Serial Murder Books

Miami attorney Jack Swyteck is emotionally devastated when he learns that Mia Salazar, his girlfriend of the past three months, is a married woman. Mia's husband, Ernesto, a wealthy businessman, finds out about the affair shortly before Mia is kidnapped. The kidnapper's ransom notes demands payment for what Mia is worth, and the betrayed Salazar decides his wandering wife is worth nothing. FBI agent Andie Henning has been tracking this serial kidnapper and contacts Jack after being (facetiously) told by Salazar that he is his attorney. When Jack learns that Salazar is refusing to make payment, he is initially reluctant to become involved but eventually does and negotiates with the kidnapper for Mia's release. Andie, Jack and his good friend Theo Knight begin to unravel Mia's past in hopes of discovering the identity of the kidnapper and learn that she may possibly be connected to a controversial trial several years before. Meanwhile, the kidnapper is sending videos of Mia being tortured, which makes for a frantic effort to find her before the kidnapper kills her.

Got the Look is by far not the best of the Jack Swyteck series. Theo is an engaging character and offers humorous relief among a cast of unlikeable characters. Andie Henning is interesting and looks to play a part in future books in the series. The identity of the kidnapper and his reason for kidnapping Mia were not very plausible and hard to grasp. Of concern is Swyteck's propensity for allowing murderers to, well, get away with murder.

This is a riveting page-turner with lots of twists, great dialogue, and some excellent action pieces. The Jack Swyteck series is an underrated one, but one that usually delivers solid entertainment, just like this entry does.

Suffice it to say that like all thrillers, there are a few too many coincidences to believe, but that is a common fault of the genre.

Recommended.

This is not the best "Jack Swyteck" book I have read, and I have read them all. BUt I would definitely give it a read, although it is a bit slow at times, it does end with a bang. If you like Grippando's writing you will still like this book.

I read the first 75 pages and just gave up - nothing was happening! This was my first Grippando and I'll never waste time on him again. I cannot believe the five star ratings for this book! There are so many good mysteries out there, why waste your time on this one? It it NOT GOOD!

Hot shot Miami attorney, Jack Swyteck, is stunned when he discovers that his latest girlfriend, Mia, has not been honest with him. Not only has she been vague about her past, but she is also married. And when she is kidnapped and her wealthy husband decides that his unfaithful wife is worth nothing the kidnapper requests Jack to pay the ransom. Jack is not one to sit still and take orders from the FBI, and so he takes matters into his own hands as Mia's fate rests on his head. In a race against time and the kidnapper's demand to pay what she is worth, Jack uncovers Mia's secret past as he tries to negotiate with a kidnapper who killed his previous victim when he was not paid what she was worth.

***** Awesome read with nonstop action and suspense from the first page to the last! James Grippando has created a cast of interesting characters in this book and there is never a dull moment. Got the Look has got me hooked. I cannot wait to read the rest of Grippando's Jack Swyteck stories. *****

Reviewed by Amanda Killgore, Freelance Reviewer.

Seattle was gripped with another serial killer in the mid-eighties which wouldn't be solved until about twenty years later. The killer was known as the Green River Killer and he killed about 50 women who were mostly prostitutes and drug addicts. At first, nobody seemed to notice these missing transients. As they piled up in certain spots, the Seattle Task Force had another monstrous serial killer on the loose and didn't know who it could be without the use of technology or DNA evidence. Anyway, Keppel who wrote this book gets the most unlikely help and assistance from somebody who knows about serial killing, Ted Bundy, on death row in Florida. Despite the obvious reasons that anybody would associate with Ted Bundy, Keppel has his reasons and motives to get inside the mind of a serial killer without going insane and to prevent an end to the murders. Bundy is useful with some of his ideas. He calls the victims in the Green River cases as bottom-feeders. Most of Bundy's victims were not prostitutes or drug addicts but college students, wives, and pretty young women. Bundy does confirm that the Killer and himself were involved in necrophiliac acts on the victims after their deaths. The murders were not so much the act as to get the victim. For Bundy, he needs to possess them. For Ridgway, he doesn't clarify his actions. The book is well-written, researched, and graphic at times. It's not for children or adults who get sqeamish at such acts of horror.

I read another reviewer point out that the title of the book should be
"How I tried to outwit Bundy, and lost". in my opinion, there couldn't be a better title. There are so many logical fallacies in the book that it really makes Keppel look quite unprofessional. He makes assertions and states as fact, information that is nothing more than suspicion speculation. Some of the information in this book has been proven completely inaccurate since its publishing date. All I ask is that a non-fiction writer present me with a review of the FACTS...NOT long winded, delusional, self promotion. One of the last things Robert Keppel writes is something about Ted being a truly insignicant creature. Well, the fact that you've written books about the guy would indicate otherwise, BOB!

in reality, keppel was at best tangential to the hunt for the green river killer. this book comes across as nothing more than a self-aggrandizing attempt to milk some personal publicity out of a horrific murder case. those expecting for details about the search that ultimately led to the arrest of gary ridgway will likely be disappointed. those interested in ted bundy or bob keppel will fare better. sadly, i was not one of those readers. the title is misleading, and i was one of those suckered in. oh well. one star it is.

In this book Kepple kind of goes off on a tangent, more about Bundy rather than the Rivermam himself who is the title of the book. It may have been more aptly named "my interviews with Ted Bundy". I guess I cant blame him though, he persued Bundy for a long time and his blatant dislike (to put it mildly) of the man shows through, thus objectivity is not something to be expected. I much better liked his book "Signature Killers" there his experience and wisdom of the subject shows through making it a very enlightening read on the subject. I found Riverman to be more drawn out, and somewhat more disorganized than "Signature Killers". Kepples treatment of his subject is more personal but for anyone studying serial murder it is still a worthwhile read.

The reason that this book was written was to teach. I am finishing up a class taught by Keppel, and it is called Serial Murder. When I read the book for the first time, I thought it was bland and fragmented as well. But that is becuase he wrote it not for the general public but for those learining about the investigative aspect of serial murder, and what the Bundy-Ridgeway-Keppel connection could bring to light in the criminal justice world. When he implemented the book into his lectures, it all made perfect sense. In actuality, if you paid attention to the book, and knew enough about criminal investigations, you realized that Bundy was actually giving the criminal justice field valuable information on the way a serial killer thinks. The book was a little tough to get through, but if you go through and read it a second time, and watch the TV movie on A&E, its really a fascinating subject.

I have always loved karen rose but this book was hard to follow. to many people to keep track of and no suspense.

I thought this was a really well written book. I have been a fan of Karen Rose books since the first one. I have my favorites (Have you seen her?) and ones that I didn't like that much (Nothing to Fear). This is somewhere in the middle. The story was interesting if a little too much going on. Two things bothered me: one is that the ending didn't really seem like it went with the rest of the book. I don't know if it was re-written but thats how it seems. The other thing that bothered me has nothing to do with the author. I hate it when a series starts in paperback and switches to hardcover. If your a fan of the author or this type of book it's worth checking out.

I"ve read the last few Rose books and she got me hooked on her caracthers. I like the way she mentions caracthers from other books but you can read one book without reading the others. This book had a good plot and it kept you interested. You don't want to put the book down.

Since I picked up Karen Rose's first book "Don't Tell" I put her on my list of must reads, she just keeps steadily climbing that list with each new book. Daniel and Alex are both somewhat tortured by the past and make a great team. The suspense is well done with secrets slowly uncovered to tell a disturbing tale of rape, muder and other crimes. There is more than one monster in this book and more victims then those tossed in a ditch. I highly recommend this one, just make sure you have plenty of time to read, because once you start you will not put it down. I do recommend you read this book after her previous novel "Die For Me."

The plot was o.k. but the story went on far too long and was extremely convoluted and involved way too many characters. Also way too many deaths. As the body count ratcheted up, I was left with wondering exactly what the motivation was for Mack to be doing this and it really wasn't ever fully explained. All the players were eliminated and I really don't see how this story line with these characters can go on. Everything tied up in a neat little bow at the end. The girls in the mill used for human trafficking came as sort of a "by the way" and that was never developed either. I expect a sequel although not necessary. There really was no suspense in this book.

Another lawyer/cop book which was enjoyable. I liked The Vig better but this is still a good story about a teen accused of a double murder and what it takes to prove that he did (or didn't) commit the crimes. I wanted to read some of this author's older books because he has a new one coming out in February that I want to read. I figured some background knowledge might help me with the new book.

This books starts with a murder. The suspect: a teenage boy who does his best too look and act guilty. Because he's a juvenile, he can be saved from LWOP (Life without Parole), if he pleads guilty to a double murder.

Everyone thinks this is a great idea. The perp will be out at the age of 25. There is no long trial and the DA gets convictions on two murders. Everyone except the suspect who at the last minute refuses the deal, because he insists that while he might be a creepy kid, he didn't kill two people.

Now, things get going! That's the beauty of this book. You never quite know what's coming next.

This book begins and ends as a perfectly competent, trial-centered mystery thriller. The plot is like a finely made cuckoo clock. Once wound up, it clanks and whirrs, doors open up at just the right time and things pop into sight exactly when they should. In a book that is a part of a better than average series, it is well and good that they should do so.

However, the heart of the book is not given to the series protagonists, Dismas (named after the "good thief" on the cross beside Jesus) Hardy and Abe Glitsky, but to a young lawyer named Amy Wu. Ms. Wu is very bright and very competent, so bright and so competent that she makes thoroughly boneheaded errors, one after another, in entirely convincing ways. The middle of the book is given to Ms. Wu's slow realization that she has made a mess of things and her attempts to crawl out of the pit she has dug for herself. This is not the stuff of a well-constructed mystery. This is, rather, something that looks very like--dare I say it?--literature.

A couple of hundred pages of this 454 page book are more like a novel than a mystery story. Overall, this has a slightly negative effect on the mystery story, hence the four stars. But it also gives me hope that Lescroart has something good, something really good in him that someday he might put down on paper.

I thought this book would be a very long legal trial, but it wasn't, and I enjoyed it very, very much. It had me turning the pages as fast as I could, and was very difficult to put down.

Fairly good. Suspense is maintained, though perhaps drawn out too long. And the characterizations of the main players are well done, plus there's some sharp, witty dialogue.

But the ending seems to be written for Hollywood, garishly melodramatic. And I'm not one who usually can predict endings (my wife can), but in this one I could see where the plot (the pattern and motives for the killings) was heading from about the midpoint of the novel--tho I didn't know the identity of the killer, which seemed to come out of the blue.

I'll probably try another Lescroart.

Rendell is great at creating characters who grab and keep your attention, but she can also bushwhack the reader, sort of. Jerry Leach (or Jock Lewis, or Jeff Leigh, or whatever name he's using this month) is a user of women, moving in with a series of girlfriends and taking their life savings and credit cards. He starts out as the central character by virtue of his leech-like activities but -- surprise -- he becomes a victim himself almost exactly halfway through the book. Thereafter, he appears only as a ghost in the mind of Minty Knox, an obsessive-compulsive shirt-ironer for a London dry cleaner. There's also Michelle and Matthew, the former a sadly obese middle-aged woman, the latter her dangerously anorexic but loving husband. And Zillah, Jerry's featherbrained not-quite-ex-wife, who enters an ill-advised marriage of convenience with a gay conservative MP. And Minty's black neighbors, Laf and Sonovia, who don't realize how much they know. And on and on. Like many of this author's books, if properly handled, this would make a terrific film.

Rendell is such a good writer that I never feel totally unsatisfied, but, that said, it's hard to spend so much time with a dim main character. Minty is an addled spinster, yes a type, who falls in love with a con man, who takes her up more or less because he is in her neighborhood one night and is told she has money. The book is enlivened by the other characters, Minty's neighbors and her boyfriend's other conquests, and although it is interesting, and I think psychologically accurate enough to a point (the killing), Minty just isn't a good enough character for a book to be based on her. Now, the Rottweiler, with its serial killer who is offended by his press coverage, that is a character driven book that is rewarding. If you love Rendell, you'll like this one well enough. If not, then pass.

Ruth Rendell is one of my favourite authors, and this book proves why. No one can write a psychological thriller like her, and in this book she has written in a character that is obsessive=compulsive and a schizophrenic. Her ability to depict these emotional illnesses in her characters is unparalleled. Her writing skills are unique and spell-binding. In this book we have three women living in different parts of London that don't know each other, but are inescapably bound together by their involvement with a man. The tension builds and builds throughout the book until the explosive ending.

Minty should have taken her knife to this manuscript. At least half should have been cut. "A&E&PE" is a book both wandering and repetitious.

Over the course of this novel, the main character takes almost sixteen million baths. I counted! There's also long lists of meals prepared, detailed fashion descriptions of eighty thousand outfits, and in-depth cinema visit scenes for every film that appeared around the year 2000.

Pinch me?

No.

Pinch off half the chapters and there's be enough room for the amount of plot and character invested here. On second thought, pinch off half the characters too: there's little that's interesting or sympathetic to several of them, and their stories' impact on the main plot is tangential. At best.

In fairness: I was expecting a mystery. Perhaps I'm just disappointed that there was very little crime in this novel, no investigation (at all), and no doubt as to what the conclusion would hold. There's never a moment when "it all comes together," no long-awaited twist that would make the whole read worthwhile. Instead of surprises we have bath after bath after bath and a lot of weeping into hankies over failed relationships.

Two stars out of five.

Because Ruth Rendell's last few outings have been vaguely disappointing, I approached this most recent book with a little reluctance if not outright trepidation. In fact, it sat in my bedside book pile far longer than a Rendell would usually have done in the past. But I needn't have feared...she's back in form and this is an absolutely fascinating character study of men and women and need and manipulation. There are several main characters here whose lives intertwine most unusually, and it is hard to decide who is the best-written of these. They all spring to life with their own unique collections of human foibles and motivations and they are all on a collision course, each with the other. You can see the train wreck coming, but you can't avert your eyes.

I am a fan of Jonathan Kellerman - have read all of his books and enjoyed most of them. This was the last one I read. It was too long - so many diversions that did not advance the story. It seemed that JK was caught between writing a mystery/crime novel and writing a history of the conflict between the Palestinians and Israels. This books was about 300 pages too long and very boring in many places. This was JK fourth novel and I am glad that he got his sights back on target.

My first reaction was What kind of twisted mind would write such a thing? The villain in this is as evil as it gets and the things he does - just horrific. But, then ... I don't think the book is really all that graphic. Rather, I suspect it is actually my own twisted little brain that filled in all the nasty details.

I love the characters in this book. For me, reading is all about the characters - if I don't care about the them, why should I care what happens to them? This is about a murder investigation in Israel. Since this is one of the first serial killers they've ever had (The first being The Grey Man who was never caught), the investigation team is a bit inexperienced with this sort of thing.
The team includes:
- Chief Inspector Daniel Sharavi who's left hand was crippled in the Six-Day War of '67.
- Inspector Nahum Shmeltzer, the older detective ready to retire and kind of angry at the world.
- Subinspector Yossi Lee, the big huge "Chinaman."
- Sergeant Elias Daoud, the Christian Arab who just wants to do his job.
- Sergeant Avi Cohen, the spoiled rich kid with dyslexia.
Daniel, I already knew and liked from Survival of the Fittest which came after this one, but I read them out of order. After him, I liked Shmeltzer best - just something about skinny, cranky old men ...

Anyway, someone is mutilating beautiful young Arab women and leaving their washed and wrapped bodies around the area of Jerusalem known as The Butcher's Theater. Tensions are running high as Jews and Arabs play the blame game. But is it political at all? Or is it just some psychopath out for sick sexual thrills? Due to the nature of the slashings, it is suspected that a doctor may be responsible and there are no shortage of suspects.

The story is very tense and takes you all around the city of Jerusalem as we get a glimpse into the extent of cultural diversity there. I kind of suspected who the killer was early on, but wasn't sure and often doubted. The reader is privy to information not available to the investigators, though, as some chapters are told from inside the killer's head. With the help of Daniel's visiting American friend, LAPD Detective Gene Brooker, the clues slowly but surely pile up.

This is a long book. My little paperback copy is a heavy thing on 628 thin pages with small type, but never once while reading it did I think it was dragging on too long. It's a page turner with a heart-pounding climax. I HIGHLY recommend it.

This is the only book I have read of the author and that was at the urging of my wonderful wife. I was not disappointed but not thrilled either. I realize this was not his usual character so I gave him the benefit of the doubt. I rated it as good but actually it was between good and very good. I read the reviews that were submitted before mine and was completely amazed at the varying opionions of the reviewers. I deplore racisim in any form and I consider myself a liberal. I did not find this book to be racist as so many pointed out. Instead I just sat back and enjoyed the book. Go ahead and read it and make your own conculsion.

I was completely repulsed by this novel which had been so highly reviewed. In the first 50 pages, it's hard to find a nationality or ethnic group not completely, arrogantly trashed (including the UN and all its agencies/commissions) except for the "original" Israelis. Granted, a lot of it comes from the characters who are incredibly shallow, ESPECIALLY the killer, but there is no balance at all. Even as an American probably less ethnic than Kellerman I felt personally insulted by the relentlessly pro-Israeli slant. Typical narrator statement "In 1967, the Arabs attacked again, again losing honor and land," or (paraphrasing) "the style reflected the British love of comfort during their reign." Why attempt a 2 page summation of what is arguably the most wildly chaotic and difficult regional history on the planet? Even if you like your characters to be 2-dimensional representations of predjudice, these characters only represent the American preconceptions of what those predjudices should be. Can one really believe that in a society that prides itself on tolerance (as the Israeli characters constantly claim that they do, either as a source of pride or dispair) a person like Shmeltzer would feel comfortable talking the way he does? That's what makes the characters so unbelievable.

And then the killer! Why have long sections "inside" the mind of the killer, when it adds nothing to your understanding? There is so much musing on the psychological nature and social roles of serial killers by Sharavi that one might expect those passages to be illuminating, but instead they seem to exist only to add purient details and "excitement" to a book that might otherwise be completely glacial in pace. If this represents Kellerman's best shot at psychoanalysis, thank GOD he writes fiction and is not in practice.

I read the whole thing trying to figure out if it was a tour-de-force exploration of American predjudice or just a sad attempt to make pulp fiction "bigger" by attaching it to "big" themes, I think it's the latter, unfortunately. If you must read, though, I recommend trying the first approach and seeing just how much predjudice is smashed in there. The final scene of the Arab detective, for example... please don't think that Arab women - Christian, Muslim, or gasp! secular - are any more likely to "timidly ask, "was your dinner acceptable?" after bearing six children for a husband who is much more present in his job than at home than you are yourself.

Oh, and how I wish 0 stars was a rating option.

I enjoy the Alex Delaware series, and I also liked the two books featuring Petra Connors, so I thought I would try this, after encountering Sharavi in "Survival of the fittest".

This book is different from the ones taking place in LA, and it IS slow, sometime to the point of boredom. But after about a hundred pages, you want to go on reading it, despite the fact that it continues being slow. The characters are reasonably well developed, especially Sharavi. The book is atmospheric but, never having been to Israel, I cannot tell how accurately it depicted Jerusalem at the time. And the book is quite old, so probably things have changed dramatically since.

The parts featuring the killer are disturbing and seem somewhat extreme but, for all I know about serial killers, the description might even be plausible.

I did not find it as absorbing as I usually find thrillers but if one reads it more as a novel that happens to have homicides in it, it is good.

Cameron is fourteen when his father is finally killed in a police raid. For as long as he can remember, Pop had abused and raped him, and brought other young boys back to their isolated cottage to abuse as well. Cameron tried to tell these other boys to behave themselves and quietly do what Pop said, but eventually they all misbehaved and ended up dead, buried in the cellar of the house.

Before Pop died, Cameron spent a great deal of time locked in the cellar, and he came across a filing cabinet filled with newspaper articles about all of the boys Pop had abducted and killed. One story about Neil Lacey particularly struck him, especially the descriptions of the family's sailboats. When Pop dies, Cameron decides that he can become Neil Lacey, that he can convince this family he is their missing son.

Neil's parents immediately believe that Cameron is their son. They bring him into their lives and try to act like everything is exactly as it used to be. But Neil's thirteen-year-old sister Diana and eight-year-old brother Stevie are another matter. They watch his actions and compare him to what they remember of their brother. Diana even confronts him, telling him she knows he isn't Neil.

Will Cameron be able to keep up this act? When Cougar, a man who was something of a partner to Pop and whom Pop got sent to jail, is paroled, will Cameron be in danger?

I liked the Lacey family. I liked the way they all fit together and the dynamics between the kids and their parents. I liked that the kids weren't as overjoyed as the parents about having someone back who claimed to be their brother. I also liked that Cameron was such a survivor, and even after all of the trauma with Pop, he looked like he might be able to have something of a normal life.

I thought the ending was too easy, though, and I thought that Detective Simmons was far too venomous toward Cameron. Even if he were sure Cameron was lying, I don't think any police officer would have been that outright mean to a kid.

"Counterfeit Son" by Elaine Marie Alphin takes place in a house near a lake, with a new comer and old. He has come back from the dead, for after six long years. You know what though? He's not someone that has come back from the dead, but someone impersonating the dead boy. His name is Cameron Miller, son of a murder. His Pop had killed the boy he is impersonating. He had taken Neil Lacey's life, and he had taken his family.
Cameron's Pop has gotten murdered, and now the police are looking for him. He lies and goes to the doctor with pains, and then the Lacey's family takes him in. They actually think he is Neil Lacey, and not some other kid. He hates lying to them, but he really doesn't want to go to jail. He's really nice, unlike Neil, who black-mails his younger siblings. He gets scared that sometimes, that the Lacey's family will find out he's not Neil.
Cameron shows more and more love for the Lacey family each day. They love him and care for him, just like he was Neil. He feels like he should tell them, but is too scared. Will he always be scared, and never tell them he's Neil? Will they ever find out he really isn't Neil.

-Hellen P.

it doesnt get any worse. ive read this book 7 or 8 times and everyrime i still find myself right along with the characters in the book. It is extremely well written and weel thought out and i cant stop reading it. it is by far one of my favorite books of all time

The book Counterfeit Son is written by Elaine Marie Alphin, who is the winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award. The book is published by Puffin Books in New York, United States of America.
The book Counterfeit Son basically talks about a child whose name is Cameron and whose father - Hank Miller is a murderer. His father abducts children and murders them if they do not obey to his command. Cameron is worried that his father will slay him too. Suddenly, a miraculous thing happens: his father is killed in a shootout with the police. Cameron takes this only chance: he takes on the identity of Neil Lacey, who has been kidnapped for more than six years. Neil's reappearance is suspected by the detectives. However his parents, the Laceys are thrilled. The loving Laceys take Cameron home and provide him with the best food and clothes, but this arouses his siblings' envy. At the same time, Hank Miller's friend, Cougar, is released from jail. He knows that Cameron is pretending to be Neil. He threatens him to get him valuable jewels or cash, otherwise he will tell the truth to the cops. Cougar even snatches Neil's little brother, Stevie in order to force Cameron to obtain the house key for him. When Neil struggles against Cougar to save Stevie, Neil's sister, Diana calls his parents and the detectives. When they come, the truth is finally exposed...
The book Counterfeit Son has a suspenseful plot. The author has put in events which make the readers feel excited. Likewise, the author clearly states that Cameron is going to pretend to be Neil but does not tell why; this mysterious arrangement really fascinates the readers, including me. The plot is not the only strength in the book; the author, Ms Alphin, has created a mysterious atmosphere, I believe, that has attracts many readers who choose books by reading a few pages before buying it. Besides, the front page of the book is well created. There is a piece of photo of a boy. I remembered that when I first borrowed this book from the school library, I wished I could finish it at once! Last but not the least, the words in the book are not that hard. You can understand it easily. Well you can try to put down the book while you are reading, but I bet you cannot!
Counterfeit Son is such a great book. There is only one weakness I can find - the ending is a little bit too obvious. While I was reading chapter 16, I have a strong feeling that Cameron IS Neil (Opps I've told the truth), and I am right! However, for overall, Counterfeit Son is a really marvellous book that I can't tell how excellent it is by words!

As a middle school teacher, I selected this book for my more *reluctant* male readers. The characters and their struggles seem real, and teenage boys could identify with Cameron. The author also treats Cameron's abuse in a manner that can be digested by young readers - it is apparent that bad things have happened to Cameron, but nothing is explicitly depicted.

In a market floodly by teen fiction primarily geared toward young girls, most of the offerings for young men are sports related or special interest. *Counterfeit Son* is that rare exception that appeals to young male readers without the heavy sports emphasis. 95% of the guys like it, from the football team to the marching band.

I read my first Malone novel, "Handling Sin" after an Amazon recommendation and was just knocked out by his writing. I followed up with "Times Witness" a very different but engaging and inspired piece of mystery and social commentary. "First Lady", while enjoyable does not measure up to either of these other efforts and while it includes his ace police investigators, Cuddy Mangum and Justin Saville, it largely relies on a crime fiction formula which includes a serial killer, a formula which in my opinion has been exhausted and exploited. There are no real suprises, and Malone's wonderful sense of humor rarely shines through. I know this book will proabably appeal to a larger audience, but it is definitively NOT his best work. Michael screw the masses the book stores are filled with these types of mysteries. Let's see more of the real Michael Malone in your next effort.

I met Michael Malone at Borders and my husband bought me Handling Sin (at Malone's suggestion), along with Times Witness. I started reading Handling Sin several times and just could not get into it. Then I turned to Times Witness and I was hooked! I read it quickly and immediately bought Uncivil Seasons and First Lady. First Lady is a good read. The series on Savile and Mangum are well written, funny, and quite entertaining. I love Malone's dry humor. It was not uncommon to hear me laughing out loud. I am still smiling and wondering if there is to be a fourth in the series! What DOES happen with Cuddy and Lee......?!?

Michael Malone is a gifted, poetic writer who knows his turf & can immerse the reader into the southern environment and its characters. For these talents alone, his novels are enjoyable and worth reading.

The mystery is presented intricately, but is too transparent [as did another reviewer, I knew the murderer at least 100 pages before the end of the novel]. But that did not distract from my interest in the characters.

I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because I felt at times the language and sexual descriptions were a little too graphic for my taste. However, they were not inappropriate in context, and I admit to being on the old-fashioned side in those matters.

These three Michael Malone mysteries, Uncivil Seasons, Time's Witness, and First Lady, are essentially expanded police procedurals written at a fairly high level. The middle book, Time's Witness, is probably the best and Uncivil Seasons is the weakest, though all are superior mysteries. As police procedural mysteries, they are all good in terms of story line, suspense, and outcome of the story. What really distinguishes these books are Malone's efforts to produce highly detailed books with in depth characterization and social analysis. Set in a mid-sized Southern city modeled on Durham, North Carolina, Malone explores issues of race, politics, and particularly, social class structure in the modern South. The protagonists of these books, the homicide detective Justin Savile and his boss, Cuddy Mangum, are attractive, well developed characters. Malone has also a talent for humorous writing that serves him well. While not as good as really fine novels like the best PD James mysteries, these are still superior to most books in this genre.

I picked this author off the shelf because he lives near Raleigh, a veritable hotbed of acclaimed national writers such as Smith, Edgerton, Price, Betts, Gibbons, Humphries, Payne, Chappell, Gingher, Moose, Frazier, Marlette, Ballard, and so many more....Now living in Utah after 25 years in North Carolina, I miss the humor that pervades Southern culture (it's drier in Utah in more ways than one). First Lady's characters are typical, full-of-themselves Southerners, their dialogue is as peppery as homemade cheese straws and as honest as a tumbler full of bourbon and branch. So I felt refilled. But the characters (some of them) were more interesting than the plot and the writing was not as smooth or rich as that of the best mystery writers. First Lady contains all the conventional elements of a detective novel -- men with women trouble, eccentric witnesses, perverted serial killers, and so on -- but nothing fresh to suck me in and push me forward. Malone tries too hard; if you're looking for a sense of place, Grisham is far better. So I dropped it and probably won't try Malone again. P.S. I also miss sweet tea 24-7.

I read this book when it was first released and it still sticks with me. The best aspect of the book is the interweaving of the author's personal story and that of the man who supposedly killed his family then fled the country. When he was caught, he was using Michael Finkel's name and identity at a Mexico resort area living the good life.

Imagine getting a call to find out someone was using your identity -- and that person was suspected of murdering his family. Wouldn't you be compelled to find out why?

The author is looking for redemption from his own journalistic mistakes by finding and writing the truth of a news-worthy event. Other reviewers found Finkel to be self-serving but I'd have to disagree with that. He was PART of the story itself because the suspected murderer identified with him enough to use his identity. Gradually, that identification allowed him to open up to Finkel through the taped conversations. If they had not shared that link, there would be no story.

Maybe readers of murder mystery are accustomed to having an "aha moment" when the crime is solved and all the pieces of the puzzle are revealed. This book reveals more of the main characters' inner selves without having a tidy ending. I love ambiguous endings.

Well worth a few intense nights of reading.

There were times throughout this CD when I wanted to just turn it off, but somehow I made it through. The events depicted are well worth knowing about, and Mr. Finkel can ply the skills of his trade when he wants to. The research and facts are all done quite well.

But long before the story was finished, I had complete understanding of why the author had gotten in trouble at the NY Times. He can't see past his own shiny self-image. The same ego that caused a talented young reporter to throw his career away while attempting to make a name for himself is the driver of the hubris that bloats this book. We know he's being taken in by a lifelong con artist ages before he can admit it to himself.

The author tried to build up suspense that would lead to a moment of truth at the climax of the story, but just like his fabricated articles for the newspaper, there was no truth to be told. We know not to trust a habitual liar, but apparently another habitual liar doesn't. I would get so frustrated with his naiveté while driving in my car listening that I'd yell at Finkel as if he was a pedestrian stopped in the middle of the street before me, trying to decide whether to continue crossing the road or head back to the curb he just came from!

Despite the unique nature of this bizarre tale I can't recommend the book. I'm all for author involvement ala Ira Glass' "The New Kings of Nonfiction", but in this case you'd be better off reading someone else's coverage of the same material.

A thoughtful, well written description of a horrendous crime that explores the psyche of the killer; the author's growing understanding of the killer's psyche as he gets to know him; and the author's own travails while all this is going on.

Back in December 2001, a heinous act occured along the Oregon coast that would forever alter the lives of the people involved with it. Christian Longo, newly relocated to the area a few months back, savagely took the lives of the people closest to him, and then fled the country. The shock and horror of the crimes reverberated strongly through the community and the state. While in Mexico, Longo assumed the identity of disgraced NY Times reporter Michael Finkel. Thus, this unusual pairing of these two men was born, and the end result, this quite unusual recounting of the Longo murders in "True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa".

Michael Finkel was once top of his game, reporting on serious stories with serious implications. However, due to frabrications made in an "child slavery" story, he quickly fell from grace, retreating to his life in Montana. No sooner than that happened, his phone rang, and a reporter calling from the Oregonian fills him in on the Longo story. Having nothing better to do with his time, Finkel contacts the now-captured Longo, who responds, creating a very strange, symbiotic relationship during the time Longo was awaiting trial for the murders.

This whole book is quite amazing. From Finkel's complete, honest confession to his fabrications, to the letters that Longo writes to him, the story is quite the page turner. Finkel's writing style is uncluttered and easy to read. He builds his story well, from the introduction to the final, horrifying conclusion. Finkel's honesty is compelling; he cuts himself no slack for his fabrication. You must forgive him for his mistakes, and hopefully, he'll find himself back to writing.

This story is chilling, in so many aspects. Longo, a merciless killer, sits on Oregon's death row, living with his crimes. You wonder how he does, but after reading Finkel's book, which provides an unusual insight into the distorted mind of a killer, more light is shed on this subject. In short, it's a great read.

This book is about a murderer's theft of the author's identity to help him escape police apprehension. The author makes much of this fact,seeing himself as a victim, but an account I read of the actual murders has no mention of the author, nor does it need any for the purpose of telling its story.

Nor is the author a very sympathetic character, having announced at the beginning of the book that he has been fired for fictionalizing a news story for the New York Times. (a practice becoming more and more popular, it seems)

My main complaint, however, is that the book is just not that interesting unless you're fascinated by the inner workings of a journalist's mind.

I really found this book interesting. The details of Brookey and Christine's lives are incredible. Hard to believe it took so long to find Christine's body, sounds like some episode of Cold Case or CSI. Great book for True Crime fans.

This is one of the best true crime stories I've ever read. Not only was it well-written, but the story itself was fascinating. Mr. Puitt found just the right mix of background history, police procedure, and courtroom drama to keep the story clipping along at an even, interesting pace. The imagery, even if there had been no pictures, was so vivid you felt you were right there, even where you wished you weren't. Very, very good! Looking forward to more from this author.

The book did not explain too much about Brookey herself. I wanted more on the withcraft, more on her Dad etc. Fast easy read, just not enough for me.

I was really quite surprised to find such a strange and deceitful person.a real woman could do such horrifying things to her own family. I never thought that true life could be worse than a fiction murder mystery.

Really good book - I got it from some Amazon.com reader's 10 best true crime novels and if this one was any indication of the rest of them - he/she right on the money!! Very graphic - pictures are definitely NOT for the faint of heart. I still can't get them out of my head