Carla
Tried to be both poetic and journalistic, and could not marry the two—ended up reading like the script of an unprofessional and rushed podcast. It felt disrespectful to the victims to keep reading.
Star deducted for too much overexplaining. I understood the possible plot twists when they were presented the first time. I didn't need them fully laid out again. I felt like the author didn't trust the reader to keep up with her.
I love true crime, and yet found this tedious. I am uncomfortable when a victim is “Heathered”; a large portion of this book is devoted to proclaiming what an angel on earth Elizabeth DeCaro had been since birth. It's not necessary! It does not draw me into the fight for justice as the reader; it actually pulls me out of the story. Honor her memory and her story by allowing her to be the flawed human she was. That's the true crime story I want to read.
Excellent, but...
Excellent cultural, ethnographic, and psychological study of criminal, victims, and communities. However, the Kindle edition has many odd typos: words cleaved in two by a space, and exclamation points repeatedly substituted for capital I's.
I ordered this book via Amazon's iPhone app at work, because I needed to research a client's problem. Conduct disorder is such a serious diagnosis, I expected to receive a serious work tome. I received a book smaller than some graphic novels–74 pages! I returned it promptly in disgust.
Excellent narrators for the three sections. Incredibly dark, violent and eerie prequel to Panic. Trigger warnings for fire, claustrophobia, heights, etc. It's in the title–this is a much more intense and dark look than the original. It reads like an adult horror novel.
Lacking...
Good start, and an excellent wide range of offenders chosen, but this book lacks two things. With some tight editing, and more in-depth information, it could be splendid.
Both the art and the storyline are improving, book by book. I am intrigued to see where this is going to go, because it is far darker than I ever expected.
Excellent content, lacking tighter editing. Rosewood is a fine writer and researcher lacking a good team.
Robert Graysmith does not understand his subject, a woman with whom he's admittedly been “obsessed” for decades. Let me list the ways:1. He states Marli Renfro is modest. –> On nude shoots, she always does long, limbering exercises in the nude in front of cast and crew. She is a nudist who enjoys being watched.2. He states Renfro is in no way pretentious or vain. –>On the Psycho shoot, she once got dressed in some of her most expensive clothing and lingered for thirty minutes in the shower set after hours, in hopes someone would notice that she was as stylish as Janet Leigh.3. He states Renfro is so unassuming that she doesn't even care that she is famous (in a loose usage of that word) or has been an admired nude model –> When Graysmith finally met Renfro, he ran into her thanks to Ebay, where he and she both were searching for pictures of Renfro. Renfro admitted she was amassing a collection her own nude shots.4. He states that she is unique, that Renfro looks like nobody else. –> One photograph of Renfro included in the book looks like Marilyn Monroe. A couple of pictures of an aged Renfro look remarkably like Frances Fisher.Basically, I find Renfro insufferable, an arrogant, self-absorbed woman who seems to believe that Psycho's success was due to her, a body double, rather than Janet Leigh, or Anthony Perkins, or Alfred HItchcock. I was enthralled by Graysmith's books investigating the Zodiac murders: [b:Zodiac 105760 Zodiac Robert Graysmith http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1297734691s/105760.jpg 1258126] and [b:Zodiac Unmasked 9205947 Zodiac Unmasked Robert Graysmith http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1283378822s/9205947.jpg 101943]. This book left me disappointed and, frankly, irritated. I'm sorry I was ever introduced to Marli Renfro.The murder victims of Henry “Sonny” Busch, a real-life Norman Bates, have been overshadowed by repeated descriptions of Renfro's nipples. A true shame.
Narrator added to list of favorites: Shaun Grindell is extremely easy to listen to. This book is absolutely fascinating—not only in the exploration of MBP, but in a personality disorder and, in my opinion, an inadequate personality. Horrifying and compelling. Not for anyone who cannot handle child abuse.
Not as well organized or detailed as I would have liked. Repetitive as well: a passage about eating disorders on p. 179 is repeated word-for-word on p. 194.
One mistake...
She's not supposed to speak after daybreak, but all she does is speak, on and on.
I do like how this issue acknowledges that Sabrina's classmates are on to the fact that something is odd about her. I want to see that develop further.
Pro: A nice variety of patterns, from traditional to experimental. I plan to eventually make five of these scarves.
Con: Part of almost every large photo of completed scarves is “artistically” fuzzy on the lower half. One photo is even partially obscured by reflections from the window through which it was shot! I prefer clean, crisp, and fully visible photographs in knitting books.
The author did an incredible job getting into the head of the father-killer in this almost inexplicable crime. This unique approach to true crime enhanced the story.
Prince is Stevie's muse, to this day. I didn't realize I needed to know that. Only makes me love her more.
My complaint about Connelly's detectives: their horrible taste in women. It's distracting. McCaleb or Bosch falls completely for a needy/pushy/damaged/mentally ill/selfish/fill-in-the-blank woman, and I, as the reader, am distracted from the actual mystery at hand by my thoughts of why? and don't let her do that to you!
There was way too much internal dialogue—beyond the pale. This was a true crime book, not a novel. I cannot believe that David West was able to report that much of his inner life to Jack Olsen. Were it not for Kevin Pierce's superb narration of the audiobook, I would have bailed.
Plus, the book was supposed to be about the killer couple, not about the male of the couple and the wacky but well-meaning PI that caught him. So very odd.
If you grew up with 70's and 80's horror like I did, especially the killer kid subgenre, you will love this book.
“I was surrounded by people I didn't have to explain myself to.”
How powerful for a survivor of sexual assault like me to hear.
To hear my story, listen to my podcast, There Might Be Cupcakes, episode “This Girl Just Had a Bad Date”.
The idea of this book is splendid—the worksheet to organize each sweater you are knitting. I am going to use it going forward. There are strong and clear instructions for how to choose yarn, how to adjust gauge and choose size and yarn for comfort, and other such tips that aren't usually given.
However...each pattern is knitted in speciality yarn that cannot duplicated by the reader—dyed by the author, found by the author at a wool exposition, etc. Also, the book is quite difficult to read, written in light grey on cream-colored paper.
And the patterns are not written for a new knitter, even though the beginning of the book is geared toward a beginner. They are written conversationally: “work as up and down construction sweater, and then...”. It would be overwhelming had I never knitted before.
I learned three things from this adorable, amazing audiobook:
1. Christopher Guest's movies are improvised. No script, just character backstories. (!)
2. David Fincher, the director of Seven, directed the “Vogue” Madonna video.
3. Jane Lynch is as warm and sweet as I had hoped, and I want to have a cup of coffee with her. No, scratch that, I want to watch silly movies and talk all night with her. There, I said it. Let the restraining order commence.