing out that the resort might have been built on a vice, but it is still depending upon a vice to survive. Legalized gambling has hardly been the panacea that proponents promised. Some of the meanest streets of America in terms of poverty can be found just blocks from the casinos. And at night, hookers, another part of the resort's heritage, ply their trades on those sometimes dangerous streets, often within sight of the glittering neon casinos.

Modern-day Atlantic City is filled with ironies like that and ghosts galore. Existing like an afterthought within the shadow of a huge casino tower is the Ritz Hotel, now a condo, which was once the most exclusive spot on the Boardwalk. Nucky, who at one time ruled Atlantic City from the entire ninth floor of the Ritz, would be happy to see the huge casino next door, but extremely disappointed that he was not getting his share of the take.

Nelson Johnson has written a valuable history in BOARDWALK EMPIRE. Reading this book will be good background until we find out what Steve Buscemi does with the role of Nucky Johnson.

--- Reviewed by Tom Callahan

Killer Read!, September 30, 2002
Extremely solid research---the author says it took twenty years, and that is apparent. Johnson tells it all---from salacious anecdote (what the Reading Public demands!) to scholarly relating of broader historical movements to Atlantic City's unique and amazing (some might say "weird") story. So well written, it reads like a novel. From "The Commodore" to "The Donald", Johnson particularly excells at character description. Absolutely brilliant---Highest Recommendation.

NO GAMBLE, January 15, 2003
I have been interested in this most amazing city for about 30 years now. I thought that I had nothing else to learn about the city until I read Boardwalk Empire. Thank you Mr. Johnson for bringing a lot of new information to light in a most enjoyable fashion. Once started, it was hard to put this excellent book to rest. I highly recommend this book to anyone remotely interested in urban America. This book is a sure thing.

A Shore Bet, May 28, 2003
I am pleased to be the first reader from Atlantic City to review this book. It goes without saying that it was of special interest to me. Throughout my life I have met several of the key figures in this book, so it was fascinating to learn more about their lives.

I enjoyed reading this book very much and would recommend it to anyone interested in Atlantic City. It was well written and researched. Nelson Johnson repeats facts when they become relative to another incident. This makes it much easier to keep track of the players and how one event or person influences another years later.

Johnson helps local residents understand why a unique racial tension still exists in this small northern city. This may not be apparent to readers unfamiliar with the area.

If I were to change anything about this book, it would be the last few pages. It ends with Nelson Johnson giving his opinion on the future of Atlantic City and how it can avoid its mistakes of the past. It is my feeling that this possibly belonged in a separate conclusion but not as the ending to the last chapter.

History buffs and political junkies will love this book.

Boardwalk Empire: A Classic, May 15, 2010
This is an absolutely wonderful book. It starts from the very beginnings of Atlantic City from when it was just an empty sand pit of an island to almost the present day. The style of writing is very colorful and the characters are facinating. I am really looking foward to the author''s future books and the HBO series based on his book. I would definitely recommend that people read this book, especially if you live in the area, as I have and if yu really want to understand why Atlantic City was and has developed the way it has. The book is very well researched and contains many sources of information for anyone who wants to do further investigations. I really hope that the people who currently run Atlantic City and the people in the casino industry read this book.

Excellent Read!, October 21, 2010
I actually bought the book after watching the first episode of "Boardwalk Empire." The previews for the series intrigued me and after watching the premiere, I wanted to know more. I love how this book was well researched and written. I live about 15 miles from Atlantic City, so this historical account is really fascinating to me. I recommend this book to anyone interested in history, crime, or the television series!

Great Read and A Breath of Fresh Air, August 22, 2007
We've all read books outlining the history and politics of such places as Las Vegas, New York and Hollywood. This book takes on a topic that is very rarely given any attention, the birth and life (and seedy underbelly) of Atlantic City.

I first visited AC when I was a boy in the late 1960's. My mother (now 85) always regaled me with stories of how glamorous AC was when she was growing up. I could never reconcile that image of the city with the one I saw, that of stark urban decay on the one side and the gleaming casinos on the other. The book lays it all out, from the earliest days to the politics that brought gambling to the east coast.

I read the book on a one week vacation in Brigantine Beach, the beach town right next to AC. I found the book in a beach house that my father-in-law had rented and read it in about 3 days. I found it fascinating. It is strange to say of this type of book that I couldn't put it down but it was virtually the case.

The book has it all, history corruption, politics, do-gooders, sex/affairs, the mob, entertainment, bootlegging etc., etc.

I was not aware that the book was being considered as the basis for an HBO series but I will be sure to watch it if it materializes. Read the book, you'll like it.

Boardwalk Empire, December 26, 2002
Nelson Johnson's account of Atlantic City reflects his long and intense twenty-years of research. His "heroes and villains," quite often the same person informs readers that in Atlantic City all that glitters was not gold, but gold-plated. The racketeers and politicians all tended to land on their feet even when faced with the "law" as it was at that time. The book is fact-filled, concise, and tells the true story of how A.C. became casino city. Mister Johnson accompishes this without boring the reader. It is well-paced and worth reaing.

The facts behind the "as based on" HBO series, September 28, 2010
The writer of the HBO series, Terence Winter (who also wrote the foreword for this edition of the book), was recently interviewed on public radio and explained how and why the HBO show deviates from many of the facts in the book "Boardwalk Empire." Last names were sometimes changed and certain information had to be imagined or created in order to allow the plot to veer away from the events in the book.

None of this takes away from the entertainment value of the series but potential buyers of this book will get an added perspective and accurate historical detail."Boardwalk Empire" is an excellent way to round out the very entertaining cable television series.

The book primarily covers the years from 1920-1970. Not surprisingly, Terence Winter (again, writer of the HBO series) also wrote many episodes of The Sopranos and director Martin Scorcese steps to the helm and directs the first and possibly many more episodes of the cable show ( but guest directors aren't uncommon for cable series). In the show, Steve Buscemi plays Nucky but Winter has admitted that James Gandolfini would have fit the actual body type and appearance of Nucky.

But back to the book "Boardwalk Empire."From prohibition to prostitution, the book doesn't pull any punches and is a detailed and accurate recreation of the history of Atlantic City. Nucky Johnson is shown as a strictly matter of fact business man. He provides what people want, primarily alcohol, gambling and sex. But if the public had wanted other things Nucky would simply have gone with public sentiment. His choices were based on what brought him the most profit -and it was as simple as that, although being in power was not so simple.

Having seen the first episodes of the series, I am able to compare both the book and television show. I'd urge you to buy the book. It made me yearn to visit Atlantic City in its heyday. Women dressed in their finest outfits before strolling on the actual boardwalk. I'd love to have revisited that time - if only to understand the thrills that drew people to Atlantic City.

Since I've now seen the series, it is impossible to write about "Boardwalk Empire" without comparing it to the film version. I have to admit that the HBO show recreates Atlantic City's mixture of people and often weird attractions, from side shows to palm readers - and it does make a difference seeing and hearing the combination of sights, sounds and dialogue.

"Boardwalk Empire" reveals how the area was a place where families came, with children enjoying themselves by day and adults venturing off to enjoy other pursuits at night. You won't get a truly balanced historical take on Atlantic City without reading the book and the series should motivate viewers to want to learn more about the history of Atlantic series. Reading "Boardwalk Empire" is well worth the time.

Boardwalk Empire, August 28, 2010
This was what not what I expected...it was so much better...it has everything.Great history...I learned a great deal about the history of Atlantic City and how the Empire was built....When I was told it was going to be turned into a HBO Series...I ordered HBO just for this show...I picked up the book and was hooked did not put it down until I had read the 1st 4 chapters and it was 3am & I needed to go to sleep..the 1st page hooked me when a wife of a man who had gambled all of the family paycheck the night before in a gambling house and went to see Mr. Johnson who said he would take care of the problem...it just got better as I read...If you loved the Sopranos you will love this even more...I also read some of the other "Sister" books about N.J. he has written...I recommend this book to anyone who loves to read some history and facts in a enjoyable way...I enjoyed this book so much & now look forward to the HBO series. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Bringing Chicago circa 1893 to vivid life, Erik Larson's spellbinding bestseller intertwines the true tale of two men--the brilliant architect behind the legendary 1893 World's Fair, striving to secure America’s place in the world; and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Erik Larson has crafted a narrative with all the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction. ... Read more

Reviews

An Entertaining and Informative Read, April 27, 2004
Erik Larson does a bang-up job of conveying what life must have been like in the "Second City" as the 19th century drew to its fitful conclusion. Bristling at the constant reminder of New York City's superiority in so many areas, Chicago's city fathers rallied the troops and went all out in proving to New Yorkers, to the nation and to the world that Chicago was equal to the great challenge of mounting a World Exposition of truly monumental stature. Larson's descriptions of the Herculean effort put forth by numerous architects, builders, politicians, etc. lead the reader to a true appreciation of these "can do," spirited individuals.

Yet beneath the teeming activity and a short distance away from the gleaming white Pleasure Palaces of the Fair, there stood a building of a different sort entirely, inhabited by one of the most vicious, truly evil creatures the young nation ever produced. Larson does an adequate, but not great job of telling the darker story surrounding H H Holmes, the mesmeric Svengali whose brilliant blue eyes and engaging charm seduced at least a score (one estimate was up to 200, which the author disputes) unfortunate women. Unlike Jack the Ripper, to whom he was later likened, he didn't limit himself to female victims. Business partners who had outworn their usefulness and several children were amongst his prey, as well. He just had a penchant for murder.

The sections on the construction of the Columbia Exposition are filled with fascinating anecdotes, ranging from the origins of the sobriquet "windy city (derisively coined by Charles Anderson Dana, Editor of The New York Sun)" to the dramatic entrance of Annie Oakley, barreling in on horseback and blazing away with her two six-shooters in Buffalo Bill Cody's Western Show adjacent to the Fair Grounds. Larson also provides an interesting side story surrounding Patrick Predergast, a delusional political aspirant who turns assassin. He paints a compelling portrait of Fredrick Law Olmstead, American History's premier landscape architect who took up the almost impossible task of designing and overseeing the Exposition's parks and lagoons. The hero of the book, however, is Daniel Hudson Burnham, who was ultimately responsible for the lion's share of the planning, construction and smooth running of the entire enterprise. He had a little over two years from the time Congress selected Chicago from a list of candidate cities that included Saint Louis and New York, to the day of the Expo's official opening. That he got the job done within the alloted time is one of the great marvels in an age of marvels, especially given the myriad difficulties which he and his crew had to overcome.

The Holmes narractive appears a bit lackluster in comparison to the story of the Fair's construction. Larson acknowledges the difficulty he faced in recreating Holmes' vicious crimes via imaginary vignettes. He states in an afterword that he went back and read Capote's IN COLD BLOOD for the technique in which Capote so brilliantly engaged in his imaginative reconstruction of events. The only problem with this approach is that Capote had access to and the confidence of the two killers that are at the center of IN COLD BLOOD. Larson had only newspaper accounts from the period as well as a very unreliable journal that Holmes wrote after he was tried and sentenced to death (he was hanged several months after the trial). It would appear that Larson goes a bit too far out of his way to avoid the lurid and sensationalitic aspects of Holmes' killing spree. One has only to visit some of the numerous web sites devoted to Holmes to see that Larson is particularly reticent to discuss Holmes' sexual deviance. This is understandable, as Larson wants to be taken seriously as an historian, yet the facts are out there (most of them well documented) so it wouldn't have hurt to have included a bit more of the darker details. The book could also have used more illustrations. The Chicago Tribune, at the time the story first broke in 1894, included a detailed floor plan of the "Chamber of Horrors" Holmes built on the corner of Sixty-Third and Wallace in the Englewood section of Chicago. That illustration would have given the reader a better sense of the bizarre layout of the structure. More pictures of the Exposition would have also been helpful. Here again, there are several sites on the web devoted to the Columbia Exposition that have many pages of great photographs.

The books virtues far outweigh its shortcomings and I have no problem in recommending THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY to anyone interested in US History, Chicago Architecture, or just a well told story.

BEK

Unspeakable Wonders and Startling Evil, February 11, 2003
Larson has created the first must-read nonfiction title of the year, an assured and satisfying work which vividly portrays the one of the last grand gasps of the nineteenth century, the World's Fair of 1893.
Daniel Hudson Burnham, architect and overseer of the fair, builds the White City itself, while Henry H. Holmes is the titular devil, a charismatic young doctor with blood-curdling obsessions. The British of the period may have dealt with Jack the Ripper, but our ever-expanding country weaned its own monster, whose house of horrors stood in the shadows of the great architectural triumphs of the Fair.
This compelling book moves with the relentlessness of the greatest novels of our time. The supporting cast includes such luminaries as Edison, Archduke Ferdinand, Buffalo Bill, and Susan B. Anthony; the ill-fated Titanic even makes an appearance in the books opening pages.
Larson's evocative prose fully engulfs the viewer in the period, and the dark and dreadful scenes with Henry H. Holmes are given welcome respite by the tales of Burnham's amazing accomplishment. The enjoyment of this stunning work is only heightened by the knowledge that the story is true.

Fabulous Historical True Crime Saga, March 16, 2003
Author Erik Larson had set the bar pretty high for himself after his previous book, "Issac's Storm," was such a huge critical and commericial success. Surely, he couldn't top that, could he? Well, with "The Devil in the White City," Larson has produced a book at least the equal of, if not better than, his previous effort. As a work of history, this book has it all. It resurrects for the modern reader the memory of an all-too-forgotten historical event (the 1893 Chicago World's Fair) and combines it with the sensational and gruesome story of the firt American equivalent of Jack The Ripper.

The book is structured as a dual biography of Daniel Hudson Burnham, the steadfast architecht who was the prime mover in making the World's Fair an astounding succes; and of Dr. H.H. Holmes, the diabolical psychopath who operated his own killing chamber in a hotel he built not far from the fairgrounds. The two men never met, nor did they have any connection other than their contemporary existance, but weaving their stories together was a brilliant choice by Larson.

Larson provies plenty of colorful backdrop for his main story, vividly describing harsh life in 19th Century Chicago; the development of the first skyscrapers, the Charles Dickens-like ambiance of the streets and the colorful personalities that made it go. He also describes the amazing and lasting impact the Fair had upon America, the The Ferris Wheel, Cracker Jack and Shredded Wheat being but a few of the things that debuted there. And, of course, he graphically describes the Holmes murders and the investigation that finally brought him to justice. Larson is a diligent researcher in addition to being an excellent storyteller, and that's what makes this book so special.

Overall, an outstanding work of narrative history that is like to be high on most reviewer's lists of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2003.

The White City and the Dark Side, March 21, 2004
This is an easy and enticing read, full of gritty and gossipy details that are presented in a style that keeps the reader interested. I was intrigued by the astounding feat of effort that it took to prepare and present the Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1893 and Larson does a good job of introducing us to the men who made it happen -- all led by the talented and tireless architect Daniel Burnham. The cast of characters with whom Burnham worked reads like a Who's Who of culture and design in the 19th Century.
The reader also comes to learn a good deal about the city of Chicago at that time -- how it so desperately wanted to refine its image from that of a grimy city known primarily as a hog-slaughterer into a cultural oasis and how it self-consciously but determidly sought world-class status, competing with New York and Paris to make the Big Time.

The enormous success of the White City was due in large part to that gutsy determination and much hard work. And this book explains that very well. At the same time, it really piqued my interest to the extent that I have done some additional research into this World's Fair.

Larson parallels Burnham's story with that of Herman Mudgett, alias Dr. H.H. Holmes, the first notorious serial killer in the United States. Holmes, a charming, fast-talking and handsome con artist, was able to swindle, steal and lie his way into and out of many schemes that a less clever person could have never even imagined, much less succeeded at. He was also a cold-blooded killer who had no qualms about killing women and children as well as men. He ran a hotel and apartments in Chicago during the Fair and attracted tenants and victims there with the Fair's help. Holmes' story is chilling but also fascinating. Again, he is someone I'd like to know more about.

Having said all that, I realize that the things I enjoyed about the book were also weaknesses. There is so much going on that I'd have appreciated either more focus on one area or a great deal more focus on the whole picture. The book just left me wanting to know more, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I just wish the paralell stories would have had more of a connection. I wish there had been more illustrations. I wanted more detail about the legacy of the Fair on the City of Chicago.

All in all, though, this was a fascinating story and one I could not put down. Be forewarned though, if you enjoy the story, this book will not be enough for you. You'll want to read more. Fortunately, there is an excellent bibliography at the end, as well as extensive notes and a thorough index. (...)

A fascinating trip through time, February 19, 2003
Not a perfect book, but extremely well done.

This well-researched book is so entrancing at times that you feel like you've gone back in time when you read it. The contrast of Chicago as it was before the fair...you can almost smell the dirty city. Once the exposition opens, you find yourself sensing what it must have been like for people of that era to experience some of the marvels of science (such as widespread use of electric lights) being displayed for the first time. You sense the wonder of people seeing the world's first ferris wheel. All in all, a fun book to read (especially if you know little about the Columbian Exposition).

The gore of the murders was kept to a thankful minimum; readers who are expected a chilling nonfiction murder mystery will be disappointed however.

More pictures would have been nice. Reading descriptions of the buildings and sites is one thing; seeing what they really looked like is quite another.

A Haunting Journey of Heights & Depths, October 14, 2003
A good, fast read - especially for Gilded Age buffs like me, but certainly not limited to us. Larson weaves the fascinating story of the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition with the dastardly doings of a psychopathic fiend. Odd combination, but effective. We are transported in time to the excessive age of enormous wealth and grinding poverty - the "White City" of the Exposition and the dark, demonic "Castle" of Dr. H.H. Holmes. Surprisingly, it turns out the odyssey of Exposition head architect Daniel Burnham and the fascinating characters surrounding him are often more compelling than the blue-eyed, charming devil himself.

There are on the one hand, the leading architects of the East, hesitant about committing their sturdy reputations to the city of meatpackers - Olmstead, McKim, Hunt, St. Gaudens. And later the mystery engineer whose feat rivals the Paris Exposition's great Eiffel Tower. On the other hand, the `Chicago' characters, sketched in sharp relief, even those appearing for brief moments at the Fair - sage architect Louis Sullivan and the budding Frank Lloyd Wright; immensely popular Mayor Harrison; white-clad, white-haired Buffalo Bill; the `dancer' Little Egypt; pygmies and giants from Africa; President Cleveland, "immense in black...[he] touched the gold key" that set the massive fair in motion; Archduke Francis Ferdinand, whose taste ran to Chicago's high-class brothels, not the exhibitions; the eccentric Spanish Infanta Eulalia, munching on German sausages; haughty Mrs. Potter Palmer, always diamond-drenched and offended; the insane assassin Prendergast; a (temporarily) deathly ill Mark Twain -- even professor Woodrow Wilson makes an appearance, and the surprises continue.

But the star of the Chicago Fair was Burnham and his heroic/dictatorial reign over the incredible creations of the White City (Larson's description of the dimensions and details of the Fair are an absolute must-read). Holmes' story is appropriately secondary to the Fair's larger-than-life drama. But it is indispensable to the vast human drama of America/Chicago in 1893. The all-consuming drive of the national energy, technology, and most of all, money, accounted for both the soaring dreams of a future America embodied in the (short-lived) neo-classical enlightenment of the White City, and the evil soul of humanity laid bare by the dreams' very creation. A haunting book, with some flaws (a little less speculation & more photos needed), but well worth the journey from the heights to the depths.

the things you never learn in history class, February 19, 2003
....are just the things that might have gotten more people interested in history! I was born and raised in the Chicago area, and while I went on all the usual public school field trips, and certainly knew a little about the 1893 fair, I realize after coming across this book and seeing the recent PBS documentary "Chicago:City of the Century" that I was taught only the least interesting bits. I'm not trying to say this is gospel as history goes, but it may be close enough, and it has certainly awakened my interest in learning more-the way to get anyone interested in a subject is to sucker them in without making them aware of it. It may well be that the lurid story of the innkeeper from hell is what initially attracts, but the reader will find themselves fascinated by many stories before the last page is turned. The only thing that keeps me from adding the last star is wishing there were more illustrations of the Exposition itself, and a more easily readable map of the Chicago of that time for reference, but those are small considerations when you find a learning experience wrapped in an enthralling story. So...have any of you Hollywood types optioned this yet-or are you all asleep????

Two stories, neither fully told, April 14, 2003
This book tells two stories that intertwine around the fabulous Chicago World's fair of 1893. One story concerns itself with the monumental challenge the actual construction of the fair presented to the various architects, engineers, and landscape artists involved in the event. The other story tells the tale of murderer H.H. Holmes, who constructed a large hotel near the fair to accommodate the young, female tourists needing a room for the event. Holmes, in fact, had constructed a murder factory, complete with gas chambers, crematorium, and chemical decomposition facilities. There is a third story which makes brief appearances as well: the story of Patrick Prendergast, the sad lunatic that stalked and killed Chicago Mayor Carter Harrison just as the fair was wrapping up.

This is an extremely ambitious book. Too ambitious. For me, the story of the architects and the trails in constructing the fair was fascinating and more than sufficient to carry the book. I had no idea the fair of 1893 was so towering an undertaking. They basically built a city within a city, complete with fire and police departments, municipal workers, and political offices - all built on earth that was, in essence, a quicksand-like foundation that had no real bedrock. The stresses and ultimate successes of this side of the story are captivating and incredible.

The anecdotal stories about the fair make wonderful reading, my favorite being the story of George Ferris and his incredible Ferris Wheel, which was built to outshine the Eiffel Tower, introduced at the Paris fair a few years earlier (which it did in spades).

The Book fell flat for me whenever the author undertook to tell the story of H.H. Holmes, the handsome, smooth con man who many call the first serial killer in American history. In the book, these episodes feel unfocused and hasty. Particularly rushed and episodic was the description of Holmes' pursuit and eventual conviction by Pinkerton Detective, Frank Geyer. When reading these portions of the book, I felt myself whishing the author had dedicated a book just to this aspect of his tale. Mr. Larson has sensed the great story that lies in wait for the telling, but hasn't given himself the space or time to tell it well.

Read it for the magnificent, melancholy story of the engineers, artists and architects, whose ultimate triumph came at such sad, personal costs. For all the men involved in this project, it seems to have sapped the very strength right out of their lives.

Perfectly paced and constructed., February 16, 2003
I downloaded this book from Audible.com and listened as I did some work in my studio. What strikes me most about this book is the detailed research that went into the parallel story about the Chicago World's Fair and how it's woven around the story of the murders. Pleasant surprises are abound as little by little you get a sense of history based on the historical figures present and they are revealed very thoughtfully.
I would like to write more although I don't want to spoil the tale. But I can say that a chilling picture is painted with this book, made even more so as it goes on in the background of the preperation and construction of the World's Fair. It's like looking into a crowded room and reading the mind of the one insane individual mingling with the rest of society--and put into great and interesting historical context.

Mystery and History, April 12, 2003
The Devil in the White City seems like a funny name for a book. The White City is the Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1892 to honor the 400th anniversary of Columbus's discovery of America. It was called White City because the major exhibition buildings were painted white. To contrast this Herman Mudgett who called himself H H Holmes after the famous fictional detective was the devil. He was a mass murderer with 9 documented killings and likely many more.
This book brings to life both events that have mostly been forgotten now but were very important at the time. The book is both interesting and entertaining and kept me reading late into the night. The murders were described with detail but not any of the gore that might turn a reader off. The building and execution of the fair was also detailed but was informative without a dry and textbook sound. Even though this book reads like fiction it has been well researched and contains many direct quotes from letters and articles of the times.
One of the best parts of this book was to come away with a real feel of how it was to live in a large city in the 1900's. That alone was worth the price of the book. ... Read more

Editorial Review

The first victim is attacked in her home. Tied to her bed. Forced to watch every unspeakable act of cruelty--but unable to scream. The second murder is even more twisted. Signed, sealed, and delivered with a message for the police, stuffed in the victim's throat. A fractured nursery rhyme that ends with a warning: "There will be more." For detective Jack Murphy, it's more than a threat. It's a personal invitation to play. And no one plays rougher than Jack. Especially when the killer's pawns are the people he loves...

"A must-read, can't-put-down adventure."--John Lutz

"A jaw-dropping thriller."--Gregg Olsen

"A tornado of drama."--Shane Gericke

"As authentic and scary as thrillers get." –Nelson DeMille ... Read more

Reviews

You will stop reading only to periodically ensure that the doors are locked and that your children are safely tucked away, November 15, 2010
Rick Reed is more than a former police detective who has written a novel about serial murders. He is a former police detective who investigated a group of serial killings and brought the perpetrator to justice. That would be enough to establish his bona fides regarding his subject matter. Add to the mix the fact that he can write remarkably well, and you have a winner of a debut novel.

Reed is not new to the publishing game; his true-crime book BLOOD TRAIL, about the series of murders that he investigated and solved, was published to critical acclaim in 2005. THE CRUELEST CUT, his first foray into fiction, demonstrates that he is extremely adept at mixing imagination with the real world, creating a work that you will stop reading only to periodically ensure that the doors are locked and that your children are safely tucked away.

Jack Murphy is the focal point of the book, a detective who not only is in charge of an investigation of a chain of seemingly unconnected murders, but also is the target of them. The slayings cut across sex and age, and while they appear to be carefully and calculatingly planned, they are carried out in rage and hatred. Among the few clues left at the scenes are a series of rhymes that bear a chilling similarity to the Mother Goose verse that so many children learn at their mother's knee. They are soon dubbed the "Mother Goose murders" by an attention-hungry reporter, which gives the killers some additional publicity and makes the police's job even more difficult.

Murphy and his partner, a wise-cracking but loyal cop named Liddell Blanchard, have more than just the murders of innocent citizens with which to contend. A series of political maneuvers by a power-hungry administrator in their own department threatens to derail their investigation by pulling Murphy off the case, and possibly the force for good. This is the last thing the perps want to see happen. As the Mother Goose murders continue with frightening rapidity and increasingly violent methodology, Murphy resumes the investigation on his own and with the de facto assistance of the department. He and the culprits steadily head toward their final destiny, which will draw the people who Murphy loves most into the line of fire as well.

Be forewarned: Reed is a master of describing graphic violence. Some of the crime scenes here will chill you to the bone. At the same time, he skillfully describes the ins and outs of relationships and emotions. Murphy does some interesting balancing between his ex-wife, who is an elementary school teacher, and his semi-significant other, a parole officer with a tie to the murders. Not everything ends up quite the way one might expect in THE CRUELEST CUT, so there are just enough loose ends dangling to keep readers waiting for the follow-up, which will be released in 2011. Additionally, Murphy is a strong character, with enough personality quirks and problems to maintain the series all by his lonesome for as long as Reed wants to continue it.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Dull, unoriginal, December 7, 2010
Every single female character was cliche and one-dimensional. There's the ex-wife that wants her husband back, the perfect blonde who's good at everything and has a high sex-drive, the reporter who will do anything to get a story (including sleep around), etc. I didn't find any other characters likable either. The author's attempt at humor was ridiculous. The ending was anticlimactic. There were so many things about this book that I didn't like, I just had to read through it because once I start a book I don't want to stop.

Worth the read, November 30, 2010
This thriller by Rick Reed was a bit drawn out but it was fast paced and the action keeps on going. The killer in the story is really sick and Im glade the author does not go into the gory details. I would say that I would read another Rick Reed book.

Not worth the time, November 19, 2010
What a shame the author couldn't do some basic research. The Ohio River does not enter the Mississippi above St. Louis. St. Louis isn't downriver from Louisville. St. Louis isn't on the Ohio River period. A good basic map would have helped here prevent such glaring errors. Don't waste your money. At Free on Kindle it was a waste of time. ... Read more

Editorial Review

A wife is murdered in a brutal, bloody knife attack at her rural Harrisburg, Pa., home. Almost immediately, her sleeping husband is a prime suspect. Meanwhile, a truck driver-turned serial killer is roaming the interstates for more female victims, and no one is tracking his bloody trail.

Journalist John Luciew takes you inside the bungled Pennsylvania State Police investigation and traces each tortured step in a three-year journey to justice with a compelling and revealing nonfiction narrative account that reads like a novella.

You’ll step into the shoes of the accused husband, who quickly goes from distraught victim to prime suspect. And you will be inside the police interrogation room for his 11-hour grilling.

You’ll see the bloody trail of evidence police overlooked as a budding serial killer who despises women continues to prowl quiet neighborhoods in close proximity to busy truck stops and bustling interstates.

You will follow the seemingly random path of the masked, black-clothed killer as he roams suburban developments during late-night “human hunts.” An unlocked door or an open-air patio can be the difference between life and death.

This murder machine has no motive other than to kill women. Even more chilling, there’s no rhyme or reason to his attacks -- other than the anonymous interstates connecting his crimes. Before he’s finished, the trail of death and assault hop scotches from Pennsylvania to New Jersey to Massachusetts.

Meanwhile, oblivious police in Pennsylvania are fixated on a motive. Who else but family would know that a wife would be on her patio at 2 a.m.? All signs point to her husband. A grand jury is convened. Subpoenas are issued. Homicide charges could be imminent.

The clock is ticking in a real-life drama of life and death, freedom and imprisonment.

How many women must suffer under a serial killer’s knife before he is stopped? How far will police push an innocent man? Who will piece together the murderous truth?

John Luciew unravels this riveting true story and displays the bravo journalism and sharp eye for facts that have fueled his ripped-from-the-headlines fictional thrillers KILL THE STORY, ZERO TOLERANCE, SECRETS OF THE DEAD and FATAL DEAD LINES.

Only this time, his chilling account of actual events will leave you wondering whether it could happen to you.

Also included are two long-form narrative nonfiction pieces on life inside Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice system. This journalism directly influenced and informed Luciew's juvenile justice-themed thriller, ZERO TOLERANCE. See how with an extended excerpt of Zero Tolerance, also included, that shows how the facts inspired the fiction.

This nonfiction Kindle book contains approx. 22,000 words. ... Read more

Reviews

not worth what I paid for it, December 17, 2010
I wasted my $$$$ on this - maybe I didn't get all of the story but if I can read it in an hour then there wasn't much to it

Excellent Value, October 19, 2010
This book moved quickly and keeps one guessing. It is a great value at the low price in the Mystery category.Suspect/Victim

True crime that reads like a thriller!, August 3, 2010
A wife is murdered in a brutal, bloody knife attack at her rural Harrisburg, Pa., home. Almost immediately, her sleeping husband is a prime suspect. Meanwhile, a truck driver-turned serial killer is roaming the interstates for more female victims, and no one is tracking his bloody trail.

Journalist John Luciew takes you inside the bungled Pennsylvania State Police investigation and traces each tortured step in a three-year journey for justice in a compelling and revealing nonfiction narrative account that reads like a novella.

You'll step into the shoes of the accused husband, who quickly goes from distraught victim to prime suspect. And you will be inside the police interrogation room for his 11-hour grilling.

You'll see the bloody trail of evidence police overlooked as a budding serial killer who despises women continues to prowl quiet neighborhoods in close proximity to busy truck stops and bustling interstates.

You will follow the seemingly random path of the black-clothed killer as he roams suburban developments during late-night "human hunts." An unlocked door or an open-air patio can be the difference between life and death.

This murder machine has no motive other than to kill woman. Even more chilling, there's no rhyme or reason to his attacks -- other than the anonymous interstates connecting his crimes. Before he's finished, the trail of death and assault hop scotches from Pennsylvania to New Jersey to Massachusetts.

Meanwhile, oblivious police in Pennsylvania are fixated on a motive. Who else but family would know that a wife would be on her patio at 2 a.m.? All signs point to her husband. A grand jury is convened. Subpoenas are issued. Homicide charges could be imminent.

The clock is ticking in a real-life drama of life and death and freedom and imprisonment.

How many women must suffer under a serial killer's knife before he is stopped? How far will police push an innocent man? Who will piece together the murderous truth?

John Luciew unravels this riveting true story and displays the bravo journalism and sharp eye for facts that have fueled his ripped-from-the-headlines fictional thrillers KILL THE STORY, ZERO TOLERANCE, SECRETS OF THE DEAD and FATAL DEAD LINES.

Only this time, his chilling account of actual events will leave you wondering whether it could happen to you.

Plus, special bonus material!
Also included are two long-form narrative nonfiction pieces on life inside Pennsylvania's juvenile justice system. This journalism directly influenced and informed my juvenile justice-themed thriller, ZERO TOLERANCE. See how with an extended excerpt of Zero Tolerance, also included, that shows how the facts inspired the fiction.

This nonfiction Kindle book contains approx. 22,000 words.
Zero Tolerance
Kill The Story
Secrets of the Dead
Fatal Dead Lines
... Read more

Editorial Review

MARK APPLETON FACES HIS WORST NIGHTMARE AS HE HUNTS A KILLER, BUT LITTLE DOES HE KNOW THAT HE IS THE ONE BEING HUNTED.


KIRK WESTON IS A DETECTIVE WITH THE DETROIT POLICE DEPARTMENT. HIS LIFE, ALTHOUGH NOT GOING AS PLANNED FINDS HIMSELF INVESTIGATING A MYSTERIOUS GROUP KNOWN ONLY AS THE WJA. JUST WHEN HE IS ABOUT TO MAKE A BREAKTHROUGH ON THE CASE SOMETHING TERRIBLE GOES WRONG…HE FINDS EXACTLY WHO HE IS LOOKING FOR!

... Read more

Reviews

Sweet Dreams, August 20, 2010
I loved this book. I had downloaded his first book Dreams my accident. I thought that I was getting James Patterson and just started reading and loved the book. So when I finished the first book I went on to this the 2nd and it was just as good as the first. He is very much like James Patterson one of my favorite writers. I didn't want to put the book down, there was always something going on. The characters are great you feel you know them and like them. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes James Patterson or books like his. I can't wait for the next book to come out.

Great Read!, November 24, 2009
I loved this book and thought that the storyline was imaginative and creative.Just when you thought you had the story figured out a new twist sent you on an new and exciting adventure. SWEET DREAMS (1st)

impressed with this writing, May 19, 2010
This was an exciting book - I could hardly put it down. Some places could have used some more development, I was confused in some places and it took me a little time figuring out where we were in the story. Adding the details of how the storyline came about would have been useful and would have made the book a little longer to enjoy.

Amazing Read, May 4, 2010
This is the second book of Aaron's I have read and I have to say he is a very talented writer!!! I read this book in under 12 hrs, it was so good I couldn't put it down. He managed to surprise me with a twist that I did not expect!! It is filled with suspense and keeps you guessing throughout. I will be suggesting this book to everyone I know in hopes of creating more fans for Patterson!! I just bought Dream On and can't wait to start the adventure again!!

Such a great book!, October 18, 2010
I bought this book by accident, thinking I was getting an incredible deal on a James Patterson book. I literally had trouble putting this book down. It is one that keeps the reader on their toes. Just when you think you've got it all figured out, it all changes. Such an incredible book. If you're looking for a book that will keep you up all night saying, "Just one more chapter..." then this is the book for you. And at such a low price, how can you not get this one? I highly recommend this book! It's one that you will want to read numerous times.

What an amazing book., November 18, 2010
I was looking at James Patterson books and one that caught my interest took me by surprise because it was written by "Aaron Patterson". I read the reviews and thought, why not. So I purchased it and it sat in my Kindle until one day I decided to start.

Wow, 2 days, that's all it took. I couldn't put it down. If you like intrigue, suspense, an unbelievable plot, action, drama, you name it. What an imagination and what a wonderful book, well written. Highly recommended. I am on my way to buy "Dream On" and it won't sit in the Kindle. I'll be starting it the moment it downloads.

Happy reading everyone. A note to Aaron Patterson, PLEASE KEEP THEM COMING. I'm definitely a fan.

Sweet Dreams, February 14, 2010
Sweet Dreams was a book I read in 2 days. I truly enjoyed the read. It kept me wanting to know more. I'm looking forward to Part 2 of the WJA Trilogy!

Sweet Dreams, October 7, 2010
Really loved this book.
I do wonder if the misspellings are the author's
or a problem with publishing. Example: "the sun was shinning..."
Good story. I didn't want to put it down.

Sweet Dreams book, September 26, 2010
What a great book. Could not put it down. Its was downloaded into my new Kindle. Love it.....

Great story telling!, August 5, 2010
This book keeps you on the edge of your seat. A great beginning for his series. And Aaron's next book gets even better. Keep up the awesome writing! ... Read more

Editorial Review

In the early 1960's a bloody civil war broke out between the two powerful Irish Mob families in the Somerville Massachusetts neighborhood known as Winter Hill. Over sixty men were murdered, including the leader of the Winter Hill Gang, James "Buddy" McLean. The leadership of one of the most influential non-Italian crime organizations in the United States was inherited by his childhood friend, Howard T. "Howie" Winter.In CITIZEN SOMERVILLE the events during his tenure offer a true picture of an era in Boston's pre-Whitey Bulger history when the streets were protected by a close-knit group of Irish-Italian "businessmen." The son of one of Winter's closest friends, BOBBY MARTINI has laid his own history bare to depict a life of survival in the rough streets of Somerville, stopping just short of entering the Mob life. The death of Martini's two brothers as well as the murders and suicides of scores of others reveal the darker personal side of a small New England town. CITIZEN SOMERVILLE slices a layer deeper than a crime memoir by allowing a usually ostracized faction to speak - the women. After decades of silence, three strong and very different females lift the Mob veil and voice their own struggle to survive in Somerville's criminal circle.Often painfully poignant and yet frequently hilarious, CITIZEN SOMERVILLE is a microscopic view of a generation struggling to walk the moral tightrope between societal decency and the loyalty of criminality. THE BOSTON HERALD'S Laura Raposa writes..."Stories of Howie Winter and his lieutenants are legendary in Boston, but 'Citizen Somerville' brings them back to life with a bonus: the stories behind the stories. The underworld dramas in the Boston burg have made headlines for decades, but we've never heard from the supporting cast, namely the women and children. Their tales make for an eye-opening, fascinating read." ... Read more

Reviews

Riveting!, November 18, 2010
You know when the feeling you get caught up in a newspaper or magazine article that you know is based on fact, but then drift off into another place where it becomes too fantastic to be true? That's the feeling I got reading Citizen Somerville. But guess what? It's all true, and it's a damn good read. Bobby Martini and Elayne Keratisis have transported us into another world, not just another underworld,either, but a world filled with demons and devils, angels and horrors, heros and saints. Real stuff, here. Gritty, but shot full of the raw emotion lurking in any city in any town USA. But this town is special. It's got secrets.
Get this book, set yourself up in a nice chair with a good light and be prepared to stay there transfixed until you hit the last page.

Powerful, November 21, 2010
Bought this book after hearing bestselling crime writer, Sam Millar recommending it on BBC radio. He was right when he said it was a terrific read, and one that will become a classic over the years. Powerful. Highly recommended to all lovers of great crime stories.

Citizen Somerville: Growing up with the Winter Hill Gang, December 3, 2010
I laughed and I cried, it was so refreshing to find a truthful version of the calamity that visited this burg in the '60s thru present day. The character development was poignant, real people that jump off the pages 'right in your face'. I was reminded so much of how fragile life is. I particularly enjoyed the proof positive of how nonsensical and brutal the male/female ego is....a fact that still permeates our modern day psyche whether it be bar fights, gay bashing, bullying. etc., etc. It flows easily and is a quick read. I even catch myself reading excerpts to those unaware of both these fine authors' work. BRAVO.

Riveting Portrait Of A Complicated Culture - I Couldn't Put This Down, November 28, 2010
I am not a fan of Mob stories and so this is not a book I'd buy if not for the recommendation of a friend who kept insisting CITIZEN SOMERVILLE was a Boston family chronicle and the stories of the women were so compelling that I should give it a try. Since my family was originally from Boston and the culture is very interesting to me, I considered it but didn't want to read a salacious tale glorifying the gangster life. The friend finally wore me down and I'm very glad she did. When I started the book, I was expecting chapter after chapter of detailed braggadocio about crimes and killing with brittle Mafia wives teasing big hair in the background. I was nowhere close!

CITIZEN SOMERVILLE really is a book about families (and not just The Family). The authors showed to readers all sides of a difficult, complicated culture existing right next door to law abiding citizens in a small town. What moved me were the chapters devoted to the women showcasing a mobster's wife, daughter and widow. The wife of mobster Howie Winter makes no bones about how the government almost killed her husband and Brian Halloran's widow's retelling of his murder by Whitey Bulger and how it changed the course of her life forever was riveting. Each of them spoke in their own words about the pain they've managed to survive. In my opinion, the book is gritty and compelling. The characters are definitely authentic and the stories are not only historically correct but a combination of sadness and hilarity as co-author Martini takes readers through decades of living with the Winter Hill Gang. I really enjoyed this book.

Best book I have read in a Long....Long time!!!, December 3, 2010
Citizen Somerville is simply the best book I have read in a long..... long time.
The book and its author are authentic in every sense of the word. The characters are real. Some of them actually come back to life as you flip the pages. It certainly answered many questions I have always asked about Howie Winter and the Winter Hill Gang but never managed to get a straight answer. It also cleared up bad publicity for many good men that called Somerville their home. While reading this book, I struggled to fulfill my daily obligations as I found it almost impossible to put this masterpiece down for any amount of time. I have many friends that want to borrow the book. I say "Buy your own copy you cheap bastards" I'm gonna read it again!!

Gripping read, November 22, 2010
As a resident of Somerville and a history fanatic, it seemed a no-brainer to buy this book. I'm glad I did. I couldn't put it down. The writing moves and the tale, told from first-hand accounts, including that of the elusive Howie Winter, is absolutely priceless. Thanks to the authors for telling a human story, which was sometimes harsh, sometimes funny, always honest, and surprisingly sad. I personally found this book fascinating because the world I occupy as a "citizen Somerville" is very different from the world described here, where the after effects of the Irish Wars still resonate for some of my neighbors. The read served as a reminder of the many layers of human experience where two people may inhabit the same time and space and whether by fate or choice have two very different lives and that, of course, is not confined to Somerville. A highly recommended read for historians, true crime fans, those who enjoy biographies and memoirs and frankly, any one who enjoys a good read.

Stand UP Guys and Gals, December 4, 2010
Let the truth be heard from a couple of Great Guys and Gals .Howie Winter is a gentleman and also a STAND UP GUY, Bobby also. This book tells it right from the "horses mouth".
All the other books I read were to much about bravado,this book touches true emotion.And I want to thank all that gave their time to it for us. I can only imagine how they felt putting their personnal lives out there for all to see.Very touching to me because I was friends with them. Good Luck Bobby, Howie and the rest of you.Thankyou again...

Hitting Home, November 28, 2010
This is an honest, no holds barred true story told by the man who lived it. If you want to know the truth, not the Hollywood version, or the version from the guys looking to make a couple bucks by writing a book, then read this book. Thanks, again to Bobby and EK for putting all out there and going through what you went through to get it out there.

Compelling read!, December 12, 2010
As an avid true crime reader, fan of mob literature and a Boston native, I was sure I had read just about everything on Boston mobsters. I felt I had heard all the stories and knew all the characters. From page one I knew Citizen Somerville was different, more than your average run of the mill wise guy confessional. This is the human side of the gangster tale; the wives, kids, fathers and loving friends. The relationships will stay with you, Mr. Martini and Ms Keratsis did an outstanding job bringing realness and humanity off the pages. I look forward to reading more from these authors.

Simply Fantastic, Could'nt put it down.., December 5, 2010
Excellent read, couldnt put this book down, Just ask my husband, read it in like 3 days. Yes that good... And I'm sure he will be reading it again, since he can't stop talking about it... A Must Have.... ... Read more

Editorial Review

Jon Krakauer’s literary reputation rests on insightful chronicles of lives conducted at the outer limits. He now shifts his focus from extremes of physical adventure to extremes of religious belief within our own borders, taking readers inside isolated American communities where some 40,000 Mormon Fundamentalists still practice polygamy. Defying both civil authorities and the Mormon establishment in Salt Lake City, the renegade leaders of these Taliban-like theocracies are zealots who answer only to God.

At the core of Krakauer’s book are brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty, who insist they received a commandment from God to kill a blameless woman and her baby girl. Beginning with a meticulously researched account of this appalling double murder, Krakauer constructs a multi-layered, bone-chilling narrative of messianic delusion, polygamy, savage violence, and unyielding faith. Along the way he uncovers a shadowy offshoot of America’s fastest growing religion, and raises provocative questions about the nature of religious belief. ... Read more

Reviews

Faith and Murder, July 15, 2003
"I was doing God's will, which is not a crime." - Dan Lafferty

The above quote is from a man who brutally murdered his fifteen month-old niece and her 24 year-old mother in their home while his younger brother was at work. Lafferty's older brother Ron convinced him to commit the crime by claiming that God had spoken to him and instructed that it should be that way. Both men were born and raised Mormons, but turned to radical Mormon fundamentalism as adults. Through their horrific story and the history of the Mormon church in genral, author Jon Krakauer examines the larger issue of how relgion leads some people to commit unspeakable acts.

"Under the Banner of Heaven" is not an anti-Mormon diatribe, as anyone who has actually read it can attest. Krakauer, who had such a massive success with "Into Thin Air," should be applauded for taking a risk following up that work with a potentially controversial project well outside his area of expertise. Part travelog and part history, "Under the Banner of Heaven" is a very unique true crime book as the various narrative threads are wound together by the author. The simple yet forceful narrative style that made Krakauer's Everest such compelling reading are very much evident here.

Overall, "Under the Banner of Heaven" is an outstanding true crime book that raises some disturbing theological questions.

Brilliant synthesis of history, religion, and abuse, September 25, 2003
Jon Krakauer admits he has become obsessed with extremes. It takes one form of extremism to go on an Everest climb, as he shows with "Into Thin Air." Now he returns to the West of his youth. Yet this is not the book he planned to write. Krakauer admits he wanted to describe how today's LDS Church, with their clean-cut, do-good approach, is at odds with its founding history.

Instead, he decided to write about fundamentalist Mormons. While the LDS Church declared polygamy illegal in 1890, it took time for the practice to end in the official church. Those who would not accept the changes continued polygamy, with groups moving to Mexico and Canada. And there are those who continue this practice today. Krakauer is determined to understand how this came to be. In order to do this, he must retell the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints.

While polygamy is no longer accepted by the current LDS authorities, the average Mormon seems less inclined to stamp it out. Krakauer shows several cases of gung-go district attorneys who go after polygamous families, and how these white knights are subsequently removed from office in the next election. He introduces us to small towns where everything and everyone in it answers to one man, the head of the Fundamentalist LDS church (FLDS). All property is owned by their church's corporation. And the girls are married by age 14. Krakauer finds many of them married to men who are already related to them, and at least a generation older. Women are seen as transferrable property, with marriages cancelled should any church member run afoul of the church leader.

And remember Elizabeth Smart? Here was a case of a modern Mormon family running into another FLDS wanna-be. Krakauer contrasts her case with another 14-year-old, a FLDS community member, who was hidden in another FLDS community when her sister tried to rescue her from an early marriage she didn't want. The difference between the media treatment of the two kidnap victims is horrifying.

All this is merely background for a shocking murder case, where two LDS members who moved toward FLDS decided to kill their sister-in-law for being a bad influence, and her two-year-old as well. Both men insisted they were acting on revelations from God. Krakauer turns this into the Court's unease with discussions of religious belief and sanity.

The negative reviews of this book appear to come from LDS members who are unhappy with Krakauer's history of their church. It's a pity they missed his important points on the danger of revealed religion (where anyone can justify anything), or the welfare fraud committed by FLDS communities (subsequent wives declare themselves single parents and don't identify the father, while living in a trailer in his backyard), or the uneasy relationship between mainline Mormons and latter-day polygamists. It's a shame they are unwilling to look at their own church's rapidly mutating scriptures, where Krakauer shows how doctrinal racism was not removed from church teachings until the 1970s. One might ask how many of them actually read the book rather than took the advice of their stake president to publicly condemn it.

Read it for yourself, then let us know. It is a fascinating, disturbing, insightful, and important book.

Not Anti-Mormon...just Intelligent, September 25, 2003
This is an extraordinary book, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Though the Mormon Church has expressed it's hostility toward the book, as with all ostriches, they are simply sticking their head in the sand and asking the rest of us to follow suit. Thank goodness for people outside the Church who look in, and tell us what they see.

This is not an anti-mormon book, and the fact that Latter-day Saints and their leaders are so worked up about it seems to me to be a recognition that Krakauer is hitting pretty close to home. Ironically, he handles the modern LDS church with kid gloves, and is very careful to make the distinction between the Mormon Fundamentalits and the Mormons themselves. However, and this is the point that should be lost on no one, both churches hail from the same "common ancestors," and have evolved rather organically from those early prophets, most importantly Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and John Taylor. At the time of Wilford Woodruff the world saw a split, and those familiar with the paradigms of biological evolution will recognize exactly what was going on. Today we see two radically different organizations with radically different messages...but they came from the same place.

Here's another juicy item that must drive the Church nuts. The fundamentalists are perfectly justified in their position on polygamy, extreme patriarchy and racism. After all, if those were the "revealed word of God" back in the early days of the church, then who are the modern day leaders to deny that word of God today? Just because wicked governments :-) refuse to cooperate should be no reason to back away from the most important points of doctrine. If it was good enough for Daniel to not back down (resulting in being cast into the lions den) then it should be good enough for modern prophets to not back down, either. (Okay, it's pretty darn important for me to state that I'm simply pointing out the fundamentalist argument, not my own opinion...)

At the end of the book you are treated to the prosecution team's argument that religious thinking is NOT insane, even it is, on the face, irrational. Any religious person should be moved, not disturbed, by the thoughtful arguments made by the prosecution's witnesses, many of whom were Mormon.

There are those who review this book who claim that the history is all wrong because it isn't always consistent with the "faithful history" that Elder Boyd K. Packer et al promote, and which is often the only history Mormons are familiar. Krakauer has consumed a great deal of history, and has drawn some really important conclusions. To throw out his book as "inacurate" because of a few minor disagreements on interpretation of facts would be like throwing out the quantum theory because we can't actually "see" a quark. The viewer, or the reader, interprets what they see or read and comes to rational conclusions based on their assessment. I want to read what other people DECIDE ON THEIR OWN after doing the research, not the same, tired old stories that have been approved and fed to the sheep year after year after year. I 've read a ton of Church history, and nothing that Krakauer said raised any red flags for me. But if there is a mistake in his "facts" somewhere (and if it's there, it's tiny), then it is still immaterial. The conclusions that the reader draws as they read how religious zeal CAN lead the faithful far, far astray is dead-on, pun intended.

This is an excellent, excellent book, and no one, Mormon or otherwise, should be "afraid" to read it, or afraid to consider what the implications might be.

The persecution complex abides . . ., August 5, 2003
The vocal, unfavorable response to this book by many LDS people (I exclude the LDS Church, which had a pretty fair response) is unfortunate. What this reaction reveals is that as a people we continue to be very thin-skinned when it comes to any hint of an unfavorable review. In short, we have a persecution complex.

LDS people would do well to remember that there are other groups out there (Catholics, for one) with far more serious press issues who are dealing with these problems with far more honesty and grace.

The previous reviewers are correct about some of this book's faults. It does have some errors of fact, but to be fair, it does a far better job than most non-LDS examinations of this kind. Krakauer has a fair grasp of LDS history and culture. A faux-pas like calling Mark E. Peterson a prophet should not be grounds for dismissing the book altogether.

One must also remember that Krakauer is examining people who belong to the fringe of Mormon culture and placing them in the context of Mormon history. Though he should have been more careful about distinguishing between members of the LDS church and so called "fundamentalist Mormons" (this is, after all, a name taken from the name of one polygamist group), many LDS readers react as though he aimed criticism at the contemporary LDS Church.

Were I about to read this book for the first time, I would treat it as a "true crime" story that benefits from better than average writing and interesting (though somewhat sensationalist) historical treatment. The book is not history; it is a poignant reminder that religious fanaticism, be it Muslim (Usama bin Laden), Christian (David Koresh), or Mormon (Lafferty brothers), is potentially, and sometimes actually, deadly.

BY THEIR ACTS YOU SHALL KNOW THEM, August 5, 2003
Two books have recently been published about cold blooded murder in Utah and figuring prominently in both is the LDS church -- the Mormons. The more publicized is Jon Krakauer's UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN. It is about recent (1984) murders and the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart committed by individual members of Mormon Fundamentalist sects that exist in southern Utah,Arizona and elsewhere. Krakauer says they may number 100,000. They have been excommunicated by LDS authorities for polygamy and other deviation, but claim to be following the original teachings of church founder Joseph Smith. Sally Denton writes in AMERICAN MASSACRE about the near annihilation of the Fancher-Baker wagon train at Mountain Meadows in southern Utah on 9/11/1857. That barbarous act, the slaughter of 120 defenseless men, women and children, according to Denton, may have been authorized by church leaders and was certainly carried out by Mormons who believed they had official sanction for their acts.

The two authors exhibit contrasting strengths as writers. Krakauer is the better prose stylist, but Denton has put together a more cohesive book. Krakauer succeeded in getting members of the Fundamentalist Mormon community (including the muderous Laffertys)to talk freely. He gives the reader an intimate, unspairing view of the crime and the criminals -- as Mailer did in THE EXECUTIONER'S SONG. The story of Smart's kidnapping gives the book a torn-from-the-headlines timliness. Krakauer uses the two contemporary incidents as a springboard to examine the LDS church's historical record of violence. He admits readily in interviews that he relied heavily on secondary sources (like historian D Michael Quinn) for his depiction of the historical aspects of Mormonism. Denton has done far more original historical research for her book: from reading diaries and oral histories in Arkansas (where the Fancher expedition originated) to combing through the National Archives, US Army records, and those of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. She reconstructs the trial of John D Lee, the only man convicted of the atrocity, from court records, his diaries, and contemporary newspaper accounts. Denton provide chapter notes and an extensive bibliography to support her scholarship.

I recommend reading both books. At a time when Islamic religious extremism is on everyone's mind, we need to be reminded that the United States has produced and is producing its share of dangerous zealots. Krakauer refers to the Fundamentalist polygamists of southern Utah as "the American Taliban". In AMERICAN MASSACRE one can find the roots of the religious fanaticism that bears bitter fruit in UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN.

Read it between the lines..., November 3, 2003
Hmmmm...have some of these harsh critics actually read the book?

I knew nothing about Mormonism before I read this story. But by the last hundred pages, I was thinking very emphatically to myself that Mr. Krakauer took GREAT PAINS to emphasize that the devil here were these two murderers, neither the Mormon religion itself nor even fundamentalist Mormons (although the latter are portrayed as being less blameless).

I did not pick up this book intending to come away with a comprehensive history of Mormonism. I did not pick up this book intending to read a true crime story.

No, contrary to some "misled" individuals who claim to have read this book, I picked up this book intending to read EXACTLY WHAT IT SAYS ON THE FRONT COVER, Einsteins. It states right on the cover, and I directly quote:

"On July 24, 1984, a woman and her infant daughter were murdered by two brothers who believed they were ordered to kill by God. The roots of their crime lie deep in the history of an American religion practiced by millions..."

What does this sentence mean to you? It doesn't say, "The Evils of the LDS Church" or "...two Mormon brothers..." For anyone reading those critiques that so harshly pan the book because it "wasn't what they expected," please read the quote that I have written here, and then tell me what you expect to read. I promise you that what you read into that quote is what you will get when you read this. These brothers' roots were indeed in LDS...that does not mean that LDS is wicked, and I never once saw it that way, even without any prior conceptions about LDS.

And as for you critics who think that Mr. Krakauer is biased because he is agnostic, I find it hard to believe that you could forgive him his well-researched and well-balanced, conscientious manuscript, no matter WHAT his spiritual values. If he was Jewish, you'd find something "biased" about that. And ditto if he was Lutheran, Catholic, or Mormon himself. No matter what religion he was, because he's writing about religion, you'd say he was biased.

Of course, the only "unbiased" person is the completely ignorant one. Everyone who learns something has an opinion about it. I dare any critic to tell me otherwise. But as far as this book is concerned, Mr. Krakauer has taken the utmost care to make the condemnation of this crime of which he writes as narrow and as specific as possible.

Mr. Krakauer points out to us time and time again that these are resentful, looney-tunes, fundamentalist, ex-communicated-Mormon brothers who murdered their sister-in-law. So unless you are a resentful, looney-tunes, fundamentalist, ex-communicated-Mormon brother who wants to murder their sister-in-law, know in advance that this book does not set out to offend you.

Read it to learn, not to judge, and ye shall be the wiser.

Very Good Storytelling, September 24, 2003
To me, the key to a good book, fiction or non-fiction, is whether it is told well.

Jon Krakauer is a gifted storyteller, and "Under The Banner Of Heaven" is a very well told story.

In addition to covering the 1984 murder of a woman and her child by self-proclaimed Mormon Fundamentalists (acting, as they claim, on a mission from God), Krakauer takes the time and patience to cover some of the history of the Morman religion. He interweaves historic events with the contemporary storyline and gives a kind of insight not common to a "True Crime" story.

For those wondering, Krakauer takes great care to explicitly draw the line between Mormons and Mormon Fundamentalists. This is a critical point in the book.

I had no information about the Mormon religion or its history and found this book engaging and very well written.

It's a good read, and thats what books are all about. I recommend this book to all.

Fascinating and discomfiting, July 23, 2003
It's intriguing to read the reviews of those who paint Krakauer's book as misguided or poorly researched. This book is a well-written, well-documented overview of the current Mormon and Fundamentalist Mormon faith. He beautifully relays the history of the Mormon church, and then explains the schism(s) that have erupted, resulting in various sects of Fundamental Mormonism.

This book wasn't written with the purpose of bashing Mormons; rather, it illustrates the bastardization of any religion that comes about when twisted minds utilize the religion to justify all their actions (ever heard of the Crusades?). To read about Dan Lafferty (a self-described Fundamentalist Mormon who beat his wife) guiltlessly explaining that God had told him to murder his sister-in-law and 15-month old niece is shattering. How can anyone reason with a nut like that?

If you wish to stretch your mind, learn a great deal, and recognize that America's religious roots aren't nearly as flawless as most like to believe, then this is a great book. If you prefer to wallow in ignorant bliss, leave it on the shelf.

All-American Extremism, October 4, 2003
In this contentious book Jon Krakauer takes aim at Mormon Fundamentalism, an often bizarre and extreme belief system that has led to much bloodshed right here in America. We have our religious fanatics and extremists too. Critics will accuse Krakauer of belittling the Mormon faith altogether, possibly out of personal spite. At times he gets uncomfortably close to doing just that, especially when describing the order's history. For example, he contends that Joseph Smith concocted the infamous plural marriage (polygamy) doctrine as a divinely ordained excuse to cheat on his first wife, and subsequent "true believers" have spread all sorts of suffering in order to uphold what is basically a religious red herring. The evidence is pretty strong but will surely lead to controversy. Also, in his historical study Krakauer doesn't always succeed in separating the extremists from mainstream Mormons, although making that distinction in the present is the main point of the book. But aside from that underlying difficulty, Krakauer certainly focuses on modern extremists, as the Mormon faith is especially prone to increasingly extreme factions who are not afraid to spread murder and mayhem in the name of their peculiar belief system, including the polygamy doctrine. All of this leads to the case of the Lafferty brothers who claim that their brutal murder of a young mother and her baby, within their extended family, was justified by their religious beliefs and commanded by God himself. While Krakauer can't always stay impartial about the basic Mormon belief system, he does illustrate how religious extremism truly works, with spectacular and terrifying results. This is possible in any religion and any society. [~doomsdayer520~]

Required reading for every American--and every Mormon, September 10, 2003
As an individual raised in the Mormon church who was repeatedly exposed to various Fundamentalist groups operating in and out of the mainstream LDS church I found this book to be invaluable and deeply vindicating.

Mormons are wonderful people with a strong and deep committment to the universal ideals of Christianity. However, they are often reluctant to be self-critical, especially about the more controversial aspects of our history.

The reason Fundamentalist groups have continuously splintered from the mainstream LDS church is the simple fact (as beautifully illustrated by Krakauer) that the modern LDS church bears little resemblance to it's radical, theocratic and chaotic origins. This fact should be embraced and celebrated by mainstream Mormons, not rejected and villified.

The mainstream church was wise and prescient to change it's position on many of the controversial teachings of it's early leaders. Just as most modern Christian faiths have done to balance their responsibility to society and the spiritual needs of it's members.

The goal of the Fundamentalists is to return the mainstream church to it's less than noble roots. This is why they are successful at recruiting otherwise devout Saints into their ranks. They preach a twisted, politicized, radical doctrine which (contrary to the vehement protestations of Mormons) are entirely consistent with many of the less-known but nevertheless regretably true ideas of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young and others.

It is this literalist interpretation, along with the mindset that all things must remain unchanged no matter how much society and the role of the church has changed, that breeds Fundamentalism.

If Mormons want to rid themselves of these parasites and malcontents, they need to come to terms with the realities of early Church history and the necessary evolution of the faith from those early years.

Just as devout Muslims have watched in horror as their faith has been infested and bastardized by Fundamentalist parasites who would return Islam to the decadence of some of it's early leaders, Mormons must recognize that these groups are trying to do the same with their beloved Church.

Just as Christian Terrorists like The Army of God have done it to other Protestant Faiths.

Its time to recognize Fundamentalism for what it is. Part of that realization is recognizing the ugly aspects of our past and present.

Fundamentalism has no place in Mormonism nor any other religious faith. It is an afront that must be vigorously opposed and clearly identified. That cannot happen if Mormons continue to refuse to recognize scandals of the past nor the coddling of such groups in the present.

Even as we speak, I know young men and women in the mainstream Chruch who are being preyed upon by Fundamentalist groups. This is not fiction, it is a dire warning to be heeded. ... Read more

Editorial Review

FROM TRUE-CRIME LEGEND ANN RULE comes this riveting story of a young woman whose life ended too soon—and a determined mother’s eleven-year crusade to clear her daughter’s name.

It was nine days before Christmas 1998, and thirty-two-year-old Ronda Reynolds was getting ready to travel from Seattle to Spokane to visit her mother and brother and grandmother before the holidays. Ronda’s second marriage was dissolving after less than a year, her career as a pioneering female Washington State Trooper had ended, but she was optimistic about starting over again. "I’m actually looking forward to getting on with my life," she told her mother earlier the night before. "I just need a few days with you guys." Barb Thompson, Ronda’s mother, who had met her daughter’s second husband only once before, was just happy that Ronda was coming home.

At 6:20 that morning, Ron Reynolds called 911 and told the dispatcher his wife was dead. She had committed suicide, he said, although he hadn’t heard the gunshot and he didn’t know if she had a pulse. EMTs arrived, detectives arrived, the coroner’s deputy arrived, and a postmortem was conducted. Lewis County Coroner Terry Wilson, who neither visited the death scene nor attended the autopsy, declared the manner of Ronda’s death as "undetermined." Over the next eleven years, Coroner Wilson would change that manner of death from "undetermined" to "suicide," back to "undetermined"—and then back to "suicide" again.

But Barb Thompson never for one moment believed her daughter committed suicide. Neither did Detective Jerry Berry or ballistics expert Marty Hayes or attorney Royce Ferguson or dozens of Ronda’s friends. For eleven grueling years, through the ups and downs of the legal system and its endless delays, these people and others helped Barb Thompson fight to strike that painful word from her daughter’s death certificate.

On November 9, 2009, a precedent-setting hearing was held to determine whether Coroner Wilson’s office had been derelict in its duty in investigating the death of Ronda Reynolds. Veteran true-crime writer Ann Rule was present at that hearing, hoping to unbraid the tangled strands of conflicting statements and mishandled evidence and present all sides of this haunting case and to determine, perhaps, what happened to Ronda Reynolds, in the chill still of that tragic December night. ... Read more

Reviews

Disappointing, October 31, 2010
I have been an avid reader of Ann Rule's books since I was a teenager. I would eagerly await her new releases and rush out to the bookstore (or, later, the internet) to purchase them the day they were released. As much as I hate to say it, this book is a big disappointment. Not only is it sub-par for an Ann Rule novel, but it is sub-par for true crime novels in general. My impression having just finished this book is that she became emotionally invested in this case and developed a close personal relationship with the victim's (or alleged victim's, I suppose) mother. Perhaps her relationship clouded her judgment and Ms. Rule lost sight of what makes her novels so great (which begins with a compelling story and her well-written and unbiased telling of that story). While it is clear that the story told in this book is compelling, it really is not worthy of carrying an entire novel on its own. It would have been better-suited for one of Ms. Rule's 'short story' volumes. If you are a fan of true crime, and in particular of Ann Rule, this book will likely be a disappointment.

SO disappointing!, October 25, 2010
Well. First I must mention that I love Ann rule's books. She is a superb true crime writer. But this one deeply disappointed me---I couldn't wait to read it, but there is no suspense since we know at the outset that Rhonda is killed and no one knows who did it. Lot of speculation but no satisfying outcome. This book is really about Rhonda's mother. OK, Ms. Rule thinks Rhonda and her Mom are FABULOUS people. That is probably true but not enough to write an entire book about---something Ms. Rule is passionate about is not necessarily something readers will care about.

Disappointing, October 24, 2010
I have always been an Ann Rule fan and have all of her books. In my estimation, she's the best true crime writer. However, this book was a disappointment. It's a case in which nothing is resolved, except a mother's sucess in removing suicide from her daughter's death certificate. I found it rather dull, reading an entire book on this subject. I don't read true crime for the "blood & guts" but like to be able to get into the mind of the killer. I also enjoy the legal aspect, trials etc. This book has neither.

In The Still Of The Night, November 14, 2010
Ann Rule is one of my most favorite authors of true crime. This story is spellbinding to me because I know the coroner involved and am from Lewis County Washington. I have been following the case regarding Ronda Reynolds since she was first killed. It is pretty plain to see it was not a suicide like the coroner has put on the death certificate. I'm so glad her mom has been fighting for justice. I do not see how Ron Reynolds can be the elementary principal in Toledo after reading this book. Ann Rule puts all the pieces together and I hope that someone comes forward with the truth and collects the $30,000 reward and the killer is free no longer.

Very disappointing read!, October 31, 2010
Let me start by stating that I am a devoted Ann Rule fan that has read all of her books and this is my first disappointment. This is by far NOT the best of Ann's books. Somewhat tired tale of homicide disguised as suicide, with typical cast of characters ... jerk/weird soon-to-be exhusband, hateful step kids, incompetent small town police and victim's devoted mother fighting for justice. Not particularly original or interesting plot or characters. I only continued reading/skimming to the end just to learn "who did it" otherwise I would have put it aside unfinished. But alas, the worst thing about the book is that it leaves the reader hanging with absolutely no resolution other than the manner of death being changed to homicide ... no arrests, no trial, no conviction, just inuendo and suspicions. In fact it ends rather abruptly and unceremoniously. Such a let down after looking forward to a new book by Ann Rule :-((

If this were the first book I read by Ann Rule, October 24, 2010
....it would be my last. This book has none of what made me an Ann Rule fan, the depth of character development is missing, it felt more like a dedication that was written for Barbara, the mother of Ronda, and Ann had to get it out there, so she could go on about her deep admiration and her friendship with Barbara. I have not read any of Ann's other books that had that slant. It was a strange read, and not what I expected.

not your typical ann rule book, October 25, 2010
I have read all of her books and love her writing style...BUT... i have to agree with some other reviewers here. She got too close to the family and cherished the mother and her quest for justice and strayed way away from her usual writing style. I agree you knew from the beginning that no one was ever charged and it was a long a winding road for her mother to get the "suicide" removed from the death certificate. It was as if she felt she owed the victims mother a book of her quest since she had become so close to her and spent so many years working on the case...probably hoping someone would be tried for the crime...but that was not to be. I must admit i for one wished i had not spent the money on this book...i felt robbed.

'Ann Rule's latest book, November 16, 2010
Ann Rule's latest book does not reach her previous standards. It almost seems to have been written by a different person. While it is a good crime story, it doesn't have that Ann Rule touch that makes it special. I was disappointed when I read it. I hope she gets on track with her next one.

I'm giving it two because it's Ann!, November 4, 2010
I've read every single Ann Rule book, including her one and only fiction book and I can always count on her to keep me thrilled.
Except for this time...I hate to even say that I do not like an Ann Rule book - I started late - beginning to love Ann only about 6 or 7 years ago...most fans started in the 80's - I bought every single one of her books and she was at the top of her game until I'd say about 2 or 3 years ago - there was one book about a girl who killed her husband and she was from Hawaii, I didn't go for that one and one other one that fell flat but they were still riveting in their own way - this one has absolutely nothing about it - I feel bad for Ronda's mother but there's just nothing in it that you don't know from the very beginning - I am anticipating a "volume" novel - one where she has one thicker story intermixed with a bunch of shorter stories - I can't believe I gave Ann only a two - but this was a real clunker...please ANN COME BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Disappointed, November 15, 2010
I have read every Ann Rule book that has been published and have enjoyed them all. This book, however, did not keep my interest and seemed not to be Ms Rule's usual well organized writing style. There were a few grammatical errors that were suprisingly not picked up by the editor.
The most interesting part of the story was told in the first half of the book. The reader learns that there was no police coordination at the crime scene and negligent mistakes made by the investigators involved in this case. ... Read more

Editorial Review

National Bestseller�

On November 15, 1959, in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, four members of the Clutterfamily were savagely murdered by blasts from a shotgun held a few inches from theirfaces. There was no apparent motive for the crime, and there were almost no clues.�

As Truman Capote reconstructs the murder and the investigation that led to the capture,trial, and execution of the killers, he generates both mesmerizing suspense and astonishingempathy. In Cold Blood is a work that transcends its moment, yielding poignant insightsinto the nature of American violence.

Reviews

It Just Doesn't Get Any Better, February 8, 2000
The magnificence of "In Cold Blood" doesn't lie in the subject matter but in its treatment. There are--unfortunately--more depraved criminals and more elaborate police investigations detailed in a great many "true crime" accounts. But I doubt that any of them is as well written as "In Cold Blood."

I haul my copy out every 2-3 years just to remind myself how wonderful the rhythms and nuances of the American language can be at the hands of a master. I am totally drawn into the lives of the prosperous and completely unsuspecting Clutter family of western Kansas and the two drifters, Perry and Dick, who by themselves didn't amount to much but together proved lethal that fall night in 1959.

A trivia note: Capote's research assistant on this book was Nell Harper) Lee, who shortly after would become famous as the author of "To Kill a Mockingbird."

I'd recommend Gerald Clarke's excellent biography "Capote" to learn about this one-of-a-kind book, its creation, reception, and how it affected the author's life.

It made my blood run cold..., April 11, 2006
On November 15, 1959, in Holcomb, Kansas, the four members of the Clutter family were dragged from their beds in the early hours of the morning and tied up. All four were shot in the head with a shotgun at close range. None survived. The killers left few clues, and there was no apparent motive for the slayings.

On assignment from the New Yorker, author Truman Capote, along with his assistant Nell Harper Lee, traveled to Holcomb in late 1959 to investigate the killings for an article. The article was completed, but still Capote remained in Holcomb. He conducted interviews with every person in town; he poured over police records and statements. Once the killers, drifters Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, were caught and sentenced, he even interviewed them on Death Row. The Clutter killings became an obsession for him; and that obsession turned into a book that would become a literary milestone, that would singlehandedly introduce a new genre to the literary world: the nonfiction novel. He called his piece of creative nonfiction IN COLD BLOOD, and it so consumed him that it would be the last thing he'd ever write.

I didn't expect this book to move me so deeply. In most true crime books that are written today (at least in my experience), the evidence is presented straightforwardly, unemotionally; the facts are dry and textbook-like. Such is not the case with IN COLD BLOOD. Capote's prose is mesmerizing. His descriptions of Holcomb and its inhabitants are vivid and lively. His research is impeccable, presented flawlessly, lushly, sweeping the reader away on waves of vibrant language.

And his imagery is heartbreaking: Nancy Clutter teaching a neighbor to make a cherry pie, Dick Hickock deliberately hitting a dog on the highway, the Clutters' old mare standing alone in an overgrown pasture. With startling empathy, Capote transports his readers to the Holcomb, Kansas, of late 1959: We feel the tension and sorrow clouding the town; we watch as the police nearly crumble under the weight of their investigation; we're with Dick and Perry as they flee across the United States to Mexico, leaving a trail of bounced checks in their wake, and we're with them in their cells on Death Row. We're right there the whole time, from the day before the Clutters are killed to the day after their murderers are executed. And Capote is unflinching; he keeps us there, even when the honesty of his prose makes us uncomfortable, even when we can't imagine reading on but somehow can't seem to stop.

And this is the genius of IN COLD BLOOD: It is a violent, unflinching account, sorrowful beyond belief (and made even more so because it's true); but, in the hands of a master like Capote, it's really hard to stop reading about this unfortunate family and their motiveless, pathetic murderers. This book made me sad, it made me shiver; but I'm glad I read it.

A true classic..., July 6, 2006
I received Truman Capote's In Cold Blood as a gift, and this book is a true gem in the true crime genre.

Herb Clutter was a wealthy rancher and prominent citizen of Holcomb, Kansas. In 1959, Clutter, his wife, and his two teenaged children were brutally murdered in their home. The killers are two paroled criminals, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, and they think that they have executed the perfect crime. Their involvement is no surprise as Capote introduces them at the beginning of the book. Capote chronicles the search for the killers by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (the KBI).

Capote writes In Cold Blood in a folksy, easy going style. He goes from one character to another, seamlessly switching from the third person to the first, and then back again. His down-home descriptions mirror Kansas in a simpler time. Capote writes about the jury "Not everyone was attentive; one juror, as though poisoned by the numerous spring-fever yawns weighing in the air, sat with drugged eyes and jaws so utterly ajar bees could have buzzed in and out." Capote also shows surprising empathy for the murderers, and Hickock and Smith accumulate a few fans.

Although In Cold Blood is 41 years old, reading it now couldn't be more timely. First, the film, Capote, was recently released. In Cold Blood became his most successful book. Also, Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields was just published. Lee and Capote were neighbors, friends and collaborators. Lee did much of the research for In Cold Blood, and Capote rewarded her by dedicating this book to her (along with Jack Dunphy). I'm sorry it took so long for me to read this classic and I now have to follow up In Cold Blood with these two works.

Suspenseful, empathetic, sparsely elegant, respectful, and above all, tragic, February 27, 2006
I have meant to read this book for some time. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that seeing the Capote film is what finally induced me to read it, but I suppose that must be true. I had seen the film the previous weekend, bought this book during the following week, and just this past weekend, devoured it in all of two days.

Capote's masterpiece tells the story of the senseless, brutal killing of a rural Kansas family in 1959. It is beautifully written from start to finish -- in an understated way. If you come into this experience, as I did, conscious of the narcissism of the author, you might be surprised at the writing style. It is very humble, no Joycean or Nabokovian literary showing off. The story is paramount; the author does an amazing job of staying invisible, and respecting that story.

Respect is the feeling that is conveyed throughout the book. The telling is very respectful of the Clutter family; you learn of what remarkable people they were, even as they met their ends. The author is also fundamentally respectful of the people of the town, and of the local law enforcement. The book is not without its implied questioning of the judicial process, but again, I greatly appreciated the empathy and respect that pervaded the book.

This fundamental respect for human dignity even, in a more disturbing way, pervades even the discussion of the lives of the killers. The author candidly relates the biographies of these two men. On one level, this conveys an understanding of how they came to be what they were, but on a deeper level, it's all still a mystery. Left unanswered, still, is what really causes a man to be a killer. There is a great sense of tragedy throughout the relating of their formative lives -- perhaps not a respect for who they eventually were, but a respect for who they *could* have been.

Extremely unsettling is the sheer randomness of it all. The chain of events that causes the Clutter family to be killed is so random, so out-of-the-blue. Capote conveys how thin is the line between everything all seeming well and orderly in the world, and disaster striking out of nowhere.

Also coming through very clearly in this book is a cultural moment in time. You read it, feeling that this rural Kansas society is a vanished world. It's a stoic, God-fearing community, but the urban Capote betrays little condescension toward it. Quite the opposite; he seems duly impressed that the only reaction from the crowd to the killers' transference back to the town is one of silence -- no attempted violence, no shouted insults. The restraint and dignity of the townspeople amid this tragedy seems foreign to modern eyes. I found myself liking these people very much, despite my own preference for urban living.

But nothing undoes the basic feeling of tragedy that pervades the book. The author sifts through an incredible amount of detail about the crime; information that could only have been gleaned with a tremendous amount of cooperation from the killers themselves. There are details here that we could never have known about unless both killers had related them in their own separate interviews: details both of the crime itself, and of their activities, and further crimes and near-crimes, when on the lam.

The final portrait is of two worlds colliding -- a dysfunctional, violent world amid the undercurrents of society, rising up to strike the normal, orderly world of the Clutter family. It leaves the reader feeling as though nothing can be truly safe in our world, as long as the mysteries behind this story remain unresolved.

AS COMPELLING AS EVER, January 30, 2006

A resurgence of interest in the life and work of an author occurs rather frequently. It happened with F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. Such is the case today with Truman Capote, probably due in large part to the acclaimed film "Capote" with an award-winning performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman.

There is another fine performance in store for us with the audio edition of what many consider to be Capote's masterpiece, In Cold Blood, read by Scott Brick. A winner of AudioFile's coveted Golden Voice Award as well as several Earphone Awards, Brick is a veteran of film, television and radio work who seems to read with an intuitive sense of the author's intention. It has been said of him that "He lets the author's words do the work." Wisely so, especially in the case of this novel which, upon publication in 1966, Life Magazine called "A masterpiece.....a spellbinding work."

As many know, this is the book in which Capote detailed the 1959 murders of a wealthy farm family in Holcomb, Kansas. It was, as Capote described it a "non-fiction novel" because the events were true yet he described them in literary form. It was a crime that shocked the nation, the slaying of Herb Clutter, his wife, and teenage son and daughter. There was no apparent reason for the carnage that took place in their home.

When Capote read of the murders in the New York Times, he and his friend Harper Lee (To Kill A Mockingbird) went to Kansas where they interviewed the citizens of Holcomb and investigators. He would later have access to the two men apprehended for the killings. Capote spent years writing his novel, which is by turns a fascinating psychological study of two sociopathic murderers and an unforgettable portrait of a crime and its aftermath.

- Gail Cooke

Gripping!, January 26, 2006
This book hasn't really dated since it was written. With the exception of a few references to the years, it could be set in a present-day world. Capote takes us on a through the lives of the Clutter family before they were brutally murdered one Saturday night. He intertwines the lives of their killers and the men who found them and the result is a gripping, nail-biting tale of a brutal crime and the people involved. From time to time you have to remind yourself of the fact that all this really happened...

The audio presentation of "In Cold Blood" is particularly memorable as the narrator, Scott Brick, is one of the best readers I have ever heard. He brings Capote's book to life, complete with voices and accents. Coupled with excellent writing, Brick keeps us tense and excited throughout the book. I spent many evenings not wanting to get out of my car at home as I didn't want the book to end.

If you're new to audio books, this is an excellent one to start with.

Capote's Classic, June 20, 2003
Mr. Capote did us a great service in probing every facet of the tragic murder of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas. But for his careful research and lucid prose, the courage of the Clutters, and the savagery of their murder, made all the more tragic by the quality of the family's character, might well have gone unrecognized. Although our era scarcely needs another shocking crime about which to read, In Cold Blood is worth re-visiting. At one level, Capote's book reminds us just how much has changed in a relatively short span of time. It is almost impossible in today's world to imagine reporters waiting anxiously in Holcomb for the return by car of the accused killers; now, even cities of modest size would have dispatched any number of helicopters to hover over the vehicles in transit and the footage would be delivered to our living rooms, and we would find ourselves addicted to the sound of the copters and the chatter of reporters. At another level, the book shows how little has changed. The murder of the Clutters is a modern story, a sad precursor to our own violent times. Capote knew that Holcomb, Kansas was a tale of innocence lost after the passing of the Clutter family. Now we know it was not just Holcomb's loss.

Capote Chills and Informs., December 31, 1999
I am almost embarrassed to admit that I couldn't put this book down. Embarrassed because in essence it is a hard core voyeuristic experience. You will in fact end up attending a movie awash in unabashed bathos and violence...and it will be very hard to avert your eyes. While Capote had to be aware of this effect...I dare anyone to get the picture of Nancy Clutter out of their mind... he ends up having bigger fish to fry. The psychological constructs of the killers are remarkably fresh for a book written in the mid-sixties. The issues of the pernicious effects of child abuse (one of the killers, Perry Smith was abused) were not to be thrust into the public's consciousness for another 20 years, yet Capote has a very modern feeling for the features of the abused persona. Equally prescient was Capote's portrait of major depression as suffered by the soon-to-be-murdered Mrs. Clutter. The picture is scarily accurate for a third person account of a disease that was still thought to a purely psychological problem back in those days. It is SO accurate one has to wonder if Capote was in fact recounting symptoms he in fact had felt at one time or another ...anywhichway, still an eye-opener for something written in the sixties. I's also hard to leave this book without having to confront some very basic questions regardng good, evil and the purpose-of-life. If you haven't read this book, do..it is the book least likely to be put down during a long plane trip.

As Good As It Gets, June 6, 2006
This "nonfiction novel" by Capote is truly a masterpiece. I remember trying to read it as a teenager and finding it too harsh, which is certainly an argument for returning to reread books in adulthood!

In painstaking detail, Truman Capote describes the lives of the Clutter family of Kansas so clearly, and with such precision, that we feel that we know them and we are shattered when four out of six family members are brutally murdered.

He employs equally descriptive characterizations for Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, two troubled ex-cons who set off on a cross-country car trip, hoping to rob the well-to-do Clutters and destroy all eyewitnesses.

I read a quote by Capote today in one of his other books where he said that one of the hardest things about writing In Cold Blood was trying to keep himself out of it. He succeeded beautifully. Although it was he who interviewed the Clutters' neighbors, townsfolk and family of the murderers, the book is written in such a way that the interviewer himself is invisible.

So is his bias, if he had one. The gruesome acts of cruelty committed against the Clutters made me -- a staunch opponent of the death penalty -- rethink my position. Then later on, when I read about the sad childhoods of the killers, particularly that of Perry Smith, I was ambivalent about whether or not they should have been sentenced to death. I believe that Capote wanted us to have both of these emotions -- empathy and revulsion.

He would certainly roll over in his grave today if he knew how long it took for a typical death penalty case to be tried or how much money was involved in all of the appeals.

My only complaint about In Cold Blood is that very little was said about the two remaining Clutter family members. Perhaps this was deliberate. Capote may not have wanted to further intrude on their privacy and grief, but that omission left me wondering how they could have possibly coped with the demolition of the rest of their family.

Fantastic book. Highly recommended.

Sigrid Macdonald

Four shotgun blasts that changed a town forever!, October 23, 2005
Recently re-read this disturbing factional story of unspeakable horror after some thirty-odd years, revisiting the pain of Holcomb, the scene of the tragic, senseless snuffing out of the Clutters. Controversial on its publication due to its blending of fact and fiction, a hybrid composite that had not been done before, Capote's "In Cold Blood" grippingly reconstructs, in all their brutal detail, the 1959 grisly, cold-blooded murders of the Clutter family on their farm in the plains of western Kansas when four shotgun blasts changed the town of Holcomb forever. This fictionalising of real events, complete with imagined dialogue between real-life characters, broke new ground and established Capote as the inventor of True Crime "non-fiction novels".

Capote reconstructs the lead-up to the gruesome murders and the aftermath. In the lead-up, Capote cross-cuts intermittently between descriptions of the routine domestic life of the Clutters in their small farming community near Holcomb and the transient lives of the drifters Smith and Hickok - what's chilling is their humaness in the picture Capote draws - as they drift cross-country towards Holcomb. The aftermath comprehensively covers the search for and apprehension of the killers and their subsequent trial and incarceration on death row.

Capote's case-study is concerned not just with the who of the crime but the why, probing into every facet of the lives of the killers, the background influences that shaped them, taking us into their minds to give us the opportunity to get to know them, exploring the psyche of the criminal mind to discover the psychological motivation that can turn men into monsters. A forerunner of classic true-crime titles such as "Fatal Vision" by Joe McGinnes, "Daddy's Girl" by Clifford Irving and "Blood and Money" by Thomas Thomson, "In Cold Blood" is itself, an American classic and one of the best American books of the 20th Century .
... Read more

Editorial Review

The Wall Street Journal called him “a living legend.” The London Times dubbed him “the most famous art detective in the world.”
 
In Priceless, Robert K. Wittman, the founder of the FBI’s Art Crime Team, pulls back the curtain on his remarkable career for the first time, offering a real-life international thriller to rival The Thomas Crown Affair.   
 
Rising from humble roots as the son of an antique dealer, Wittman built a twenty-year career that was nothing short of extraordinary. He went undercover, usually unarmed, to catch art thieves, scammers, and black market traders in Paris and Philadelphia, Rio and Santa Fe, Miami and Madrid.
 
In this page-turning memoir, Wittman fascinates with the stories behind his recoveries of priceless art and antiquities: The golden armor of an ancient Peruvian warrior king. The Rodin sculpture that inspired the Impressionist movement. The headdress Geronimo wore at his final Pow-Wow. The rare Civil War battle flag carried into battle by one of the nation’s first African-American regiments.
 
The breadth of Wittman’s exploits is unmatched: He traveled the world to rescue paintings by Rockwell and Rembrandt, Pissarro, Monet and Picasso, often working undercover overseas at the whim of foreign governments. Closer to home, he recovered an original copy of the Bill of Rights and cracked the scam that rocked the PBS series Antiques Roadshow.
 
By the FBI’s accounting, Wittman saved hundreds of millions of dollars worth of art and antiquities. He says the statistic isn’t important. After all, who’s to say what is worth more --a Rembrandt self-portrait or an American flag carried into battle? They're both priceless. 
 
The art thieves and scammers Wittman caught run the gamut from rich to poor, smart to foolish, organized criminals to desperate loners.  The smuggler who brought him a looted 6th-century treasure turned out to be a high-ranking diplomat.  The appraiser who stole countless heirlooms from war heroes’ descendants was a slick, aristocratic con man.  The museum janitor who made off with locks of George Washington's hair just wanted to make a few extra bucks, figuring no one would miss what he’d filched.
 
In his final case, Wittman called on every bit of knowledge and experience in his arsenal to take on his greatest challenge: working undercover to track the vicious criminals behind what might be the most audacious art theft of all.  ... Read more

Reviews

A fun, exciting read, June 4, 2010
Very much a page-turner. Wittman's got a lot of great stories to tell about why we should appreciate art, how some government agencies have a warped sense of priorities and of course the fascinating ways in which some of the most infamous property crimes in history have played out and his role in them.

There are suave characters, misfit gangsters and plot twists that can make you laugh or cry (depending on how much of an appreciation of art you may have - and if you don't have much of one, you will by the time you finish this book). Some of the "gangster talk" is right out of Hollywood; you wouldn't believe it if dialogue wasn't culled from bugged meet-ups and hidden video. But it's all real! And its told in a style that at times borders on gumshoe noir, which keeps the action lively.

Highly recommended for a fun summer read; I think anyone would enjoy this international thriller and might even learn something along the way.

RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE FBI AND STOLEN WORKS OF ART RANGING FROM REMBRANDT TO "THE-BILL-OF-RIGHTS", June 19, 2010
If you are a connoisseur of crime books that range from criminal psychology to the Mafia to serial killers and beyond... and the thought of reading a book that revolves around some of the world's great works of art... including Matisse... Monet... Rembrandt... Picasso... et al... turns you off... or just plain scares you... hold on a minute! I have a large library of the aforementioned category of crime books and I was extremely apprehensive about buying this book for those very same "artsy" aversions. In retrospect... I'm thrilled that I took the chance and bought this book anyway. What the author, Robert Wittman, a former FBI special agent does so magnificently is he draws the reader in with the usual promise of FBI crime titillation... then educates the reader so gently and rhythmically it becomes an almost subliminal indoctrination into what I had previously viewed as a "hoity-toity" upper-crust world that was not meant for me.

Wittman starts you off with names that any layman would be familiar with such as Rembrandt and Picasso... and then takes you on the same educational journey he himself traveled... such as getting educated in a course at an art gallery that simply takes you aback when you're told: "ON THE WALL IN FRONT OF ME, SURROUNDING A THIRTY-FOOT WINDOW HUNG THREE WORKS WITH A COMBINED WORTH OF HALF A BILLION DOLLARS." (Picasso's "THE PEASANTS"... Matisse's "SEATED RIFFIAN"... and Matisse's "THE DANCE".) What the author does from there on out is not only illuminate the world of art... but he shares such a strong empathy for the people whose works of art have been stolen. At times the victims are individuals... at times the victims are galleries... at times the victims are cities and states... and at times the victims are entire countries. As the flow of the story engulfs you... you... like the author begin to realize that it's actually humanity as a whole that is victimized by these thefts. Being that I consider myself an "average-Joe", I never thought I would feel this way towards these magnificent works of art. That is the gift of this book. Additionally... potential readers will be surprised that valuable artifacts from the civil war that have so much emotional familial value have been stolen and in many cases passed hands by cold-hearted swindles. The author and FBI have gone to great lengths in reacquiring these priceless antiquities and it is all detailed in this wonderfully touching story. I would have never volunteered to sit through a class that claimed to teach the things that I learned in this book... and I would have been far poorer if I had not read this book. Who knew that there were *FOURTEEN ORIGINAL COPIES OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS*... and one was missing for decades? The author shines a light on the fact that most "ART AND ANTIQUITIES THIEVES DON'T LOOK MUCH LIKE PIERCE BROSNAN OR SEAN CONNERY. RATHER, THEY LOOK LIKE GEORGE CSIZMAZIA AND ERNIE MEDFORD, THE ELECTRICIAN AND CUSTODIAN WHO SYSTEMATICALLY STOLE MORE THAN $2 MILLION WORTH OF REVOLUTIONARY WAR AND CIVIL WAR RELICS FROM A PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM." (Note the color pictures the author includes in the book verify that in spades!)

When you finish this first rate crime story you will find that you will be quite knowledgeable in the art field without having made much of an extended effort. It's kind of like walking in a warm summer tropical rainstorm... it was so enjoyable you don't even realize you got wet.

Perfect summer reading, June 2, 2010
Priceless has just about everything you'd want in a book, with appeal to all sorts of readers. In light of the recent art heist in Paris, this is timely and fascinating. Wittman's exploits do indeed read like a crime thriller, keeping the pages turning in a breathless fashion. I'll definitely buy more copies as gifts!

A riveting, spellbinding, page-turner!, June 1, 2010
Perfect for the beach...except you won't want to put it down to go in the water. Wittman is instantly a legend and Shiffman's own undercover detective skills mesh with the protagonist's to create the Summer's first "can't miss".

Great Art Crime Book, June 8, 2010
What a life Wittman lived as an undercover FBI agent hunting stolen treasures. I `m amazed he was able to use the same undercover name for twenty years without the bad guys catching up with him though it was necessary for building a reputation in the underworld. I'd assumed the art theft world was fairly small and maybe it is for criminals with some art knowledge but mostly they seem to be inept bumblers presented with an opportunity. So many museums are under secured. It's a shame they don't have the funding to protect their exhibits better. In the end it was interconnectedness of the criminals and the agents that ended Wittman's government career, that and governmental bureaucracy both at home and abroad. It's an old boys club filled with one upsmanship. The final chapters hold out glimmers of hope of finding the Vermeer and Rembrandt stolen from the Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990. It was wrenching to hear one of the other Gardner paintings described as being badly damaged. Though I wish there was better news on the Gardner front that in no way takes away from the many other lovely things Wittman was able to retrieve in fact his descriptive art insider's information made this book for me. In my opinion this is one of the best art crime books I've read in years.

Outwitting Art Thieves, August 5, 2010

Hard-headed and fascinating, July 18, 2010

an enjoyable quick read, July 21, 2010

All the right elements for a great read, June 2, 2010
True crime, modern art, US Civil War history, world art history, antiques roadshow, greed, and guns! I'm 3/4 way through this book and can't put it down.

could be worse, July 30, 2010

Editorial Review

Harry Markopolos and his team of financial sleuths discuss first-hand how they cracked the Madoff Ponzi scheme

No One Would Listen is the thrilling story of how the Harry Markopolos, a little-known number cruncher from a Boston equity derivatives firm, and his investigative team uncovered Bernie Madoff's scam years before it made headlines, and how they desperately tried to warn the government, the industry, and the financial press.

Page by page, Markopolos details his pursuit of the greatest financial criminal in history, and reveals the massive fraud, governmental incompetence, and criminal collusion that has changed thousands of lives forever-as well as the world's financial system.

• The only book to tell the story of Madoff's scam and the SEC's failings by those who saw both first hand
• Describes how Madoff was enabled by investors and fiduciaries alike
• Discusses how the SEC missed the red flags raised by Markopolos

Despite repeated written and verbal warnings to the SEC by Harry Markopolos, Bernie Madoff was allowed to continue his operations. No One Would Listen paints a vivid portrait of Markopolos and his determined team of financial sleuths, and what impact Madoff's scam will have on financial markets and regulation for decades to come. ... Read more

Reviews

A true David and Goliath story, March 6, 2010
Although I was not an investor, I have been intrigued by the Madoff scandal since it exploded in December 2008. Ever since then, I have spent hours poring over articles written in the press and documents released by the government and watched (and rewatched) all the hearings on this massive fraud. I even attended one of Harry Markopolos' speaking events to make sure that my television screen did not conjure up such a noble public servant. Of course, it is only appropriate that I would have a copy of "No One Would Listen" in my hands on the first day of its release. Admittedly, I expected the book to be more or less a summary of everything I have learned thus far - I was very wrong. "No One Would Listen, " a true David and Goliath story, is one of the most riveting nonfiction I have ever read.

In the book, young innocent David is portrayed as a "wildly eccentric quant" from Boston named Harry Markopolos who tried to defend his country from the nine feet tall Philistine giant Goliath, portrayed as Bernie Madoff. King Saul of Israel and his army (the SEC) were terrified of Goliath. "No One Would Listen" is a 10-year firsthand account of how Harry and his three friends tried to warn the government, the industry, and the press that the founder of the most successful broker-dealers in the financial industry was actually the biggest crook in history. Unfortunately, "No One Would Listen" does not have the same happy ending as the biblical David v. Goliath battle.

For the past few days, I have been reading reviews on the book and found a lot of derogatory comments about Harry's character and his book. I have to wonder to myself if these reporters read the same book that I did and why they would want to tag their name with such unsubstantiated assertions. Before I continue on the book, I have to point out some false information printed by some media outlets. These book reviews only reconfirm the financial mediocrity in the press that Harry and his team had to deal with the past 10 years - that is why no one would listen.

First, we know that in its 73 years of existence, the SEC has a history of treating whistleblowers like dirt and has only paid 2 whistleblower bounties. One reward, as told in the book, was in the amount of $3,500. I'm sick and tired of people throwing that Harry only went to the SEC because he was looking for a bounty. He knew from the start that his chance of receiving a bounty was remote. Even if he did receive a bounty, is $3,500 worth hundreds of hours of investigative research while he was most likely making a comfortable 6-figure salary at his previous employment?

Second, some reporters claimed that the reason why no one would listen is because Harry is some sort of nut that rubbed the SEC the wrong way and that he was overly paranoid for fearing that Madoff may come after him. One only has to watch Harry's Feb. 4, 2009 testimony to Congress to confirm this man's articulate manner and brilliance. Do your research on his background, and you will see how aware people are of his talents and credibility. The reason why no one would listen is because the fraud was so unbelievable - Bernie Madoff was filthy rich, why would he need to steal? The second reason, as the world now knows, is due to the arrogance and investigative ineptitude of the SEC and the press. In addressing his fear for Madoff, why wouldn't he fear Madoff? People have killed for much less. There are pending investigations with the FBI undisclosed to the public. Why would the FBI announce to the bad guys that they're about to be investigated, unlike the SEC, who called Madoff to give him a heads up on the 2006 investigation.

Third, a major media outlet criticized how Harry had made a career of being "a professional whistleblower facilitator," turning corporate employees into spies when they should be reporting problems internally. After the collapse of Enron, the SEC was charged with reviewing incidents of financial statement fraud from 1997 to 2002. Of the 515 enforcement actions for financial reporting and disclosure fraud, charges were brought against 466 managers: 75 chairmen of the board, 111 CEOs, 111 presidents, 105 CFOs, 21 COOs, 16 CAOs, and 27 VPs of finance. You tell me how a lonely staff member at the bottom of the totem pole would come up against these big honchos.

Throughout the book, if I was not cracking up laughing at Harry's oddball sense of humor, I was pounding my fist from mortification at the horrors that Harry and his team had witnessed the past 10 years. "No One Would Listen" is a reflection of the culture of greed infected on Wall Street. One event that stuck to my mind was Neil Chelo's phone interview with the head of risk management at Fairfield Greenwich Sentry Fund in Chapter 7. I was completely appalled that he could not answer any of Neil's questions on how Madoff was getting his returns, why he was always holding T-bills at year end, and why the audits only show $160MM worth of T-bills on a $1.47BB portfolio. Where did the remaining $1.31BB go? This is the same egghead that manages the risk of a $7BB fund. It was absurd how he had the gall to follow up with Neil if he still wanted to invest with the fund even after Neil had called him out for an hour straight.

Another event that had me almost vomiting was regarding 20 market-timing scandals that Harry had worked on for 1.5 years and eventually presented to the SEC. The scandals cost investors $20BB, yet the SEC decided that they were done with market timing scandals so the crooks all walked away scotch-free. Keep in mind that this all happened after Peter Scannell already testified against the SEC on how the agency missed the market timing scandal at Putnam Investments even with his repeated warnings. Our tax dollars at work. And we wonder why our country is in the midst of economic meltdown today.

As Frank Casey pointed out, Mother Teresa did not work on Wall Street. Even so, the book details the sacrifices that Harry and his team went through to expose the evil man that is Bernie Madoff, even if it means losing money to a competitor or risk getting shot in the head. These four men are the rare gems in the financial industry. If more people like them exist, perhaps Wall Street would not be such a bad place.

Toward the end, Harry revealed the nature of some of the cases he has been working on the past few years and recommendations on how the SEC could improve. He is truly blessed - a self-taught fraud investigator accomplishing more for our country in five years than the entire SEC staff has done in decades. And for that, we owe him our gratitude.

Go get 'em, Harry.

The definitive story, March 3, 2010
When the SEC was asleep at the wheel, Markopolos was there. It blew my mind when I read just how many times Markopolos tried to contact the SEC and the media, and so many times, he was ignored. To think of the money and the lives that could have been saved! When I wasn't baffled and educated by the contents of the book, I was laughing. Markopolos has managed to write a TRUE thriller with charm and humor. It comforts me to know that this book is out there, for all to read, and I hope it brings a lot of change to our financial watchdogs. Harry Markopolos is a hero.

Well Written Account of Harry's Efforts, March 3, 2010
Excellent account of the efforts of Harry Markopolos and his team in uncovering Bernie Madoff's fraud and then trying to expose him and get the government to act. The book is well written and documents the the abysmal failures of an SEC relying too heavily on lawyers and accountants who lack the sophistication to understand how the investment industry works and the investment solutions the industry markets to investors.

Harry's account of when Noelle Frangipane, a member of the SEC's Inspector General's team investigating the SEC's failings, broke down and cried was indeed a particularly human moment and an account I'm glad Harry put in the book. There are people at the SEC who care. The agency clearly lacks investment professionals and people with investment industry operational experience. Lawyers and accountants have their role, but they are not trained as investment professionals.

Great read! Good job Harry!

I Listened, March 3, 2010
If you are attuned, you can hear the tree fall from the edge of the forest, and you know a tsunami is coming before you can see it. And so it is that master sleuth Markopolos saw what so many failed to see. I highly recommend that all but the master sleuths out there read this book. I would also recommend "What Greenspan Can't Tell You", which was published in Jan '08, and warned of "Madoff"-like schemes, and instructed readers on how they might spot them.

Pure Harry, March 4, 2010
I had the honor of "sitting across" from Harry on the Trading Desk. I feel extremely lucky to have learned the business from the best derivatives practitioner in Boston. There are very few derivatives-related books that approach required case study readings for rookies and veterans alike. Regardless of your industry, this book is one of those rare gems that will implore you to question conventional assumptions and challenge the supposed institutional wisdom that defines your professional circles. However, unlike most biz school case studies, you won't be bored. This book reads like its master in the shadows...

Good and educated read, March 3, 2010
In spite/despite the "flaming" by a fellow Kindle owner over the Kindle price, I found myself amused and horrified by Mr. Markopolos' well presented account of Madoff's scheme; as a member of the Bar, I live in disbelief at the non-action of the SEC. Mr. Markopolos was vainly trying to "herd chickens"!

A REAL LIVE HERO, March 7, 2010
Harry Markopolos doesn't consider himself a hero. That's about the only thing he's wrong about though. He is indeed a hero. This is the story of how a man and his small group of associates, at great personal risk, tried to prevent the greatest scam of our times. That they failed is tragic for Madoff's victims in particular and in general illustrates the failure of our institutions to protect us from even the most egregious and obvious fraud. The SEC(with 2 notable exceptions) were the biggest bunch of fools you could imagine. If you didn't know this book was absolutely true it would strain credulity to the utmost.

He relates in agonizing detail how for the better part of a decade his group handed the fraudster to the SEC on a golden platter. They presented proof after proof (red flags they called them) to the SEC proving unequivocally that Madoff was a total con, running a gigantic Ponzi scheme. And as the title indicates, "No One Would Listen". Though my math skills are fair to poor, his presentations to the SEC were crystal clear to me. You just couldn't miss it...yet they did.

I would compare what happened to a citizen finding a bloody arm from the Madoff residence and bringing it into the police station being told by the police that the arm didn't exist and 'to get our of here you're bothering me'.

He also points out how corrupt our financial system is in general, skewering the mutual fund and banking industries in particular. It seems we live in a nation of thieves. Well Harry and his group do give us cause for hope. Thank you Harry and friends for your efforts. For honest folks, you guys are heroes. This book deserves to be a best-seller now and for many weeks to come.

The Fox Hounds Salute Their Ghost Writer, March 7, 2010
Transparency, I am one of the Fox Hounds: David Fisher was the ghost writer for Harry Markopolos and the Fox Hounds Team. David produced an easily read financial thriller, balancing the complexities of financial derivatives required to understand why Bernie Madoff was able to dupe investors with the thrill-fear of the hunt for the tentacles of this criminal monster. I salute David Fisher for his talent and dedication to the cause of uncovering the ineptness of regulatory powers while informing the public as to the greed and willful blindness of Wall Street.

Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!, March 6, 2010
"It's Bernie in the parlor with $5 billion!" (ref Markopolos)

I really enjoyed this book. I read it in two sittings and will be re-reading it to absorb it again. I followed the Madoff story closely through the various media outlets, but the content of this book fills in all the gaps and does not obfuscate any of the details or emotions. I will not be re-selling this book to the discount bookstore.

A diamond in the rough, March 4, 2010
No One Would Listen should be a required reading for everyone working in the financial services industry. As well as I know the Madoff case by now, over a year after its collapse, the book still left me in tears at the end. Words cannot describe the anger I felt throughout the book toward all who saw this fraud but did nothing to stop it. In a world full of injustices and greed, Harry and his team give hope that good people still exist; although they did not always feel brave, Harry and his team were willing to do whatever it takes to expose the truth, even if it costs them their lives.

Kudos to Harry and his team.

... Read more

Editorial Review

From the acclaimed bestselling author of Ghost Soldiers and Blood and Thunder, a taut, intense narrative about the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the largest manhunt in American history.

On April 23, 1967, Prisoner #416J, an inmate at the notorious Missouri State Penitentiary, escaped in a breadbox. Fashioning himself Eric Galt, this nondescript thief and con man—whose real name was James Earl Ray—drifted through the South, into Mexico, and then Los Angeles, where he was galvanized by George Wallace’s racist presidential campaign.

On February 1, 1968, two Memphis garbage men were crushed to death in their hydraulic truck, provoking the exclusively African American workforce to go on strike. Hoping to resuscitate his faltering crusade, King joined the sanitation workers’ cause, but their march down Beale Street, the historic avenue of the blues, turned violent. Humiliated, King fatefully vowed to return to Memphis in April.

With relentless storytelling drive, Sides follows Galt and King as they crisscross the country, one stalking the other, until the crushing moment at the Lorraine Motel when the drifter catches up with his prey. Against the backdrop of the resulting nationwide riots and the pathos of King’s funeral, Sides gives us a riveting cross-cut narrative of the assassin’s flight and the sixty-five-day search that led investigators to Canada, Portugal, and England—a massive manhunt ironically led by Hoover’s FBI.

Magnificent in scope, drawing on a wealth of previously unpublished material, this nonfiction thriller illuminates one of the darkest hours in American life—an example of how history is so often a matter of the petty bringing down the great. ... Read more

Reviews

A political thriller, April 22, 2010

Sides does it again, his book reads like a CSI mystery!, July 26, 2010
Hellhound on His Trail / Hampton Sides
Sides does it again, his book reads like a CSI mystery! In choosing the assignation of Martin Luther King, Sides had an incredible amount of historical documentation at his disposal. This massive body of evidence is the raw ingredients that Sides uses to fire-up a tight and fascinating thriller. Thanks to an unprecedented international investigation and the rich perspective of time, Sides stalks every move of Earl Ray and MLK. To this point, the title of Side's book holds a second meaning. Hellhound opens with Earl Ray's daring escape from prison a year before the assignation and it ends with Ray's last escape attempt several years after the murder. The story in between is pretty incredible. Culturally, Hellhound also delivers the colorful and turbulent 60's to our door. Through Side's craft, we relive the American era of southern segregating from both sides, black and white. What a book, 5 stars!

Could Not Put it Down, May 3, 2010
Hellhound on his Trail is an outstanding book. Sides writes about all that happened before and after the assasination of ML King In Memphis in 1968. His writing style is captivating at a minimum. Even though we know how it turns out, I couldn't put the book down. The reader learns what is going on inside the King organization prior to the killing and what is going on with the assassin, James Earl Ray. The author is from Memphis and his love and concern for the city shows in the way he invovles Memphis in the unfolding drama. The tension around the actual shooting, and the unbelievably thorough search for Ray were the best parts of the book for me. By the time the good guys have Ray under arrest, I felt like I had grown to actually know him. I would have liked to see the author wrtie a bit more about the trial and Ray's time in prison, but I guess the book had to have boundaries. A great, and fun read. Unqualified five star recommendation

Not my style, but many might enjoy it, April 14, 2010

Informative and gripping., August 1, 2010

Engrossing, thorough look at the months immediately before & after MLK assassination, June 21, 2010

A Spellbinding Tale of the MLK Assassination, April 18, 2010

Understanding the King Assassination, November 21, 2010
Hampton Sides does a masterful job assembling the record of newspaper articles, memoirs and other files to tell a compelling narrative of the stalking, assassination and search for the killer of Martin Luther King. Perhaps most compelling is the first sixty percent of the book in which King's and Ray's paths are tracked separately, back and forth, with interesting period details--giving excellent perspective on the historical context--as they head towards the terrible collision the reader knows is coming. Sides is a writer, and the narrative sometimes assumes or fills in a little more than a historian would be comfortable with, in terms of the thoughts, feelings and motivations of characters, but certainly not to a problematic degree and Sides' balanced presentation (no saints here) more than offsets this and leaves the truly heroic King legacy all the stronger for presenting the human being. The killer is also extremely interesting, a mixture of smart and stupid, with an unusual amount of access to an assassin's thinking.

Some additional observations: (i) Ray's turn from small-time drifter/cracker/crook enjoying his freedom, to King stalker committed to assassination is clearly marked but also completely unexplained. The record does not provide the reason, so the book doesn't either; (ii) much of Ray's thinking described in the book comes from King's killers own account, the net effect is to avoid demonization, but also to diminish the despicable horror of his actions; (iii) was Ray part of a conspiracy? The book left me thinking probably not, with a better understanding of how the answer could really be "no," but some (nongovernmental) "conspiracy" possibilities are also suggested; (iv) the FBI manhunt is also interesting, for the large and small techniques they used and in contrast to what they would do today, where fingerprint evidence and electronic searches would have led to a much more rapid identification and because how easily Ray could have gotten (further) away.

All The Details, August 7, 2010
"Hellhound On His Trail" is a terrific, hefty and moving piece of narrative non-fiction about one of the most riveting moments of the 1960's. In tremendous detail, Sides' shows the many forces that came to bear on the ugly day in Memphis in April of 1968.

Sides breaks the story down, roughly, into two halves. The first half is the journey of James Earl Ray (aka Eric Galt) in the months leading up to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Sides refers to Ray throughout these sections as Galt (he's an escaped prisoner) as he drifts through Mexico and later Los Angeles first chasing a seedy career in porn and then as he involves himself in George Wallace's political movement and its "odd assortment of xenophobes, mavericks, drifters, seekers, ultra-right wingers, hard core racists, libertarians, dreamers and out and out lunatics." The Wallace group is a "loose confederacy of misfits" and Ray/Galt fits right in. This is a fact-based but searing portrait of a lost, wandering and disconnected soul. The first half ends as Ray/Galt makes his way to Memphis, winding his way toward the rooming house adjacent to the Lorraine Motel.

The second half is the hunt for Ray/Galt and the clues that lead authorities, from local to federal, on a chase that leads to Atlanta, Toronto and England. Flipping back and forth from Ray's point of view to the authorities makes for a compelling chase as Ray manages to steal an identity in Toronto and try to disappear into the back streets of London. It's not always the little things that make a difference but the massive, organized work of international police cooperation are what lead up to the moment when a young immigration officer at Heathrow Airport questions Ray (under the alias Ramon George Sneyd) and then pulls in a Scotland Yard detective who notices the name Sneyd on the "Watch For and Detain" list.

The hunt is terrific story-telling, chock full of rich details. Sides mixes the right combination of atmosphere and forward movement throughout the story. While Ray/Sneyd is in London planning his next move and "growing panic" sets in, he is staying at a little hotel called Pax. "Dressed in a beige raincoat with a bundle of papers under his arms, Sneyd asked the hotel's Swedish-born owner, Anna Thomas, for aspirin to soothe his throbbing headache--then went up to his room, which was small but clean, its walls decorated in a cheerful pattern of blue peacocks."

But "Hellhound" is more much more than a series of plot points. Sides captures the heavy politics and racial mood of the late 1960's--in-fighting in Washington, in-fighting in the King camp, the struggles in Memphis and across the South to move the Civil Rights efforts beyond talk and into the fabric of life. As the nation grapples with King's murder, Sides writes, "the whole nation, it seemed, was on the brink of a nervous breakdown." Along the way, are a cast of well-known figures including Ramsey Clark, Jesse Jackson (who is not flattered by this book), Ralph Abernathy, and J. Edgar Hoover. ("Hoover must have shuddered at the thought that his bureau was now charged with the responsibility of solving the murder of a man he detested a man he and his agents had tried to smear....")

With a final coda (Ray's escape from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary), "Hellhound On His Trail" never flags. As with all tragedies, you end up pondering all the little things that had to go perfectly right for everything to happen the way it did. That was true for Ray as he planned the assassination. It was true for the authorities as they tracked down the killer. Sides never addresses head-on the idea that Ray might have had help. He lets the known facts speak for themselves--and they suggest he acted alone. If he was being guided, led or supported--by whom? When? How? The available details reveal no contact with anyone outside Ray's little, miserable orbit.

Highly recommended.

A Must Read For Post-Baby Boomers, June 10, 2010
Hellhound On His Trail is a must read for the post-Baby Boom generations who were born after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr in 1968. Hampton Sides uses his writing talent to place the individual in the era of the socially and politically strained atmosphere of the late 1960s. The book describes in vivid detail the events that led up to the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. The text is filled with fascinating historical facts that led up to the tumultuous event of the assassination itself and the immediate events thereafter. The reader gets a clear picture of who the central figures surrounding the event were, most especially the assassin Eric Galt aka James Earl Ray, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King, Jesse Jackson, and Ralph Abernathy. There is a true sense of the aftermath of the King assassination and the racial fabric of non-violence that was torn apart due to the shedding of Kings blood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. The actions of the people who directly witnessed the King assassination,the police who responded, as well as President Lyndon Johnson, J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI, including the assassin himself are all vividly recounted.
The book follows the tracks of the assassin as he escaped from justice while rioting in almost every major city in the United States occurred. Sides describes the evidence against Ramon Sneyd, aka James Earl Ray, as the FBI committed to finding and capturing this lifelong criminal. The evidence against Ray mounts as he escapes the U.S. for Canada while the smoldering of rioting subsides. Sides keeps an open mind in terms of any conspiracy involved in the assassination and simply describes all the evidence against Ray in the death of King. The book follows Ray's escape as the FBI meticulously searched for the career criminal.
Overall, Sides expounds the fate of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his assassin James Earl Ray as well as that of the country after Kings murder. The book exposes the tense and often volatile race relations during this era that are not understood by generations, and individuals including myself, who did not live through this era of instability. PhDs of history who wish to write interesting historical narratives should learn from author Hampton Sides.
... Read more

Editorial Review

In the town of Ada, Oklahoma, Ron Williamson was going to be the next Mickey Mantle. But on his way to the Big Leagues, Ron stumbled, his dreams broken by drinking, drugs, and women. Then, on a winter night in 1982, not far from Ron’s home, a young cocktail waitress named Debra Sue Carter was savagely murdered. The investigation led nowhere. Until, on the flimsiest evidence, it led to Ron Williamson. The washed-up small-town hero was charged, tried, and sentenced to death—in a trial littered with lying witnesses and tainted evidence that would shatter a man’s already broken life…and let a true killer go free. Impeccably researched, grippingly told, filled with eleventh-hour drama, John Grisham’s first work of nonfiction reads like a page-turning legal thriller. It is a book that will terrify anyone who believes in the presumption of innocence—a book no American can afford to miss.
... Read more

Reviews

Guilty Until Proven Innocent?, December 7, 2007
The phrase "Grisham book" and word "important" aren't often found in the same sentence, but John Grisham's 2006 non-fiction book, "The Innocent Man", allows me to state that Grisham has now written the most important book of his mega-successful career, and one of the most important I've read by any author.

The book recounts two murders in the small town of Ada, Oklahoma. Both victims are young women. In both cases, the local and state police investigating the case are stumped. But with a toxic blend of extremely circumstantial "evidence", shocking crime scene photos, junk science, inexpert experts, jailhouse snitches and critical "dream confessions" induced by near-torture tactics, the police pin the murders on four young men of the area, two per murder.

The "innocent man" of the title is 30-something ne'er-do-well Ron Williamson, a schoolboy baseball star whose dreams of playing in Yankee Stadium dissolve in the low minors in a mix of arm injuries, booze and the onset of mental illness. By the time of the murder that consumes most of Grisham's tale, Williamson has washed up back home in Ada, and deservedly earned a reputation as a loudmouth loose cannon of sorts. Still his worst crime is passing a $300 phony check.

Skipping forward quickly, Williamson becomes the focus of the police's investigation and ultimately finds himself on death row in an Oklahoma criminal justice system whose aim seems to be to continuously reduce the amount of respect shown to death row inmates until it reaches zero. Shrewd detectives that they are, the police "know" that there's a second killer because of a misspelled warning message written in catsup at the scene, "dont chase us or ealse." Enter suspect two, single father Dennis Fritz, whose main crime is to be a friend of Williamson.

I'll stop here regarding the "plot", even though this is a news story and you could look it up. While novelistic in format, "The Innocent Man" reads more like a newspaper report, or like a lawyer dispassionately recounting the facts of a case. (Well after awhile not so dispassionately, as the injustices against the accused and then convicted men pile up.) The issues raised by the case and brought to light by Grisham cover the gamut of criminal justice - abuse of police power, single-minded focus on particular suspects and deliberate ignorance of others, near-torture-induced confessions, prosecutorial arrogance, lack of resources provided to defendants, mishandling of evidence, coercion of expert witnesses, use of junk science to dazzle a jury, the general and mistaken belief by the community that the police only arrest guilty parties, and most compellingly in Williamson's case, the inability of the criminal justice system to recognize and deal humanely with mentally ill prisoners.

My wife read the almost 450-page paperback version in one day. She then bugged me to read it for several days until I interrupted my second attempt at Barbara Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer: A Novel and dove in. Even while sick, I finished it in a day-and-a-half. After his disappointing novella "Bleachers", I'd pretty much written off Grisham (never have considered him much better an airplane read in the first place), but I'm deeply grateful to him to recognizing the power of this story and bringing to the attention of so many people with this fine book. I also salute him for sticking to the non-fiction format, resisting the novelist's urge to fictionalize the story and embellish it with tie-ins to the Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11 and the like. "The Innocent Man" may not stand up as literature to recently-deceased Norman Mailer's The Executioner's Song, but it's still a great book--the best true-crime story I've read with the most important messages about America's criminal justice system and its generally unrecognized threat to innocent men and women everywhere (and especially in Ada, OK where the DA that prosecuted the cases is still in office).

AMBIVALENCE, October 18, 2006
Ambivalence really sums up my feelings toward Mr. Grisham's latest book. Depressing is another. I applaud Mr. Grisham in his attempt to analyze the hows and whys of just what happened to Ron Williamson during his hectic, confusing, and sometimes just unlucky life. From outstanding major league baseball prospect, to drug and alcohol abuser, to mentally unstable convict, to exonerated felon, Ron Williamson never really knew any peace off the baseball diamond. His dream of a major league career shattered he simply withdrew into his own private hell of dope, booze, loose women, honky tonks, and insanity.
Sometimes a difficult book to follow, the darkness that Mr. Grisham maintains throughout the book is at times oppressive. How many times must Ron Williamson have to exhibit mental instability before someone, anyone, gets him real help and not just temporary "band-aid" his CHRONIC mental problems. It is a wonder that he didn't harm someone during his drunken, drug induced haze. Finally convicted of a murder he never committed, the complex judicial process to free him was very well told by Mr. Grisham. Ron's years spent on "death row" were both illuminating, sad, and frightening all at the same time. His eventual release and exoneration was the ONLY happy point in an otherwise sad biography of a profoundly unhappy life.
Again, I was ambivalent about this book. I can not say I enjoyed it but I did learn from it. This is not your typical light Grisham reading so be very careful. Be ready for a heavy, dark, oppressive book that while educating about the legal system, at the same time leaves one empty about the sad state of this nation's mental health programs. This up close and personal view of America's seamy underbelly will stay with you for quite awhile.

Somewhat Disappointing, January 7, 2008
The fact that this is a true story is both the book's greatest asset and it's biggest liability as well. To think that such irresponsible legal shenanigans could occur in America is truly a sobering thought. The manner in which the Williamson case and others described in the book were handled by the parties involved is disgusting. That aspect of the story makes the book an intriguing read.

On the flip side, the true nature of the story also holds Grisham back. In sticking with the facts, his creativity was limited. Among Grisham's greatest strengths as a writer are character development and intricate setting of the locale. In both of these instances, the facts limit what Grisham can do. Simply put, at times I felt I was reading the daily news, not a book.

Grisham should be applauded for writing a book that helped bring this injustice to a larger audience. The book may not entertain, certainly not to the degree of his best work, but what he did here was more important than anything else he could have written. Somewhere, at some point in the future, this book will prevent another innocent individual from being unfairly railroaded. If nothing else, Grisham should be proud of that fact, and we all should be grateful to him.

The True Nightmare, October 17, 2006
Justice sometimes get to be a commodity, rationed not by need but by wealth. This dirty secret is something all lawyers, including myself, know.

The justice system itself is designed to protect the truly innocent even at the cost of protecting the guilty. Thus a lot of safeguards are built into the system because experience has shown that once an injustice is done, it is very difficult to undo it.

Criminal lawyers, and although I am a trial lawyer I practice solely in the civil courts, will tell you that their greatest nightmare is to represent the truly innocent client. This is because although the law presumes the client is innocent, trial counsel, jaded by thousands of lies from clients, does not. If your lawyer does not truly believe in you, and you are truly innocent, can you get a fair trial?

The answer to this question is explored in what may be the best true-crime work since In Cold Blood. Ron Williamson, former minor league prospect, now burdened with incurable mental illness is targeted by the police and prosecutors in Ada, Oklahoma as the killer of Debbie Carter. Another man Dennis Fritz, whose real crime was to be a friend to Ron, is also targeted.

When the police fail to turn up a killer in nearly five years of investigation and an author puts the spotlight on the local police for a highly questionable conviction in another murder case, the cops and prosecutors press forward against Fritz and Williamson, using perjured evidence, discredited forensics, high emotion, and active concealment of exculpatory evidence. The trial judge tolerated the abuse of the defendants constitutional rights to the point of scheduling a Brady motion ( a hearing to punish the state for not turning over exculpatory evidence) after the trial, when it could do no good. The appellate courts, perhaps overwhelmed with appeals from the truly guilty, showed little evidence of ever having read the record.

So it came down to the federal courts for the system to correct itself. A federal magistrate judge carefully considered the briefs, and the trial record and was persuaded that Williamson had been denied a fair trial. The district judge, exercising the same degree of care as his magistrate and law clerks concurred, ordering the state to retry Williamson, who at one point was five days away from a date with death.

It was that order for a new trial that set into motion the events that would lead to the total exoneration of Williamson and Fritz.
When the DNA results were provided, they not only showed that Williamson and Fritz were not involved and also that the chief prosecution witness against them was in fact the real killer.

Nice Change..., November 27, 2006
To be honest, I had grown tired of John Grishom's books. They seemed to all have the same plot after a while. But this book...WOW. I was very impressed. What a scary thing to think that this goes on in our judicial systems, however, I have seen first hand that it does happen, everyday in our court systems. While some may feel that they were weighed down in too many facts, most true crime stories do this, but I didn't find it to be boring in the least. It was a great book, one of his best.

WHAT A SHAM!!!, November 23, 2006
"If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty, this book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, this book will disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book will infuriate you."

Whenever I think of John Grisham, I think of all the joy that he has brought to me through his writing, and I am always happy to see his new arrivals.

An Innocent Man is a work of non-fiction taking place in the state of Oklahoma, in the small town of Ada, in the eighties.

When Debra Sue Carter, a cocktail waitress is raped and murdered one night after leaving a bar, the police pounce immediately on Dennis Fritz, and Ron Williamson; two young men of Ada. With no evidence or witnesses, it seems as though the Law wanted to have someone to bring before the courts to prove they were doing their job. These two unfortunate men kept claiming their innocence over and over again, but all to no avail. Their appeals fell on death ears. Eventually, Mr. Fritz was given a life sentence and Mr. Williamson sent to death row.

How did the judicial system work that out? Why did they not spend some more time trying to get at the truth of what really happened that night? They spend their hopeless lives behind bars until one day; someone gets the guts to tear this charade to pieces, bit by bit, revealing the plain truth of that night.

What makes you mad about this case is to see the amount of precious time these guys wasted in jail. It took a toll on their mental and physical health, and someone should have to pay for incriminating these poor guys.
Reviewed by Heather Marshall Negahdar (SUGAR-CANE 23/11/06)

Not a true John Grisham Fan, October 15, 2006
John Grisham fans may regard this book with suspicion. It is not his usual gripping fiction. I will admit that I have read very few of his books because I am more interested in nonfiction; although I did read A Painted House and I loved it. However, this book is captivating. I was fascinated and couldn't put it down. Some true crime books predictably describe the crime and then in agonizing detail relay what happened during the trial, including transcripts of opening and closing arguments (which I usually skip through.) Grisham only includes information that is meaningful and allows the story to flow. I found it almost painful to follow every development of the evidence because I knew the significance and I was so sympathetic to the main character. I also enjoyed his occasional sarcastic comments here and there, which provided some amusement and levity.
I think that if one enjoys the true crime genre, and respects John Grisham's writing talent, this book is absolutely worth the read. I recommend it whole-heartedly. I was disappointed when I watched his interview on the Today show and he said he would likely never write non-fiction again.

Lack of remorse in Oklahoma, September 26, 2007
This story had a tremendous impact on me. I support the death penalty but was abhorred to see how flippantly it was applied in Ada Oklahoma. Read this book first and then log onto District Attorney Peterson's web site to read his defense of his actions that were the subject of the book. The first thing he displays on his website is the American flag. Then he has a lengthy and tedious defense of all the minor points in Grisham's novel. He provides statistics on the probability of innocent people being convicted of felonies as if this excuses him for almost sending an innocent person to his death. Peterson tries to blow off Grisham as an anti-death penalty advocate. I truly fear for the soul of Mr. Peterson and the good people of Ada Oklahoma - a bit of remorse and repentance for what they almost did to an innocent man would help them when they meet their Maker. Hiding behind the American flag might help now but certainly not later!

A Compelling Story, Told by a Master, November 19, 2006
I always enjoy an author who takes a chance and tries something new. It can prove he isn't a fluke or just lucky but genuinely gifted. Grisham's first foray into non-fiction is a powerful, thoughtful, important and ultimately (nessesarily) depressing and proves once and for all he is a master writer in more than one genre.
Ron Williamson's story is cautionary tale for a flawed judicial system that can, and unfortunately often makes horrible mistakes. The story of an innocent man found guilty and sent to jail for the crimes of someone else is sad, especially knowing even after years pent in prison that those years can never be returned. Some ultimately found innocent after first being convicted never live down the crime because there will always be those who will still believe he was really guilty, and the discrimination almost never ends. In the case of Williamson the injustice can never be undone, and that is just too horrific to dwell upon.
I'm sure Grisham didn't write this story to establish a basis for ending capital punishment, but maybe, just maybe that can be a single good result of his effort. As a civilized country we should be able to see beyond the rhetoric of those who think the death penalty does any good in any situation. But this book will probably bring back the debate and that can only be a good thing.
The writing is strong well paced, and the research that went into telling the story in an honest way produced an excellent result. Though I hope Grisham will continue with his fiction career, I wouldn't be at all disappointed if in the future he wanders again to non-fiction. He has the honest, legitimate chops for both genres.

Great Book, Terrible Story, October 13, 2006
Grisham's "The Innocent Man" is about how a former local baseball star and his friend' descended into a 12-year hellhole of criminal justice incompetence and abuse that led one to the state's Death Row and the other to a life sentence - contributors included their defense counsels, the Ada, OK. police department, jail staff, prosecutor and judge, and the state crime lab, Court of Appeals, and Department of Corrections. Lies, fundamental errors, fake science, and failure to provide basic mental-health care ruled, until a reviewer in the federal court system took the time to realize that a serious miscarriage had taken place. Even then it took another four years for the two to be freed thanks to DNA evidence (the prosecutor still fought their release), and still another four years for the real killer to be convicted - even though his strong likelihood of guilt was obvious at the beginning (last person seen with the victim, and in a conflict mode) and absolute DNA proof available when those falsely imprisoned were released.

Two lives were ruined - a travesty that likely would have been avoided if the judge and prosecutor involved had not been so anxious to save $7,200 on expert rebuttal testimony. Grisham also briefly referenced two others ensnared in a similar web that eventually won freedom through DNA, as well as two others that probably would have were the evidence available. Nonetheless, Oklahoma is back to "business as usual" - executing more prisoners/capita than any other state, including Texas.

The good news is that DNA testing has since become much more prevalent, and the justice system also has people like the federal court system reviewer who originally flagged the case, Barry Sheck, and others. Also, kudos to the relatives of the two falsely accused - they provided invaluable psychological support, and to Grisham for revealing the sometimes startling weakness of our criminal justice system. ... Read more

Editorial Review

A riveting true crime story that vividly recounts the birth of modern forensics.

At the end of the nineteenth century, serial murderer Joseph Vacher, known and feared as “The Killer of Little Shepherds,” terrorized the French countryside. He eluded authorities for years—until he ran up against prosecutor Emile Fourquet and Dr. Alexandre Lacassagne, the era’s most renowned criminologist. The two men—intelligent and bold—typified the Belle Époque, a period of immense scientific achievement and fascination with science’s promise to reveal the secrets of the human condition.

With high drama and stunning detail, Douglas Starr revisits Vacher’s infamous crime wave, interweaving the story of how Lacassagne and his colleagues were developing forensic science as we know it. We see one of the earliest uses of criminal profiling, as Fourquet painstakingly collects eyewitness accounts and constructs a map of Vacher’s crimes. We follow the tense and exciting events leading to the murderer’s arrest. And we witness the twists and turns of the trial, celebrated in its day. In an attempt to disprove Vacher’s defense by reason of insanity, Fourquet recruits Lacassagne, who in the previous decades had revolutionized criminal science by refining the use of blood-spatter evidence, systematizing the autopsy, and doing groundbreaking research in psychology. Lacassagne’s efforts lead to a gripping courtroom denouement.

The Killer of Little Shepherds is an important contribution to the history of criminal justice, impressively researched and thrillingly told. ... Read more

Reviews

The psycopath and the professor, September 10, 2010

Very Interesting Story of Earlier Serial Killer and Forensics Methods, September 19, 2010

Science and crime solving in the 19th century, September 10, 2010

Fascinating, Thorough And Disturbing, November 7, 2010

Account of 19th Century Serial Killer's Horrific Crimes, Supplemented With History of Forensics, October 6, 2010

Very interesting, September 27, 2010

People lie. Evidence does not., September 18, 2010

"One must know how to doubt.", August 27, 2010

Very Impressive, November 24, 2010

Intelligent, thrilling and educational, November 17, 2010

Editorial Review

“Ben Macintyre’s rollicking, spellbinding Agent Zigzag blends the spy-versus-
spy machinations of John le Carré with the high farce of Evelyn Waugh.”
—William Grimes, The New York Times

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year
A Washington Post Best Book of 2007
One of the Top 10 Best Books of 2007 (Entertainment Weekly)
New York Times Best of the Year Round-Up
New York Times Editors’ Choice

Eddie Chapman was a charming criminal, a con man, and a philanderer. He was also one of the most remarkable double agents Britain has ever produced. Inside the traitor was a man of loyalty; inside the villain was a hero. The problem for Chapman, his spymasters, and his lovers was to know where one persona ended and the other began. Based on recently declassified files, Agent Zigzag tells Chapman’s full story for the first time. It’s a gripping tale of loyalty, love, treachery, espionage, and the thin and shifting line between fidelity and betrayal. ... Read more

Reviews

An Enveloping Tale Of Espionage---And It's All True, September 13, 2007
Over and over through the years as I've read books about real life spies ("Comrade" Kim Philby and Sidney Reilly among others) I've been struck by how much more amazing these non-fiction stories were than those concocted as would-be pulp fiction thrillers. I've also been struck at how all the best spies were anything but good people, and they shared traits of cruelty and self-love that bordered on sociopathic narcissism. Ben Macintyre's biography of Eddie Chapman gives us a man who continues that dubious tradition. This page-turner is fact-filled and well-written and the life it tells of outdoes anything fiction has cranked out in quite a while. It's a very enjoyable read that presented the history of someone I personally had never heard of before I was introduced to him in this book.

Eddie Chapman was no James Bond or even a Sidney Reilly, but he was one of the boldest, most brazen con men ever to serve a nation or a cause, and in so doing he found some redemption from the wrongs of his earlier life. From his days as a roguish charmer who infiltrated high society and first infatuated and later blackmailed rich women in the most callous and base ways imaginable, this safecracker, thief and extortionist found himself sprung by the Germans early in the war when he was then serving a fifteen-year sentence in an English prison in the Channel Islands.

The charismatic Chapman, as liked by his German liberators as by those who'd known him back home, was then recruited by the Nazis as a spy who agreed to do their bidding and sabotage a British aircraft factory in Hertfordshire. He parachuted back onto his native soil during the busy Christmas season of 1942, only to prove his ultimate loyalty by going to the British and offering to in turn spy on the Germans. Ultimately faking the attack in Hertfordshire and returning to Germany through neutral Portugal, Chapman concocted a plan in which he would assassinate Adolph Hitler at a political rally. Although this plan obviously never came to fruition, Chapman bravely continued his double agency thru to the war's conclusion, an astounding feat of skill, luck and sheer courage all the more amazing considering the short lifespan of most other double agents.

So skilled was he at his falsehoods that Chapman was befriended by a number of well-placed Nazi personnel, and was decorated for his service to the Third Reich. Eventually after a posting in German-held Norway, late in the war Chapman was again smuggled into the United Kingdom where in his most noble deed he saved countless lives by concocting false reports to the Germans on the accuracy of their V1 and V2 rockets. In his communiqu�s Chapman claimed these flying bombs were landing beyond their intended targets, causing the Luftwaffe to re-adjust them to locations the British deemed less populated and therefore safer.

Incredibly after this the gifted liar and actor Chapman returned yet again to Nazi-controlled Norway, where he continued to be of service to his government in London, this time by turning over misleading information to the by-then moribund German military.

Chapman's life was one of amazing luck, daring, and amorality, but his story is also one of a man who betrayed nearly every friend who ever trusted him, and who ruined many lives, even as his service record shows he saved many others. He went on to not only survive the Second World War but live to old age, profiting from an MI5 pension and from the proceeds of the book and film royalties to his remarkable story. Macintyre skillfully takes us into the deeds and era of this confidence man turned double agent, and in doing so has given his readers a fine work of non-fiction that is a pleasure to complete.

Fascinating and true spy story that reads like a thriller, November 11, 2007
This highly entertaining and utterly gripping book is the true story of Eddie Chapman, a British petty criminal who ended up serving as an spy for both England and Germany during World War 2, and who was hailed as a hero by both sides. "Agent Zigzag" is the name that he was given by the British authorities who were aware of his status as a double agent and used him to feed misinformation to the Germans.

Chapman's story is so full of adventure and ripe with coincidence that would be unbelievable if it were a novel. The story of how he comes to be an agent for the Germans is in itself worthy of a movie, taking us from a bank robbery in Scotland to prison - and eventual freedom - on the island of Jersey and then incarceration in the worst of Parisian prisons.

Chapman emerges as a kind of James Bond character: a handsome and charming rogue with a penchant for adventure, for gambling, fine food and fast women. He is a fascinating mass of contradictions: utterly loyal to his friends even as he betrays them, a hopeless criminal who develops into a resourceful spy. But even the minor characters leap off the pages in this tale. The photographs are also well chosen and add to the story.

Ben MacIntyre has amassed a vast amount of detail about not only Chapman, but his associates in both the German and English secret services. There is lots of interesting information about how those secret services functioned and what they achieved during the war. I was particularly riveted by the details about his training in spy techniques by the Nazis. However the book never gets bogged down in historical facts. Like the best biographies, it reads almost like fiction. I highly recommend this book.

Fun Read -- How War Brings Out the Best From the Worst on Men, August 10, 2008
Ah, the story of Eddie Chapman; long awaited and finally produced (actually two of them on the same day, but the thrust of "Zigzag" by Booth ruled it out for me.) I had read Masterman's "The Double-Cross System in the War from 1939 to 1945" which gave Chapman six pages, seen the movie "Triple-Cross", and wondered what the story really was. The movie bore no resemblance to the truth as usual, but finding out the truth in spy stories is always a realm where educated guess and conjecture must fill in the frustrating blanks. Chapman's story rings true in every respect and well worth the read over the 2-4 nights it provides.

Earlier reviewers have exalted or condemned Chapman, so allow me to state that essentially all spies/agents have a screw loose and a yen for danger, excitement and feeling special. They operate with governmental assistance well above the law -- a heady role that must in itself be its own reward. Few if any spies for western democracies have been justly rewarded for their endeavors, as such rewards are generally denied under the rubric of maintaining security. Most ex-agents are relegated to obscurity and penury while some are "terminated with extreme prejudice" (killed) if they are considered as security risks. In this respect, working for a totalitarian government like that in the old USSR has its rewards, as they tend to resettle ex-agents in government positions. There is something about a democracy that makes a spy untrustworthy to the public and unworthy of its respect. As such, Chapman was no exception.

Agent handlers or case officers are usually like Ryde, Chapman's last British handler -- bureaucrats playing it safe and willing to sacrifice their agents. The agents themselves are often despised for their courage and exciting lives -- things well beyond the capabilities of their handlers. In order to be successful, an agent must outwit the enemy and fend off bungled, misguided and often hostile actions by his "friendly" handlers. In Chapman's case he was under suspicion from both sides and faced dangerous situations that would have been insurmountable for a man with less larceny in his heart. That's what makes his case so extraordinary and improbable. But true.

Yes, Chapman was a cad and a career criminal, but many agents feature a dark side. So do many heroes. The difference is that the agent operates outside the law to be successful, and the best training for such activity is survival in a criminal world. Ask any under-cover police officer.

Other reviewers have made an issue about what Chapman accomplished. Few spies other than Burgess, Philby, Hollis, Alger Hiss, Ted Hall, the Rosenbergs, or Penkovskiy make a lasting difference -- even Richard Sorge's impact is disputed from the Soviet archives. Intelligence is made up from a number of small fragments or information, often obtained at great personal cost by unknown sources. And I'm not talking about a case officer like Valerie Plame who becomes a media darling without taking risks. Chapman was an real agent who risked his life repeatedly, made some contributions, and that should be enough. If the reader wants a story with great successes, he will have to look to stories of those traitors listed above who had unusual positions of access to information of particular value to another country. Not every agent saves the world, but many taken together just might. FYI, I was disappointed to see the author use the trendy term "mole", coined by John Le Carre, instead of the proper term "resident agent" that was in use until the 1970s.

With respect to the danger Chapman faced in Germany, it should be remembered that a number of individuals were constantly seeking to discredit or expose him, and if any single one of them had been successful, his life would have been forfeit after a period of torture. I suspect that none of the complaining reviewers would be willing to undertake such risks. Perhaps this is the "Mission Impossible" syndrome whereby we have become conditioned to expect truly impossible feats as requirements to hold our attention.

The author takes great pains to limit his presentation to facts that are confirmed through multiple sources rather than relying on Chapman. No doubt we all would have wanted more of the story, but with the available sources exhausted by this book, we will have to fall back on our own educated guesses and conjecture.

Read the book -- you'll learn a lot about how human intelligence is obtained or not obtained. The author does a good job of research and writing, and if the outcomes are not what we would want -- well, then, that is our problem.

Total satisfaction, March 17, 2008
What a pleasure to sit down with 'Agent Zigzag'. It makes you never want to pick up another spy novel in your life, so extraordinary and particular are the experiences of Zigzag, aka, Eddie Chapman. It's the little things that convince. Without giving anything away, who knew that the British Intelligence services wasted time looking for 'Bobby the Pig' when Bobby the pig was simply Chapman's pet pig mentioned when he was learning to send coded messages? Mcintyre's account occasionally slips towards mocking German Intelligence who certainly had their fair share of successes, but that takes little away from the sheer thrill of following Chapman back and forth between England, France and Germany. Certainly to this reader, it was an intriguing mixture of psychological study and page turning adventure.

Don't Buy A Used Car From This Man, March 10, 2008


Eric Chapman is a young career criminal. He's sitting in a jail in Jersey when the Nazis take over in World War II. Eric gets the Germans interested in his proposal to become a spy for them, and is whisked off to an Abwehr training camp in occupied France. The Germans question his loyalty to their cause, but after a long period of testing and interrogation they decide to trust him. What they don't know is that Mr. Chapman is a sociopath who is using them to keep out of jail. He is parachuted back into England where he immediately tells British intelligence that he has been sent over as a German spy. So now he becomes a double agent.

Eric is a charming fellow, and develops friendships in both countries' intelligence services. It never bothers him that he is betraying people. It also doesn't bother him that he is involved in serious romances with women in England and Norway. He manages to convince his German minders that he has blown up a British airplane factory, and then makes his way back to France where he joins his German friends and has a great time before being sent to Norway.

While in retrospect Mr. Chapman doesn't achieve an awful lot as a spy, he does enjoy his new life. The Germans are fond of him as are most of his British minders. He has a fianc� in England, but thinks nothing of carrying on another romance in Norway. He even engages in a few criminal activities while spying. When he finally is dismissed from the intelligence service he happily goes back to his life of crime. He found himself in court from time to time, but never was convicted of anything. As an honorary crime correspondent for the Sunday Telegraph he warned readers to steer clear of people like him.

You can read this book as history, but I think you will find it even more interesting as entertainment. In real life people warmed to this engaging crook, and you develop some affection for him while reading this book. Just don't buy a used car from him.

Amazing story, June 13, 2009
I've just literally finished this book 5 minutes ago and my first thought was to put a rave review on amazon.com.

What's amazing to me is that having read many books on WWII, this is the first time I've ever read about this double agent. I suppose the Military Secrets act had something to do with it, but surely that's run out after all this time. Possibility the "notoriety" of the subject had something to do with it too.

Here's my rundown of it:

1) The story. The exploits of this man is just absolutely amazing. Not amazing in the derring do exploits a la James Bond, but just amazing in how he pulled it off and his experiences as a whole. I mean that he never had to punch out 5 sentries, stick a bomb under a general's car and then jump off a bridge to escape, but just what he did in the war. Sitting in a comfy chair it's hard to realize in those days how dangerous all of it was. He could have been hauled off for a little fingernail pulling from both sides. I won't summarize the story, which you can get from wiki, but it read like a well written novel.

2) The writing. I think Ben MacIntyre did a great job. The book was easy to read, easy to follow and kept my interest. For a few hours this week, he brought me back into 40's Britain. And I think he did a good job of presenting Chapman, more than that I think he did a fair and unbiased job of presenting Chapman, which was more important. He didn't idolize Chapman, nor did he throw him to the dogs. You got the good with the bad and no punches pulled.

3) Summary. If you are a WWII buff at all, or any kind of WWII spy buff, you need to read this book. Here and there I'd read about the hapless German agents in Britain, but this is really the first British agent I'd read about. A must buy for me, a 10/10. Tom Hanks is supposed to do a film on it, I look forward to it.

An Unsympathetic Spy, November 22, 2007
"Agent Zig Zag" is a far better book than "Zig Zag," the other book about Eddie Chapman, the extraordinary WWII double agent with loyalties to the Brits. However, for all the hype about these two books, neither is a "thriller," per se, and both tell what is mostly an interesting (sometimes fascinating) "period piece" story about the unlikely thief-criminal-womanizer-sociopath who became a famous -- if barely trusted -- spy for Britain. "Agent Zig Zag" is more of a psychological accounting of Chapman than anything, and yet the story does give a very well crafted "insider" view of WWII, a perspective that few other novels or books about WWII espionage ever have done -- and I've read most of them! One is left with a (though possibly quite biased) clear insight into the workings of the Abwehr and also its counter part, the British Intelligence Service. How anything ever got done by either is a small miracle. Eddie Chapman, the spy in question, is thoroughly unlikeable and wholly unsympathetic. One can admire his heroics, his risk-taking, and his sheer "bon vivant" style of being a spy and of living his life in general. He was smart, that I can give him. My criticism of the other book ("Zig Zag") is tempered by this book. "Zig Zag's" author fawns over Eddie Chapman and makes you feel guilty if you don't agree with the author's over-wrought sense of how the Brits never honored Chapman's achievements -- in other words, those "ungrateful Brits." Here, in "Agent Zig Zag" with this author, you are free to decide that for yourself. Both books, however, are flawed from this standpoint: NEITHER book spells out in clear form EXACTLY what it is that Eddie Chapman actually DID -- over the course of his engagement by both the Germans and the Brits other than the fact that he did NOT GET CAUGHT by the Germans -- to really and truly help or assist in the outcome of the war!! The people who deserve credit for whatever it is Chapman accomplished are his team of British handlers (and to a lesser extent his German handlers), those very smart men who designed his activities, who created the deceptions and who protected him from his own self-destructive ways. Most of the time, as I understood the story, whether Eddie was in Madrid, Paris, Oslo, Berlin, Lisbon or London, he lived a high and rather easy life of booze, women, and debauchery. Very little of his character is admirable and almost none of his behavior stands the test of devotion to duty or to people. He really was a jerk. He betrayed nearly everyone he ever met. He made false promises to at least 3 women who loved him, whereupon he abandoned them for other women. He remained married to one of them, Betty Farmer, throughout his life, but that marriage lasted only because Farmer did not abandon him! Today, he would be diagnosed as a psychopath or sociopath, an angry and unpredictable abuser, and alcoholic, a man with little conscience and one who rarely learned from experience -- someone who relied on his charm and false social skills to get what he wanted -- usually money, women, booze and high risk adventures -- for the thrill of it. So, what you get with this book is clear insight into the espionage scene in WWII and an in-depth psychological profile of a thoroughly despicable man, who may have helped the allied cause as a result of his recruitment to play off both sides against each other for his own fanatical need for adventure. But the question remains in my mind: just what indeed did he do -- for either side? The answer is not found in this book, no matter how well-written it is. I truly liked the book.

Entertaining read; fascinating life, April 19, 2010
AZ is non-fiction as Hollywood blockbuster: a bizarre but true tale of thievery, spycraft, and high adventure. Judging from the sources consulted BM gets the story right -- at least, as right as anyone is likely to get it. And what a story is! By book's end I was not sure how many parts (un)common criminal, how many parts patriot Chapman was. But whether Chapman is to be admired or reviled is beside the point. AZ, and others like him, are rightly subjects of fascination. BM does a terrific job of illuminating this obscure bit of history.

Zigzag: a Run for their Money, March 4, 2010
I bought the hardcover of this book several years ago, and for one reason or other, I got around to reading it only a couple of days ago. Once I had begun though, I couldn't stop reading, because this World War II tale about a minor London villain-turned-double-agent is utterly riveting.

Of all the books on espionage that I've read (and I am addicted to them), this one differs from the others in that instead of concentrating upon the highly-educated upper echelons of SIS and MI5, it focuses upon the running of a low-level but important cog in the intelligence wheel. By concentrating on the running of Eddie Chapman (self-educated behind bars), "Agent Zigzag" gives us a penetrating look into the workings of the British XX (double-cross) system of turning German agents into British agents, and covering their activities by means of ULTRA (the secret cracking of the German codes)--or using the double agents to cover ULTRA, depending on how one looks at the problem.

As with all spy narratives, that of "Agent Zigzag" is ambiguous. What were Eddie Chapman's motives? Purely mercenary? To save his own skin? Eventually patriotic? The ambiguity carries over to his handlers, both in MI5 and in the Abwehr. Were these organizations' agents who risked their lives merely pawns in a life-and-death chess game? Were they expendable? Did promises made to them become negotiable, depending upon which way the winds of war were blowing? What part did class play in decisions affecting their lives? For that matter, did either the British or German intelligence agencies concerned hold a monopoly on "goodness" or "badness"?

These are only a few of the questions that Mr. McIntyre raises in a book that not only kept me reading but also kept me thinking about it afterwards.

The Artful dodger, April 18, 2009
What never fails to amaze me about reading about real-life spies is the sophistication of the spies given the time period. True, World War II was the cutting edge of modern history, with electronics and radar communications being employed. But this is the story of Eddie Chapman, who was one of the boldest, bravest and cleverest spies who has ever graced the double-agent ring.

Mr. Chapman was not one who aspired to higher ideals. He was a callous cad who was rescued out of prison and trained by the Brits because he would be expendable. He was put through a battery of tests determining his amorality. He "passed"

But he left a trail of broken hearts in his wake. Women for him were to be used and discarded, and the only true love of his life was a fellow double agent who was likely as stone-hearted as he was.

Still, Mr. Chapman overcame his moral defects to become a real life hero who saved countless lives posing as a spy for the Germans, but having the British empire at heart.

Beyond looking at Mr Chapman's flawed character, this book portrays a fascinating snapshot of the times, into the German psyche, and to the hit and run tactics of the British. While the German army built a fierce army machine, it had a vulnerable underbelly, which the English recognized, and exploited. Mr. Chapman, although performing perhaps what G-d had designed him to, was England's vehicle to get at the German's.
To his credit, this he did. ... Read more

Editorial Review

In a breathtaking, minute-by-minute format, December 8, 1980: The Day John Lennon Died follows the events leading to the horrible moment when Mark David Chapman calmly fired his Charter Arms .38 Special into the rock icon, realizing his perverse fantasy of attaining perennial notoriety. New York Times bestselling author Keith Elliot Greenberg takes us back to New York City and the world John Lennon woke up to. The day begins with a Rolling Stone photo session that takes on an uncomfortable tone when photographer Annie Leibowitz tries to maneuver Yoko Ono out of the shot. Later Lennon gives the last interview of his life, declaring, "I consider that my work won't be finished until I'm dead and buried and I hope that's a long, long time." We follow the other Beatles, Lennon's family, the shooter, fans, and New York City officials through the day, and as the hours progress, the pace becomes more breathless. Once the fatal shots are fired, the clock continues to tick as Dr. Stephan Lynn walks from the emergency room after declaring the former Beatle dead, Howard Cosell announces the singer's passing on Monday Night Football, and Paul McCartney is lambasted for muttering "Drag, isn't it?" - his bereavement confused with indifference. The epilogue examines the aftermath of the killing: the considerable moment when 100,000 New Yorkers stood in silence in Central Park, the posthumous reunion of the Beatles in the studio - with George, Paul, and Ringo accompanying the recordings of their old friend - the unveiling of a bronze John Lennon statue in Fidel Castro's Cuba, and the durable legacy that persists today. ... Read more

Reviews

"Eerie portrayal of a life unfinished...", October 9, 2010
Many Beatles fans, I'm sure, had trouble with John Lennon's seemingly newfound life in the late 1970's when he'd discovered 1) that, irrespective of his early seventies drug induced personality and "lost weekend" antics, he truly loved Yoko Ono and wanted to spend eternity with her and 2) that a whole new vein of music was slowly evolving in his mind, given this newfound serenity, and it was music well removed from that of the Beatles...that is to say that the notion of a reunion now seemed a distant non-starter. With Lennon's release of "Double Fantasy" in October, 1980, a new, non-Beatles idealism was growing and Lennon, to some, seemed to have reinvented himself on the world music stage. To a small faction, however, this new musical direction and seemingly tranquil lifestyle drove a wedge into the endless enchantment that Beatles fanatics, in hopes of a reunion, were guilty of and, as Keith Greenberg points out in this excellent crime drama wrapped around an intimate portrayal of Lennon's late 70's life as well as a plausible post-Beatles explanation for their breakup, explains, perhaps, some rationale for Mark David Chapman's horrid and completely self-centered and selfish act. Combining thorough investigation with intimate and sincere moments in the life of John and Yoko, Greenberg pens a step by step account of that fateful day and the aftermath that brings a fresh and nuanced look at this seminal moment in music history.

Intertwining chronological events of December 8th 1980 with categorical memories of the Beatles era, Greenberg constructs the whole of Lennon's life out of seemingly fragmented parts. We see the demise of the Beatles, the deep convictions for a fair and meaningful universal peace and, of course, the music. First with the Plastic Ono Band and then with self titled albums, Lennon composes some of the seventies most influential music, all the while still trying to "find" and define himself personally as he matures. The literary result is a marvelous and seamless narrative that takes the past and gives an ethereal context to that day and its aftermath.

Chapman's psychosis is also clearly on display here as Greenberg has clearly done his due diligence and presents a fair and compassionate account of Chapman who's personae is riddled with self doubt and destructive tendencies all the while being harbored by his ever present copy of "Catcher In The Rye". Chapman then is shown sliding (some would say becomes uncovered) ever so surely into the maniacal personality that, in the end, reveals the true danger that he possessed all along and one that he brought to bear on that fateful night.

I would say that the only critique of this work that I can muster is that Greenberg's post assassination coverage of the grief extolled by all Lennon's intimates is, at times, schmaltzy and a bit overdone. This is especially true when explaining Paul McCartney's "Drag, isn't it?" remarks in the immediate aftermath of Lennon's death.

All told though, Greenberg is able to take a clear veneration of the Beatles and Lennon, in particular, and turn it into an excellent investigative account that doesn't lose the literary touch that great books need. I would definitely recommend this to all readers.

Masterful storytelling, October 18, 2010
This book does what few (if any) others have done. It offers an almost moment by moment dissection of one of the saddest days in music history. Quite simply, the storytelling is unique and comprehensive and it leaves you feeling like you were there. I would recommend this to John Lennon and Beatles fans - but also to casual observers and younger folks who want a glimpse into the kind of impact a tragedy can have on an entire society.

A Great Read, Buy This Now. Must Own for the Fan or History Buff, October 19, 2010
As an avid fan of John Lennon and the Beatles, I very much enjoyed this book. A well crafted, original look at what I believe, is one of the most tragic days in the history of music. I have read virtually every book on the subject (Who Really Killed John Lennon?, Nowhere Man, and Lennon Legend, just to name a few) and my collection would not be complete without this book.

A Disappointment, October 28, 2010
This is deceptive. The title and jacket sleeve indicates the book is about December 8th 1980. In fact, only a rather small portion of the book details the events of 12/8/80. The rest of the book is filler covering the same history of John Lennon we've read many times before. I wish the author would go back and rewrite this book with the focus being on 12/8/80 only. If he made the effort, a great book could be had.

Something strange is happening here..., November 21, 2010
Something strange is happening here! It is more than a little peculiar how the majority reviewers who have given this book a 5 star rating all have only one review if you check on their user names. Wow, this book must have really inspired a lot of people - well I don't think so!

It looks to me like the author/publisher is pretty busy pushing this book or it must be good to have friends and family to canvas on your behalf - is it not? Some people are just shameless.
Save your hard earned money folks because this book is a rip-off - do not buy it!

A Modern Day Classic, November 30, 2010
I can't believe it's been 30 years since John Lennon died. It certainly doesn't seem like that long ago when I was driving my royal blue Dodge Dart and heard the news over my transistor radio. To think of all the great music we have missed out on and the possible Beatles reunions that could have occurred before George's death is truly sad.

This book really took me back to that time. It reminded me of the things that were going on in that period. How the death affected not just the other Beatles, but music fans and society as well is pretty amazing.

Kudos to Mr. Greenberg. You really did a great job in writing this book, and as an old-school wrestling fan, I'm looking forward to reading your other books on Classy Fred Blassie, Superstar Billy Graham and Ric Flair. If they're anything like this book, they will be fast and fun reads. Keep up the great work.

Worth Your Time!, October 19, 2010
A brilliant read. Greenberg's insight into the past is a moving experience I'd recommend to anyone.

An Incomplete Life, November 29, 2010
This is a long overdue book. I remember watching ABC and hearing the news that John Lennon was dead. My initial impression was shock and confusion. I followed the newspaper accounts and remembered when JL was memorialized with a simple plaza across from his NYC home called Strawberry Fields. I went there a few months after the dedication and was amazed at the sheer number of people milling around in tribute to Lennon. Reflecting on that now, I wonder why I was surprised since Lennon was what brought me there in 1985 and in the years since.
This book looks at Lennon's life specifically around the time of his death when he was emerging from a self-imposed retirement/exile from performing. The Lennon I saw portrayed in this book is a more thoughtful and introspective person when contrasted with the Beatles era Lennon. The story as defined by the immediate time preceding and following Lennon's deah sheds a new light on his renewed creativity minus the Beatles and the maturity he found with his recommitment to his second marriage and his second chance at fatherhood when Sean Lennon was born. Lennon was robbed of what seemed a bright, productive and happy future in the flash of a second. It analyzes the obsession of his fan/murder Mark David Chapman as well as the impact Lennon's death had on his family, friends, and fans. THE DAY JOHN LENNON DIED is a fascinating and somewhat bittersweet look at an incomplete life which was taken far too soon.
While clearly readers interested in this book would probably be fans, this book has a broader appeal in the sense that it revisits yet another time when the music died. It defines Lennon's mythic appeal and the public's fascination with him, while delivering the message that he was a real human being that could die under unthnkable circumstances.

Revelatory, November 28, 2010
I thought I knew the John Lennon story through and through. Just this past week, I saw on PBS a docudrama (Lennon Naked) and a documentary (LennonNYC), and I have read countless books about my favorite former Beatle, the latest being Ray Coleman's excellent Lennon. But I must say that Keith Greenberg has done a nice job putting a new spin on a well-told tale that we collectively wished hadn't happened on Dec. 8, 1980.

It's obvious and understandable that the author decided not to seek Yoko's or Sean's input. Instead Greenberg captures so many interesting "what I was doing when I heard"-type stories from messengers to DJs to even professional wrestlers.

An example of his obviously exhaustive research are three revelations just in the span of two randomly selected pages (154 & 155):

* Chapman had established a relationship with the photographer who often camped out at the Dakota.
* On the weekend before the shooting John called his Aunt Mimi in England to tell her that he would soon visit her with Sean and maybe Julian too.
* Paul McCartney, with whom he had so long been at odds, called John to congratulate him on the release of Double Fantasy.

Also, Greenberg's background as a crime reporter makes perfect sense for a book like this, as opposed to a mere music fan. Well done.

A truly brilliant and fascinating look at the death of a legend, October 19, 2010
WOW! I just finished reading Keith Elliot Greenberg's "DECEMBER 8, 1980: THE DAY JOHN LENNON DIED" and I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed it. In fact, I was expecting to come on here to join in the praising of this well written, fascinating tale about a tragic day that changed music and pop culture forever, and was very surprised to read that two people who claim to have read the same book that I just finished have chosen to write disparaging things about the author.

First, let me start with Richard's comments. For someone to dog-ear pages and reference their numbers in an attempt to criticize someone else's work shows that they are more interested in being vindictive than being impartial. His review is not about Mr. Greenberg's account, but about the imaginary one he wishes was written. For someone who has as much knowledge on the Beatles as they claim to have, why are they telling the author what he missed, should have covered and the style with which he should have written it? What I think we have here (and it's evident by the lengthy novel he calls his review) is a wannabe author who doesn't have the style, knowledge, drive or charisma to write his own book, so instead, he writes bad reviews about good books hoping to get noticed. Very shameful.

What Richard misses is that this piece was not written for those who have already read copious books about Mr. Lennon - of course there is going to be some overlap. It's a credible journalist's attempt to take the reader through the events leading up to and on that fateful day. I personally have read just one Lennon book prior to this, and I found this was a very thorough and detailed account of what was happening in that era. If anything, it's great that people are still honoring Lennon's legend 30 years after his death by writing books about him. We (as Beatles fans) should be encouraging more in-depth books on the "Fab Four," not discouraging them.

As for the author's writing style and "one-liners." I thought this was a clever way to get certain points across. A lot of times, you'll finish a chapter before going on to do something else, and this was a great way to build suspense, and leave you wanting to read on.

In regards to Elliott's short, yet bitter review, you should learn how to spell aficionado (not "aficianado") before you begin pointing out typos and misspellings. This only immediately destroys your credibility as an intelligent, well-read and reliable book reviewer. I sincerely hope that the readers without an ax to grind get on here and post accurate and helpful reviews instead of scathing witch-hunts.

So for the record, this book is NOT a missed opportunity. It's a very quick and entertaining read. I do recommend it as a holiday present or a special treat for anyone who still loves and appreciates John Lennon as much as I do. The man may have died, but the music and the legend will live on forever. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Praised by everyone from Bernie Siegel to Daniel Goleman to Larry Dossey, Rachel Remen has a unique perspective on healing rooted in her background as a physician, a professor of medicine, a therapist, and a long-term survivor of chronic illness. In a deeply moving and down-to-earth collection of true stories, this prominent physician shows us life in all its power and mystery and reminds us that the things we cannot measure may be the things that ultimately sustain and enrich our lives. ... Read more

Reviews

Everyone should own this book!, September 14, 2006
Anyone who reads Kitchen Table Wisdom will be touched and inspired by the learning processes of the patients and the life lessons which they teach us through their experiences. The stories are life-affirming and will validate your own experiences in a way that is frequently unavailable in our present social context.
This is a MUST READ for anyone who is a "health-care professional." The wisdom and compassion learned from a lifetime of being both a doctor and a healer is beautifully and articulately expressed in this book. It could easily be described as an ethical will.

Must Reading, January 9, 2008
Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories That Heal
I was given a copy of this book by a colleague many years ago. I only recently read it for the first time, and I now realize what a wonderful gift I received. I know I will reread this book and refer to it many times. The subtitle explains it: "Stories That Heal." I cannot imagine that anyone reading this book thoughtfully would not be deeply rewarded for the time spent. I very rarely have read something that I would recommend to EVERYBODY, but this is one book I WILL recommend to everybody. Epiphany, anyone? File under "Guide for Living Well."

I Love Rachel!, October 28, 2007
This is one of my all time favorite books. Since receiving a copy as a gift about ten years ago, I have purchased more than half a dozen to give as gifts. As I explained to a grieving friend, this book does not grab you and dazzle you, it just sneaks up quietly and gives you a very comforting hug. Obviously, it has staying power. I leave my copy out and will randomly read a chapter since I find it enlightening and inspiring. Oh, that all doctors had Dr. Remen's insight and sensitivity! I feel I know her, and I do truly love her. Like all really great books, it seems to develop more depth as time goes by and I mature.

"Kitchen Table Wisdom" is a very comfortable title but hardly touches the depth of effect this book has had on me!, January 6, 2009
I heard Dr. Remen interviewed on NPR and knew I had to purchase the book. Her manner was so calm and full of wisdom. Although the book deals with life threatening illnesses and end of life issues for the patient and how medical caregivers respond, it was very healing to me
as a widow whose husband died of cancer. It was so gratifying to hear
how Dr. Remen, as a patient and a medical professional, has affected the process by which people in the medical field have returned to a more caring expression when dealing with patients.

Our family found that the caregivers, from volunteers, CNAs, Hemotology, Imaging & Respitory therapists, transportation people, Nurses to Doctors on the oncology ward of Welmont Holston Valley Hospital in Kingsport were all so caring to my husband and everyone of us!

Thank you, Dr. Remen for your work and this book. It is one I will keep in my library for rereading and recommend to many people. Good grief is hard work and your work is a great resource!

Guerry McConnell

From a therapist's viewpoint...More than just an inspirational book--, July 12, 2009
This isn't your everyday sappy inspirational story book. The vingettes are real and heartwarming. I have worked with cancer patients who have told me that this book offers more than just inspiration; it offers attitude alternatives. The stories and anecdotes in the book show how people in all walks of life from all backgrounds and of all ages, colors, and races deal with the cards they are dealt.

Although this book is not intended as a substitute for therapy or mental health counseling, it does afford the reader a thoughtful, common sense approach for dealing with life's difficulties. It's almost like sitting around the kitchen table with trusted family and long-time friends and trading stories which hold courage and perserverence at their core. I recommend this book to patients and clients (and their families) who face mental, emotional, or physical adversities. I believe that this is the best book of its kind on the market.


Cherie Renfrow Starry
Private Practice Counselor/Therapist

Calling the Whole Person, September 7, 2010
I was drawn to this book after listening to an interview with Dr. Remen from the "Speaking of Faith" series on National Public Radio. I could tell from the interview that I was listening to a wise and compassionate person who was speaking from a deep well of experience about the real needs of patients, families, and those involved in health care delivery.

Remen is a Professor of Medicine at the University of California-San Francisco and a chronic sufferer from Crohn's disease, an often debilitating illness. This volume is a collection of brief stories from her own experiences as well as the lives of hundreds of patients she has counseled. Remen has been something of a medical reformer and pioneer as she turned toward the emotional and spiritual needs of cancer patients she was counseling.

Typical of the moving stories in this book is the selection about a man with cancer named Dieter. Convinced that his chemo was no longer working, Dieter told his doctor he wanted to stop the treatments but to continue his appointments just to talk. His doctor pushed him away, saying that if he discontinued treatments, there was nothing more he could do for him. Dieter told his cancer support group, "My doctor's love is as important to me as his chemotherapy, but he does not know." Ironically, Remen discloses in this story that Deiter's doctor was one of her counseling clients, although neither Deiter nor his doctor knew that, and she could not disclose it. The doctor was depressed and isolated, complaining that he was just another white coat and that no one cared for him. Sadly, neither doctor nor patient could receive healing from each other.

Remen's mission has been to base health care relationships on the whole person. This requires new forms of medical education which she has developed. Remem herself has said that she had to "unlearn" much of her own medical training--with its emphasis on detached clinical professionalism--in order to be someone who not just cures but heals. This collection of stories reveals much of the fruit of this struggle. All of us will benefit from knowing that true healing occurs when who we really are shows up.

A Book for Everyone, October 10, 2009
An acquaintance shared this book with me when she heard I was a three-week cancer survivor. A cancer survivor herself, she said someone had share it with her and it was extremely helpful. It took me a month to get the courage to read the book. I feared it would be full of descriptive stories of cancerous lesions and painful treatments. Boy, was I wrong! This book is the most inspirational book about survival, period. I have given away already ten books and plan to order ten more. You do not need to suffer from any illness to receive the most healing light of love, compassion, and humanity from Rachel Remen. Everyone needs to read this book!

Inspirational, September 30, 2009
Great book, great for those dealing with any lifetime changes (which is all of us)

Kitchen Table Wisdom by Rachel Naomi Remen, July 14, 2008
Although the title sounds simplistic, the contents of this book are
profound. It is a book of inspirational true stories, written by a most perceptive physician/counselor about the wisdom she has gleaned about life and death through her experiences with patients. Each chapter is a new story, and they open windows in our minds and hearts. One of the finest books I have read in years.

Wow!!, June 27, 2008
This is one of the most incrediblely healing books you will ever read. You will find yourself refering to it and giving it to friends (like I did) because it is so theraputic. A must read if you are a self-aware person. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Thrilling, true tales from the Vidocq Society, a team of the world's finest forensic investigators whose monthly gourmet lunches lead to justice in ice-cold murders

Three of the greatest detectives in the world--a renowned FBI agent turned private eye, a sculptor and lothario who speaks to the dead, and an eccentric profiler known as "the living Sherlock Holmes"-were heartsick over the growing tide of unsolved murders. Good friends and sometime rivals William Fleisher, Frank Bender, and Richard Walter decided one day over lunch that something had to be done, and pledged themselves to a grand quest for justice. The three men invited the greatest collection of forensic investigators ever assembled, drawn from five continents, to the Downtown Club in Philadelphia to begin an audacious quest: to bring the coldest killers in the world to an accounting. Named for the first modern detective, the Parisian eug�ne Fran�ois Vidocq-the flamboyant Napoleonic real-life sleuth who inspired Sherlock Holmes-the Vidocq Society meets monthly in its secretive chambers to solve a cold murder over a gourmet lunch.

The Murder Room draws the reader into a chilling, darkly humorous, awe-inspiring world as the three partners travel far from their Victorian dining room to hunt the ruthless killers of a millionaire's son, a serial killer who carves off faces, and a child killer enjoying fifty years of freedom and dark fantasy.

Acclaimed bestselling author Michael Capuzzo's brilliant storytelling brings true crime to life more realistically and vividly than it has ever been portrayed before. It is a world of dazzlingly bright forensic science; true evil as old as the Bible and dark as the pages of Dostoevsky; and a group of flawed, passionate men and women, inspired by their own wounded hearts to make a stand for truth, goodness, and justice in a world gone mad. ... Read more

Reviews

Fascinating topic, appallingly written., August 22, 2010
I was excited to read about the detectives in the Vidocq. However, the disjointed and confusing arrangement of the book -- along with the most overwritten, purple prose -- made me feel that I was swimming through syrup trying to get to the point. It's as if Michael Capuzzo was trying to insert his own character into the story and I wanted him to get the hell out of the way. I did finish it, and I did remain intrigued with the people depicted -- especially Richard Walter -- but this was IN SPITE OF the way they and their stories were portrayed. I really hope some other writer will take a stab (sorry) at this topic. PS: I would like to have a serious talk with whomever edited this mess, if in fact anyone actually did.

Riveting content, poor writing, September 10, 2010
It was a relief to read some of the other reviews that commented on how poorly written this book is. True crime is my favorite genre and the Vidocq Society is a fascinating subject, but I had to force myself to keep on reading. When I first brought it home from the library (thank goodness I did not spend money for it) I must have started the first chapter five times. I was actually worried that I could not follow the thread of the book and wondered what was wrong with me. I wish I had read these reviews first. They would have saved me all that worry that my comprehension skills were dying.

I agree with many other reviewers: purple prose that would be embarrassing in a paperback crime novel, metaphor upon metaphor, confusing organization (almost like all the paragraphs were cut up and dropped at one time and many did not get put back where they belonged), and I almost screamed every time the author referred to Richard Walter as "the tall thin man." I recommend to Capuzzo the self-editing book for writers by Renni Browne and Dave King. For those reviewers who wondered where the editors were, at the end of the book Capuzzo thanks his wife and SEVEN others who took on that task. I can only imagine that at one point they all threw their hands up in the air and said, "Let's just publish the darn thing!"

Disappointed, August 25, 2010
Like several other reviewers, I was initially intrigued by the concept of The Murder Room. The true-life murder mysteries do indeed captivate, but ultimately the author's writing style gets in the way of the stories. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the way he organizes the material. Is it chronological? I can't decipher. He introduces countless characters in a seemingly endless stream of murders committed in various regions of the US. He jumps from the 50's to the 90's to the 70's without so much as a heads up to the reader. He has a great germ of an idea and seems to have spent a good amount of time investigating the complex cases. What a pity....

Interesting People, Bad Writing, August 15, 2010
In Mountain Home Magazine, I read a fascinating article about "The Living Serlock Holmes" that caught my attention. From there I learned that the Vidocq Society actually existed and that they even had a book coming out this month that would help sate my growing curiosity. The stories are very interesting for the most part, but I can't stand the way the author chose to write about them. The first half of the book was tremendously hard to get through.The majority of it seems to be a fragmented biography about Frank Bender. I can't even remember the number of times I had to read about a short, muscular, ex-boxer, whose a Casanova of Philadelphia. He's the least interesting character, but has the most written about him. I respect what the man has done, but too much space on the page was devoted to talking about his sexual prowess.Likewise, the author goes overboard in his use of metaphors. I get that these men are righteous purveyors of justice, but do I have to be told so on every second page? To have a "green thumb in the garden of death" for example, is overkill after taking two pages to talk about how expert these men are in their field and how often they are exposed to the grim reality of death. The author tries to take worldly men and make them something they're not, and it comes off as outlandish. The pages were spilling out with high-arching metaphors long after the point was made and after the first fifty pages, I felt like the title should have been called "God's Chosen Ones." Read this to learn about three very interesting people and the society they created, but have some aspirin handy.

Interesting subject but a difficult read, August 21, 2010
I'm a great fan of mysteries and nonfiction crime stories, and so the story and stories of the Vidocq Society interested me. However, I was disappointed with this book in general. I found (as other reviewers here did) his style disjointed and difficult to read and would often have to re-read passages to try and figure out what exactly he was trying to say. I didn't buy the Kindle version but sympathize with those who complained about the Kindle price as well.

Murder Solved, August 14, 2010
I sat down to read the first chapter of this book and never put it down again. There are three crime experts at the heart of the book. They formed a club that they named after the famous French criminal, Vidocq, turned crime fighter in 1833. The club has 82 members to coincide with Vidocq's age. Most interesting to me were the parts based on Richard Walter's criminal profiling. He's so precise with his profiles which are based on seemingly little information. He's able to pin point either who might have committed the murder and sometimes even finger the exact person. It's so hopeful to know there are people who use their skills to put old cases to bed and I imagine this helps give victim's family members peace. This is a nonfiction book that reads like a grim thriller. There are even literary references old and new.

Fascinating, VERY Dark, and the writing has clear room for improvement, September 7, 2010
This book is about a fascinating group of men and women who created a "club" with the purpose of solving unsolved murders. The three central "characters" in this true story each have a genius that enables them to do the seemingly supernatural when it comes to solving crimes. Each of the characters are fascinating and their abilities cause you to shake your head over and over again in amazement.

Having said that, you should be warned that this is a VERY dark book. The most heinous crimes are described and discussed in graphic detail. The work required to solve the cases involves corpses and long descriptions of the thoughts and actions of the killers. The crime solving wizards, two of them in particular, live in dark worlds that are far from normal or functional. They are good men, in the sense that they are passionate about justice, bringing the guilty to reckoning, and bringing closure and peace to families who are desperate for answers. But they flawed and in some cases, significantly so.

In terms of the writing, it leaves much to be desired. The book is severely disjointed. The first 3rd to half of the book is quite difficult to follow. The writer jumps forward and back in time attempting to create drama, which could have worked well, but in this case only serves to create confusion and jar the reader. You find yourself reading several pages of a new chapter wondering what the heck the writer is talking about because it has NO connection to anything you've read up to this point.

****************** Slight Spoiler Alert ********************************

The writer takes you through many of the cases in detail throughout the book. One of the techniques used to create drama is to leave you hanging in the middle of a case and moving on to another case which keeps you in suspense regarding the outcome. This is effective, but sets up the biggest disappointment of the whole book.

Several of the cases are "bigger" in the book than all the rest, and you are strung along with these cases for almost the entire book. The writer could have brought conclusion to each of these cases in any order he chose. But one case is focused on above all others and the desire for closure on that case is built above all others. This author chooses to wrap the book with this particular case open. We never find out what happens. The book just ends. I felt like I had been conned. I know its avante-gard in this post-modern world of ours to not have a happy ending, but in this case, after so much death and staring into the bleakest possible form of human depravity and evil, we needed SOME redemption. The author had plenty of opportunities to give it to us since so many of the cases were wrapped up so brilliantly. But alas, we are strung along for a climax that is anything but. It was a real disappointment.

Cold Cases and the Ninth Level of Dante's Inferno, August 30, 2010
The Murder Room: The Heirs of Sherlock Holmes Gather to Solve the World's Most Perplexing Cold Cases, Michael Capuzzo, Gotham Publishing, 448 pages, $26.00.

I've read all of Sherlock Holmes. I've read Arthur Conan Doyle's biography. I've read enough of the history of crime detection to know who Eugene Francois Vidocq was. So I'm not in the center of this author's target audience. The book may have been written for a much wider audience. And during middle school, I read lots of Readers' Digest condensed novels. If I was still reading RD's condensed novels I would have been satisfied with Michael Capuzzo's effort to tell the story of the Vidocq Society, which come to think of it he really doesn't do. The Murder Room: The Heirs of Sherlock Holmes Gather to Solve the World's Most Perplexing Cold Cases, is really a greatest hits [excuse the pun] of the Vidocq Society.

I have been trained as an historian and am sensitive to issues of chronology, cause and effect, and unsupported generalizations. Somehow the word 'hoopla hoops' and the 'serial killers' search for authentic self-expression' are in the same sentence that attempts to describe the 1950s. The initial chapters come across as being interview notes poorly knit together. Paragraph transitions must have been written by fictional detective Philip Marlowe created by Raymond Chandler during the 1930s, 1940s and the 1950s. At times Capuzzo inserts his own character into the story and I began to wonder how accurately he transcribed the interviews he made with the three leading characters.

On the other had the murder stories are compelling as are William Fleisher, Frank Bender and Richard Walter, the prime movers of the Vidocq Society. Fortunately the subtitle of the book is wrong. The Vidocq Society members are not the 'heirs of Sherlock Holmes'. They are real people who are brilliant, hardworking, intuitive and possibly flawed individuals. In a stunning monologue detective Richard Walter, having reading the classics of Western Civilization, graphically describes how the descent of serial killers' personality corresponds to Dante's levels of hell. The cases covered in The Murder Room are at times heartrending and horrific. Other cases are mundane and presented in a fashion which encourages the reader believe that local police detectives at times are lazy, uncreative and out of touch with their profession.

Compelling stories are told without suspense in The Murder Room. A newspaper journalist and I read the book during the same week. Though debating some merits of Capuzzo's style and organization, we both agreed that there are currently too many unemployed book editors and proofreaders. What is the difference between a benefactor and a beneficiary? Capuzzo needed a professional editor/proofreader.

Would I recommend this book? Yes, but not as a model for style, organization or clarity. The substance of the stories is compelling even if the handling of the material by the author is not.

good stories, poorly written, August 22, 2010
Vidoq members may be "the heirs of Sherlock Holmes" but the author is not the heir of A.C. Doyle. Wordy, convoluted prose and a scattered narrative murder these stories.

Sherlock Holmes Not!, August 25, 2010
Read the one star reviews because they are a great synopsis of this book. It is extremely repetitive and dull and methinks that the author is trying to stroke the egos of two of the founders of the Vidocq Society. The third founder is actually the most interesting character but he gets short shrift. Possibly because he was not a personable or likable fellow (to the author). So there is not much about him - just tantalizing bits here and there but never enough to satisfy. And I guess there must have been some "liability" issues because the few cases that are actually presented end with the club members saying they know who did it. But of course these "solved" crimes are never revealed for the reader. And the history of the various buildings where the society met over the years is simply not relevant to the story. All these people are so talented and we hear about buildings instead of cases! My impression was that all the Vidocq Society members are given short shrift because the author remains in hot pursuit of praise, repetitive praise, and ever MORE praise for two of the founders. I am giving it 2 stars, because the author condescended to include the third founder (Richard Walter), who really is the star of the book as far as I can tell. Here's to you, RW! Carry on! ... Read more