Sarca
3.5 stars. Quite a comprehensive book about the Laci Peterson case. It took me a while to get through it because it's sad, but the amount of detail that is presented. The police really pulled from everywhere for this case. Scott's childhood friends, neighbors, old employers. Wow! Very interesting case.
Kinda cute story about a family who returns to their usual summer vacation spot, grown children, elderly grandparents, and a mom going through menopause. She reflects on her child-bearing years ( some of it tragic) and prepares for the next stage of life as the children get on with their own lives. I found the relationship between parents and children a little woke, and too open, but maybe I'm comparing my relationship with my parents to this? In any case, good prose.
My sister read the Pistachio Prescription multiple times growing up. I never did, but I thought I should see what it was about. Somewhat relatable story of a girl who has aloof parents and who lives with anxiety. Some of it is cute, but I quit after 60 pages. It was killing my buzz for reading, probably because it was meant for a 12 year old, not someone of my vintage. It is a bit dated too. Changing the cover art for more modern times doesn't help improve that. Anyhoo...
This spring, I was introduced to Tim McGregor...or who I thought was Tim McGregor. His coauthoring of the Empathy Trap and the Sociopath at the Breakfast Table with his wife Jane helped me thru a harrowing time. Discovering that Tim authored his own works of fiction brought me to Eynhallow. Turns out, we are talking about two very different Tim McGregors! And to my delight, the author of Eynhallow is from Toronto! Anyhow...
Eynhallow was dark in its prose, melancholy in its telling, and i ate the whole thing up! I am not normally attracted to monster horror novels, but wow, this was something. And I was also to discover that Eynhallow is a real island in Scotland that had inhabitants (26 in fact until the 1851), but now has zero inhabitants, and is considered haunted. McGregor weaves an engaging juxtaposition of a Frankenstein novel with the lore of the island. I want more!
This was a crime that took place the next town over from where I was living at the time. Toronto Life's article on Jennifer Pan is way more interesting and encapsulates her personality and life way better than this book. The first third was pretty interesting, but once we got to the trial, with every one of Jennifer's suspect entourage, their cell phone convos and and nicknames at play, it got confusing. And then the girlfriends of these individuals show up at the trial...
I have to be more selective going forward, in choosing true crime books that tell the story and not basically copy the court reports from the trial, because that is really dry reading.
I followed this story when it first broke, since I was working in Etobicoke at this time where many of the ‘cast of characters' were living. Dark Ambition is a very thorough and detailed account of Dellen Millard and Mark Smich's murder of Tim Bosma. It is very disturbing, to say the least, and almost a cautionary tale of what could happen when you sell an expensive item on Kijiji...anyhoo...
The book itself was OK. I did find the second half of the book when we are in the trial portion a little too detailed, which got a bit dull for me. Also, I know I'm an outlier here, but who cares what anyone on Websleuths thinks?? The author took comments from that website as if their opinion mattered or as if it were gospel.
Maybe I've read too many of these at this stage of my therapy, but I think Susan Forward does this subject wayyyy better. I found myself thinking that I've read all this before. Then the author actually mentions Forward, and I couldn't help but laugh out loud! There is also the book Stalking the Soul that has this down. Seriously, I've read better, and would recommend other books on this subject.
3.5 stars rounded up. An encapsulation of the Susan Cox Powell case. Not much new is revealed here, but I found it readable...but also a little unbalanced. There is tons of hate towards the Powells in this book, especially when it came to the Powell family believing Josh Powell's innocence. Investigative journo, this is not, more of a telling of the story from the Coxes' perspective; their feelings, emotions, actions. I think the biases could have been smoothed out better.
I remember watching in horror the news reports from the night of the Station Nightclub fire. Being a fan of attending live band shows, and having been to some venues with questionable fire safety and capacity limits in my time, the thought that what happened that night could have happened to me has crossed my mind. John Barylick presents the Station story thoroughly and respectfully. There were a couple of chapters where he reviewed the legalese stuff that I glazed over...but most of it is riveting. I recommend it!
I wish there was more to this story than a transcriber getting caught up with a detective solving a murder. I was interested in the work she did, but it turned into something else. How easy it was for the mc to fall for and start an affair with this detective. I get she is in an unhappy marriage, like that is any excuse... I'm still not sure how she began to get involved with him or how he would even allow her to be a part of his investigation. The whole thing was messy. I did enjoy the author's writing for what it was, buy the plot lost me.
The well researched story of Diane Downs, a woman convicted of shooting her three children, killing one and disabling the other two. It was a bit repetitive towards the end, only because we hear Downs' perspective, then hear it again during court proceedings. It's a tough read by all accounts. I am always interested in reading about the investigators, too, which this book does. I'll never listen to “Hungry Like the Wolf” the same way again.
