 |
Fiona's True Crime Book Reviews: R by author
|
Robert K. Ressler, Tom Schachtman
I Have Lived in the Monster
"It seems that when normal life goes into
eclipse, the differences in cultural patterns also fade
away, and at the outer edges of behavior, deviant patterns
are the same, the world over." This absorbing
second book from the serial-killer expert who wrote
Whoever Fights Monsters has ten chapters:
1) unusual Japanese case of a doctor killing his family;
2) examples of the use and abuse of post-traumatic
stress disorder diagnosis by Vietnam veterans; 3) the
murder of a Japanese exchange student by a Baton Rouge
homeowner; 4) review of patterns found in serial murders,
including those in Japan; 5) interview with John Wayne
Gacy, seeking to understand his psychology; 6-7) two-part
psychological interview with Jeffrey Dahmer, revealing
several fascinating new details; 8) two British cases on which
the author was asked to consult; 9) investigation of a South
African serial killer; 10) the Aum Shinri Kyo cult (sarin
nerve gas terrorists) in Japan.
INFO
|
|
|
Tom Shachtman, Robert K. Ressler
Whoever Fights Monsters
A overview of the career of the FBI man who nearly
singlehandedly created the system for personality profiling of
violent offenders. If there's a big-time multiple murderer from
about 1950 until now, who hasn't been interviewed by Ressler,
he probably refused the honor. Indispensable reading for serial
killer aficionados, and better written than Douglas and Olshaker's
Mindhunter. This book is packed with fascinating
details from dozens of cases: The killer John Joubert, for example,
started his life of cruelty as a kid, one day when he was riding his
bike with a sharpened pencil in his hand. He rode up next to a little girl
who was walking, and stabbed her in the back with the pencil. Ouch!
INFO
|
|
|
Ann Rule
Bitter Harvest: A Woman's Fury, a Mother's Sacrifice
Fans of Ann Rule will find much to relish in this tale of a brilliant female physician who can hold herself together well enough to put on a decent show for the outside world, but in the heart of her horrorstruck family, is a violent and baffling monster. She drinks, she abuses drugs, she spews invective, she even lights fires. At one point she learns from an Agatha Christie novel about a potent toxin contained in castor beans, and starts poisoning her long-suffering husband. And yet until the final fire that consumes two of her children, they continue to love her and defend her to attackers. Ann Rule is good at drama: she tells the story with flair, conveying all the heady feelings involved. Yet the book has a flaw: Rule fails to understand the main character. When a psychiatrist testifies that the doctor is at a younger age than a toddler in her ability to process or sustain emotions, Rule writes, "That was a shocker. Could a woman with an IQ of 165 and a biting, facetious wit, a woman who had zipped through college and medical school, be a child emotionally?" Yes, she could. Bitter Harvest would've been a stronger book, if Rule had shown us how.
INFO
|
|
|
Ann Rule
Dead by Sunset: Perfect Husband, Perfect Killer
Ann Rule is one of the most engaging of
true-crime writers: A flair for suspenseful drama is her
strong suit. This book is the tale of a narcissistic leech of a man
whose typical pattern with his many women is to romance them
like a dream Romeo, marry them, get them pregnant, and then
drive them into emotional and financial ruin. He's litigious,
he's a con man, he's a sad sack, he's a charmer, and finally, he's
a murderer. The courage of the women who finally bring
him to justice is remarkable and inspiring. Dead by
Sunset won a 1996 Anthony Award for Best True Crime.
INFO
|
|
|
[All reviews copyright © Amazon.com, Inc. 1997-8]
|
|
|
|