True Crime Books

The author has done a fine job in presenting a multitude of facts and statements about the life of this evil, ruthless racketeer and his criminal associates. This book reminds me of the Dillinger Gang by Jeffrey King who employed a similar style in that book as presented here. Buchalters early life is well covered by the author as he presents an average quiet student at elementary school somehow degenerated into a ruthless, selfish, vicious thug but one with an astute criminal cunning with brilliant organizational ability. He was also the unseen boss in a ruthless criminal gang known as Murder Incorporated that operated out of Brownsville New York.

Working his way from a package thief to a labor slugger who sold his violence to the highest bidder whether employer or union, he was able to climb to the top echelons of the criminal world in New York and spread his heartless and evil influence via his gang over parts of Northeast USA. The book also provides accounts of other criminals in this era like Kid Dropper, Little Augie and Benny Fein, these accounts added to my enjoyment of the book.

Eventually Lepke became the labor racketeer supremo who by violence and threats was able to control many, but not, all unions and takeover many legitimate garment companies and along the way destroy many lives. Along with his associate Gurrah Shapiro he also had a hand in other rackets such as taxis, transport, restaurants and even narcotics. Many workers wages were kept at lower levels than they were entitled to because of the greed and selfishness of this evil criminal organization. They spread their misery into many workers homes whose families suffered because of lower wages.

It took Thomas Dewey as special prosecutor and district attorney of New York County to commence the first successful efforts to gradually get stuck into organized crime that began the government process that eventually bought Buchalter down for labor racketeering and eventually first degree murder that sent him and others to the electric chair at Ossining. The author handles this area very well and provides an excellent account of the criminal justice system as it eventually grinds on to destroy Lepke's labor rackets and also Murder Incorporated. Although Murder Incorporated was eventually destroyed by a team led by Brooklyn District Attorney Bill O'Dwyer and his Chief Assisstant Burton Turkus.

A well-researched biography of the man described by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover as "the most dangerous criminal in the U.S." The author provides a wealth of little known information regarding his subject, especially in his documentation of "Lepke's" formative years on the Lower East Side. I found Mr. Kavieff's writing a bit tedious at times, but if, to paraphrase Dragnet's Sergeant Joe Friday, you want "just the facts," you will probably enjoy this book.

Great biography. Covers all the little facts never before documented on this famous gangster.Anyone who enjoys this book will also appreciate author's previous book on the "Purple Gang.

I have read several books on the mob and they all have one thing in common. There is no loyalty within the mob. Each mobster will look out for number one whenever the law closes in on them. Louis "Lepke" Buchalter and his comical partner, Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro managed to gain control of the lucrative garment trade in New York City for their own benefit. When the law began to close in on Lepke he, like others before him and since, began to have witnesses who knew anything about his infamous past, eliminated. After being in hiding for over a year the mob forced Lepke into surrendering to the law. Lepke thought a deal had been made when, in reality, none had been agreed upon. He surrendered to gossip columnist Walter Winchell with F.B.I. chief J. Edgar Hoover in the car behind him. The message to Lepke was surrender or be hit by the mob. Oddly enough, it was a hit on an individual named Joseph Rosen that sent Lepke, along with Louis Capone and "Mendy" Weiss to the electric chair in Sing Sing prison in 1944. This book reinforces my long held belief that there is no loyalty within the mob. The author has done a wonderful job with this book. It will have a place with my other books on crime figures in our infamous past.

I think this is Paul Kavieff's best book thus far... After reading Murder Inc. this book kept the story line going by diving into the background of a huge underworld Brooklyn figure, namely Louis "Lepke" Buchalter. They have an excellent chapter on Murder Inc. which is a very good summation of Turkus' book, and still brings some new things to light. Lepke forced his way into the garment industry and made his stake like no one else before him; then came Murder Inc. Lucky Luciano personally elected Lepke to head the murder department for the mob. With his own personal group of seasoned assassins, there was nothing stopping him. Lepke was untouchable, that is until Dewey showed up, and then the real trouble started.

Lepke was an amazing individual who had all the components to become anything in life. The fact that Lepke was ruling through his superior labor racketeering skills, while everyone else was involved in the usual rackets (prohibition, numbers running, etc.) truly displays the vision this man had. He preferred to stay in the shadows, and never share his time with the likes of "shtarkers" (strong-arm guys who performed the dirty work). He took himself out of the gutter, and situated himself overlooking Central Park. He ruled with an iron hand and every one paid tribute!

He and his partner, Gurrah Shapiro were millionaires in the early thirties. They had their hands in legitimate businesses and many other rackets including: the garment industry, the motion picture union, the taxi racket, the restaurant racket acquired from the Dutchman and much more. The money coming in was boundless. They literally had a monopoly on a few different industries. "The Gorilla Boys" were like the "Underworld Rockefellers!". This book was a quick read and really ironed out all the details in a very smooth manner. I hope to find a few more books with the same straightforward, and clear-cut precision that Mr. Kavieff has accomplished here.

Very poor insight into the Red and White which is why I bought the book.Comes across as a wannabe who could'nt cut it when the going got tough.

A rat is a rat......is a rat. I guess this guy and others like him (see Henry Hill and Sammy the Bull) feel if they can make some money getting average citizens to read about their exploits maybe they can justify (to themselves) their betrayal of their friends and brothers. You'd be wise to save your money and not make these kinds any richer...especially one like this who is short on details when it comes to his association with the Angels. In my opinion he only used their name to help sell the book. Don't bother. Read Sonny's instead.

I thought this book would give a better insight into the world of the HA, but I came away disappointed. Quesnel's story is interesting and controversial, but I don't think his story reveals enough details.

Not a very good or entertaining book. More of a ramblimg egomaniac's diary. The book did not contain much detail on the events and jumped around way too much. He tries to make himself into a heavy and when it got hot he turned.

Not such a hot book. I would read other books on the subject.

Reviewed by Katherine Ramsland, Ph.D., author of "The Human Predator".

"In addition to making the first DVD about H. H. Holmes available to viewers, John Borowski has done a great service by also publishing the four principle works by and about Holmes during the time of his arrest, as he awaited trial. Previously, one had to go to a place like the newspaper archives in Philadelphia to get access to these papers. Now they're all in one bound volume, along with provocative illustrations of the case and the infamous Chicago castle. In addition to Holmes's various "confessions," the volume includes the book penned by Detective Frank Geyer, as well as Robert Corbitt's description of the castle before it was destroyed and the analysis of evidence there - including bones and fine hair found in the stove. Holmes was so clever, it seems, that he would hire and discharge workmen each day so that no one could see what he was up to. It's fortunate that Borowski has been so interested in the case as to produce both a DVD and a bound collection of 19th century publications. Despite the availability of two excellent books devoted to Holmes in recent times, it's always valuable to read the documents from the relevant era."

I really enjoyed this book. I did not really know much about the St. Valentine's Day Massacre other than what I have read on the web and as a chapter or section of other books. I enjoyed this as it is not only well written and documented, but it gives a complete background as to why, how and who. I srongly recommend this to any student of Chicago Gangster History.

An intriguing tale told in an unobscure light, slightly different than what Hollywood and the media has portrayed in the past. Good research and follow up with sources who seem to have not been validated at the time lead to a different set of key characters. This version seemed more logical and it really was disappointing to see how much corruption really was taking place during this time period in all the wrong places.

This book was more of a chore than an enjoyment to read. It wandered and skipped forward and backward years at a time between paragraphs. The authors tended to elaborate on all sorts of different characters while virtually ignoring the two main ones. Al Capone was, evidently, not very well known outside of Underworld Chicago and Bugs Moran is barely mentioned at all, much less any sort of detailed account of their lives leading up to the Massacre. Frank Nitti and Mayor Bill Thompson receive much more mention than either Capone or Moran. Go figure! I would much rather read 100 pages of readable, concise and pertinant information than to try and work my way through 300 pages of rambling. Honestly, the Chronology and the Notes section were much more interesting than the book itself.

Most people know at least the outline of the St Valentine's Day Massacre: Hoods dressed as cops mowed down members of the Moran gang, who were lured to the SMC Cartage Company to take consignment of liquor from Detroit. Moran, the primary target, escaped from Capone's killers. In this account, Messrs Blek and Helmer make use of a previously neglected primary source; a memoir from the wife of one of the participants. They also investigate the FBI archives, and make a convincing case that Hoover deliberately withheld information that would've solved the murders. Along the way, the authors also show that the commonly accepted explanation for Moran's top leaders being in the same place at the same time, is seriously flawed. First, these guys did NOT do manual labor (unloading whiskey cases); they weren't dressed for it-or a daylong trip to Detroit. Second, due to increased US Customs activity on the Great Lakes, Canadian exporters insisted on "Cash and Carry"-so a "delivery" was unlikely at best. Finally, even after the massacre, the average Chicagoan, while knowing of Capone, considered him a Cicero gangster even in 1929. Most of his reputation was built after his downfall in the 1930s.
The authors also tie in the Frankie Yale murder, and show how at the time revolutionary ballistics research linked Yale's murder to the massacre; but neither the press nor the police were overly interested in that fact (which would've directly implicated Capone). The account goes beyond just the massacre and its aftermath, to clearly show how it contributed to Capone's decline in Chicago crime. The book is fully footnoted, and includes an excellent chronology of organized crime in Chicago, from Big Jim Colossimo around 1910 to the suicide of Frank Nitti. Overall, if you have an interest in the massacre itself, or in the gangster era, this is a highly recommended resource.

I'll be up front about two things before reviewing this book. The first is that one of the authors, Bill Helmer, is a close friend of long standing. The second is that I am a True Crime author myself, with a first-hand knowledge of the difficulties that accompany the research and writing of this kind of story: inaccurate newspaper coverage, carelessly compiled police reports, and of course the passage of time, which slowly and mercilessly kills off the survivors of the era who could have shed new light on a long-ago event. To cover a 1929 mass murder that the law enforcement agencies of the day chose to downplay for their own reasons is an enormous challenge that Bill Helmer and Art Bilek met with a commendable degree of success.

"St. Valentine's Day Massacre: The Untold Story of the Gangland Bloodbath That Brought Down Al Capone" is the first book to take a serious crack at the mystery surrounding the killing of seven Bugs Moran followers in a freezing Chicago garage in February 1929. The genesis of the murder plot, the identities of the actual shooters, and their subsequent fates are described in a breezy style that makes the book appeal to the casual reader as well as the more hardcore historian who wants "just the facts, ma'am."

One of the more knowledgeable parties who read the book was George 'Bugs' Moran's surviving son, who vividly remembers the day the Massacre took place and recalls the frantic aftermath like it was yesterday. He told me recently that Helmer and Bilek's account of the crime tallies neatly with what his father had to say about the subject over the years. He admitted to enjoying it immensely.

A previous reviewer criticized the book for not offering a thorough list of sources. It's only been in the last few years that detailed footnoting and bibliography lists that exceed the content itself in page count have been proper form outside of academic texts and histories approached from a scholarly perspective. When my first book, "Guns and Roses", came out in 2003, I was told that notes weren't really necessary. I insert them as a matter of course now, but my point in all this is that Bill Helmer and Art Bilek made no serious errors of omission in this area.

"St. Valentine's Day Massacre: The Untold Story of the Gangland Bloodbath That Brought Down Al Capone" is by far the most definitive account of the Massacre that has been published to date. And if that's not enough, it also has the seal of approval from the surviving Morans. That fact in itself should more than compensate for a couple of repeated sentences or anorectic footnoting style.

It wasn't as detailed as Death Scenes but still gives it a great run for the money. I'd recommend it for anyone who is fascinated with forensics. If given the chance, I would still buy it again.

If you are entertained by the disturbing, this book is great for keeping your sick mind entertained and your idle hands out of entrails. I would also recommend this book to anyone who isn't afraid to look through the eyes of a crime photographer of times past and appreciate the gall it took to actually take some of these pictures. The text in this book is not that fantastic, but it would be very hard to find words more interesting and memorable than the faces in these photographs. So...jeah...good (picture) book.

"Shots in the Dark"is a book of crime-related photographs...Many of them are quite explicit and full of gore..I cannot for the life of me understand why the two people responsible for this volume,so-called"photo historian"Gail Buckland,and"authority"on photography Harold Evans seem to think that we require thier windy ramblings in order to "understand"the"meanings"behind these pictures..I mean,really !Is it that hard to understand,for example,that the woman pictured on page 50 is dead,and was the victim of a murderer?Not that the captions are unwelcome...no...it is the essay work,especially the stuff written by Evans,that grates..Buckland likes to publish books which feature photographs of the dead,the more grotesque and mutiliated the better...In her earlier volume,entitled"Looking at Death" she features a picture of the mutiliated corpse of Benito Mussolini and his galpal Clara Pettachi after they had been lowered from the beam in the town square where they had been hung by thier feet after execution...Il Duce's face is horrible to behold,and yet Buckland rhapsodises about the"meaning"of this picture,as if it has any apart from shock value and/or historical content...I cannot help but think that most who buy that book,or "shots in the dark"will mainly do so to be shocked or titilliated...a few will do so for the historical aspect...a very very few will do so in order to be helpled by either Buckland or Evans to grasp the alledged"meanings"associated with these pictures..
As mentioned earlier,the text by Evans is especially annoying...Evans apparently sees some cosmic meaning in these pictures..A picture of cops arresting someone...a pair of 1920s men who fell,or were pushed down an elevator shaft..By golly,if we look hard enough we can discern the secrets of the universe in these pictures,or so Evans seems to imply...BALDERDASH !
There has recently been a spate of such books,which would suggest that the public is perhaps tired of the fake gore,blood and guts to be had on both the big and the little screens,and wants to look at something real...Maybe ,like the long ago romans,we yearn for admission to the arena,where some real gladiators can kill one another,or some real christians can be eaten alive for our pleasure,and ,for most of us,these pictures take the place of the afore-mentioned entertainments?...
If you want some explicit real-life photographs,many involving murder and torture,then this book will fill the bill...but if you want the answer to the meaning of life,or even what these pictures are supposed to"mean",go somewhere else,because Buckland and Evans haven't got a clue.

Although light on detail, this book, based on a Court TV documentary, provides a good general overview of the history of true crime photography. Some of the images are compelling - though they can almost all be acquired elsewhere. For example, the images of early 20th century New York homicides are culled from Luc Sante's Evidence. However, if you're looking for an introduction to the Morbid Side of Photography, this is a great place to start. The book is divided into six general sections: Crime Scenes, Killers, Sensational Cases (such as infamous thrill killers Leopold and Loeb and John List who murdered his entire family in 1971), Retribution (such as the lynching of three rape suspects in San Francisco), Gangsters (such as Bugsy Siegel), and Presidential Assassins (such as Lee Harvey Oswald). An endlessly entertaining, if lightweight, morbid concoction.

Better photos, better writing. If a photo was interesting, the author didn't give much information. In fact she might go on and on about a crime for which there wasn't a photo. If a picture was really interesting, she gave extremely limited info. And I couldn't figure out who or what the 4th picture of the Lizzie Borden axe murder was (author didn't bother to specify - if it was the father's, someone took off his clothes and moved his body onto a different piece of furniture for some reason). All I could gather throughout was that she believes crime is society's fault - not the perpetrator's.

Franscell does a masterful job of recounting the tragic crimes in his hometown, Casper, Wyoming. His writing is superb.

This is excellent. I live in Casper when it happened and was really
outraged at the two men who could do just a thing. The book was well
written.

This is an excellent book. Few true crime novels manage this level of polished writing, careful and skillful storytelling and sympathy for the victims. Truly a tragic story, but so vivid and powerful I couldn't put it down.

The opening few pages of this book are as gripping as they come. Becky has been hurled down a huge cliff by her rapists. Unbelievably, she survives the fall, but seems on the brink of death. "Dragging her deadened legs out of the black water into the black night, she wormed across the sharp stones, naked below the waist, beaten and bruised, in shock" (p 4). Far above her, she can hear her would-be murderers chat. Will they realize she has survived? Will they come down to finish the job?

The story of what happens to Becky and to the rapists is a true page turner. I won't reveal what eventually happens to Becky, but is utterly shocked me.

Franscell is an excellent writer. Beyong the story of the true crime, he always delves into the consequences of evil. An evil that sends waves through the lives of hundreds of people, for years and years beyong the actual crime.

In 1973 in Casper, Wyoming, the paths of two twenty something lowlifes, Ronald Kennedy and Jerry Jenkins, intersected with that of two half-sisters, eighteen year old Becky Thompson and eleven year old Amy Burridge. None of their lives would ever be the same again. Becky and Amy had just finished up some last minute grocery shopping at a local store, when they realized that they had a flat tire. Kennedy and Jenkins offered to help them and give them a ride home.

Once they were in the car, however, it was clear that Becky and Amy were going to be taken to hell and back again. The upshot is that they were abducted and ultimately driven to the North Platte River where Amy was thrown from a bridge that spanned a gorge into the river over a hundred feet below. Becky was then raped by Kennedy and Jenkins, and then she, too, was thrown from the bridge into that same river and left for dead. The only difference is that she physically survived her ordeal and lived to tell the tale.

The author divided the book into three parts. In the first part, the author takes great pains to describe the town and the people who played a part in the unfolding drama. He also paints a poignant portrait of the two girls who had been abducted and treated so cruelly by fate. He also describes the details of the events that led up to the crime, the crime itself, and its immediate aftermath.

In the second part of the book, the focus is on the prosecution of the case. Again, the author gives much detail on the individuals who were going to be involved in the prosecution of the case, as well as those who were to be responsible for the defense of Kennedy and Jenkins. The author also gives details from the trial itself, in addition to the outcome.

In the third part of the book, the author details what became of Becky Thompson and notes the impact that this singular event had on her life. He also details what happened to Jenkins and Kennedy. The reader also discovers what became of the families of the victims, the families of the defendants, and those who were involved in the trial process. He also includes portions of a memoir written by Kennedy, which the author expertly dissects and analyzes. This is, however, the Achilles heel in the book, as the self-serving drivel served up by Kennedy made this portion of the book drag somewhat.

This case was big news when it happened, and it shook the town of Casper to its core. In fact, the author knew Becky and Amy, as they were his next door neighbors in Casper, Wyoming, where he grew up. He was a junior in high school at the time that the crime occurred, and he recalls the impact that the crime had on not only the community but on his family, as well. This personal connection explains the well-spring of deep sadness that resonates throughout this well-written book and speaks to the reader. Meticulous in his research, it is clear that for this author this book was a labor of love, as the author brings to life with his prose all those whose lives had been touched by this heinous crime.

This book has been released as a paperback under the title: The Darkest Night: Two Sisters, a Brutal Murder, and Loss of Innocence in a Small Town".

I read a lot of true crime and normally things do not stay with me, this one had some very disturbing parts that I wish I would not have read. Not the author's fault, I just would not recommend it.

I disagree that Carlton Smith is not a good crime writer because I have read many of his books. While the book was probably pushed by the publisher to be released, this book shows a perverted couple, Michelle Michaud and James who are cruel, evil, and love to torture young girls together. They are like Bonnie and Clyde who torture rather than just kill with a shotgun. The author does do his research regarding their childhoods which help better understand how human beings become worse than animals.

This book took me by great suprise. For a writer to have not known these two individuals nor,from my understanding, not having a personal interview with either of Michelle or James has really done some homework. Though I do think that revealing Rachels name in the book was quite inappropriate and a violation, as far as Im concerned. I think the book uncovered enough damage, then to have to exceed further by doing so. As far as the true character that exhists in Michelle, that is something the writer came close to, but yet so far. The true Michelle under the facade. Thats the Michelle I knew and will never forget.

I would like to share with everyone my thoughts about this book. I think that Carlton Smith is a very lowsy writer. He never interviewed me or "Charloette". He never interviewed my mother or james either. I didn't even find out about this book until 3 months after it was published. I would like everyone to know that I feel that my rights were violated because in the 2nd paragraph on page 179, my real name was printed. Being that I am a minor at the age of 16, I do believe that is against the law.

As far as accuracy, it was very accurate (the events where i was victimized) I also don't understand why this book was written before the trial. I am the daughter of Michelle Michaud and I know how "Evil" she really is. She goes beond the meaning of that word.

Fascinating story, well-written by a writer with a good grip on the English language. Contains an interesting summary of research on the childhood behavior and family patterns of serial killers.

One reviewer questions why the book was written before any trial. The way it works in the book business is that the publisher, not the writer, specifies the date a manuscript shall be delivered. And often, as a result of a plea agreement, there is no trial.

This same reviewer apparently wants this author to tell us what makes someone become a serial killer, something that not the FBI Behavioral Sciences Unit, Freud, Adler, Skinner, Jung nor any psychologist or behavioral scientist has been able to do. What Carlton Smith does is give us the background facts and details and summarizes the current state of behavioral science research into the question. That is a lot more than we usually get from a true crime writer.

The same reviewer complains that the author did not interview the perpetrators. Excuse me, but attorneys will not permit their criminal defendant clients to be interviewed. The same reviewer then complains that the author uses quoted material from interviewers, something that is normally considered good journalism.

This book is a good read, well-researched, well-written and free of the lurid tabloid approach so characteristic of the true crime genre. Within its genre, I give 5 stars.

The author's writing style successfully avoids smooth flow and continuity. He skips around, and maintains superficiality throughout. No interest was generated, and it was hard to keep track of the individuals chronicled in the book.Definitely not a good read. There was no eagerness to find out what was next, rather eagerness to finish. I honestly could not remember one fact from it. Even the photos were not anywhere in the book near where the subjects were discussed.

Robert Rockaway provides an engaging portrait of the warm, loving relationships many of the most notorious Jewish mobsters in the history of U.S. crime enjoyed with their girl friends, wives, children, and other family members, especially mothers. The emotions the wicked ways of these boys provoked from their loved ones ranged from devastation and shame to pride, arrogance, and defensiveness. While a lot of this material is old hat, an equal amount is not, and I generally found this book to be light and enjoyable.

The title of this book comes from the fact that Jewish gangsters took a very protective attitude towards their mothers, and did everything they could to keep them and other family members in the dark regarding their unsavory behavior. Gangsters may have led immoral lives regarding their so-called profession, but would turn weepy when the subject of their mother came up. Perhaps this was due in part to the fact they knew their mother would be disappointed in them. Unlike those in the mafia the offspring of Jewish gangsters did not intermarry with others so their profession did not extend beyond one generation. I found the book to be well written, and what I especially liked was the number of photos of gangsters I have read about in previous books, but of which photos have been scanty. Gyp the Blood (square name Harry Horowitz), Irving Wexler (Waxey Gordon), Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro, Abe Reles, Harry Strauss (Pittsburgh Phil), and a family photo of the Purple Gang were all included in addition to photos of Dutch Schultz (square name Arthur Flegenheimer), Jack Guzik, Lepke Buchalter, and numerous others. This book is a worthy addition to my gangster library, and you can purloin this book for only $10.00.

Prompt delivery of my order. Would recommend this seller. Book as advertised.

A good book for casual crime readers who don't need heavy details, but amazingly inaccurate in several areas. Seems to repeat old myths told in other books rather than do research.

ie Joe the Boss's hit team did not include Anastasia, Adonis or even Siegel

or

Dutch Schultz was not shot in the bathroom or even shot by Charlie Workman. The caliber of the bullet found in Dutch matched those used by his men, not those who had shot his men down. The more accurate tale is that he was mistaken;y shot by his own men while trading fire with Lepke's boys. (The bathroom was directly behind the doorway where Workman had to be shooting from)

ALTHOUGH THIS BOOK WASN'T TERRIBLE, IT WASN'T GREAT EITHER. IT WAS A LITTLE STRANGE. I HAVE NEVER READ A TRUE CRIME BOOK THAT GOES IT TO AS MUCH DETAIL AS THIS ONE DID CONCERNING THE PROSECUTOR. I ENDED UP SKIPPING MOST OF THAT PART. NOT ONLY DID IT GO ON ABOUT HIS CHILDHOOD, BUT IT ALSO INCLUDED CHILDHOOD PICTURES. WHO CARES? PERHAPS THE AUTHOR COULD NOT MAKE THE BOOK AS LONG AS HE WANTED, SO HE THREW IN TRIVIAL DETAILS.

I don't think so. we really need to pay more attetion to the people who are in a constant rage. they are the one's who kill to kill.I feel for the girl and her boyfriend who was left behind to miss her forever and her family who has lost a piece of them to never return.

Sarah Rodriguez was a beautiful young woman with a whole life ahead of her. Unfortunately, she had two men including a dangerous psychopathic killer Richard Namey who would kill her and the love of her life, Matthew Corbett, who was shot and survived with paralysis. The story takes place in Orange County, California where the author, Don Lasseter resides.
One of my main criticisms of this book is the enormous amount of detail regarding Dennis Conway, the Orange County prosecutor. I know more about him than the victims themselves. While I know a lot about Sarah and Matthew's lives, I know more about Conway and his childhood in Massachusetts and how he became an attorney. Most true crime authors don't spend an enormous time on the background of the prosecutor's life. At times, I felt confused and had to re-read because the author simply was talking about Conway as opposed to Corbett, Rodriguez, and Namey who are more central figures. The book is a good true crime read but unclear at times.

This book was written about my cousin Sarah, her borfriend Matt, and the person who destroyed all our lives. With pain and a tear in my eye, I made it through this book. Even for myself, who knew exactly what happened, I got confused a couple times. I do have to say that this book was well written, and during the jury trial, I could picture my self sitting in that court room like I was a few years back. I am glad that so many people have taken some time to read this book, and have found a spot for Sarah and Matt in their hearts.

Matt is doing well. He is a strong guy, someone to definitley look up to. He is still working and going to school. I admire him for everything he tried to do for my cousin, and now, for everything he is doing for himself. Never Give Up!

Don Lasseter has done an amazing job on this book. It has taken me back many years ago, when I knew that I had Sarah by my side. I loved her so much that words could not explain. This book shows the pain that we went through. How forever our lives are changed. Namey, has changed our lives forever and not for the better. Sarah was my cousin. She will foreer live with us in our hearts and our prayers. Reading this book,has taken me back to the days in court watching Namey enter the room. This book tells a lot about the turth. Matt is still very much part of our family and forever will be. Thanks to Don, her life story will live on to hopefuly one day help others.