Oh my lord…I think I’m sisters with Diane and Missy2U. I love true crime, and I love Ann Rule. Favorite book of hers is a tie between Stranger Beside Me and Small Sacrifices.
Another good author is Joe McGinnis. He wrote Blind Faith and Fatal Vision. Absolutely amazing.
And after reading Diane’s last post, I have one to add. It’s called “Sudden Fury,” by Leslie Walker. Story of a kid who killed both his parents. Which happened down the street from me. It’s…weird reading a book that talks about the killer attending your high school, and points out all the landmarks in Annapolis.
And Phil! You left that book I loaned you at my place! I’ll bring it this weekend…
Honestly, it’s been so long since I read it, it’s hard to recall. But, IIRC, didn’t he, when allowing her to visit family, etc., make some outlandish threats against her family’s lives if she talked or tried to escape? By that time, she was probably so brainwashed she would believe anything he said. OTOH, some people in the S&M/B&D worlds are into some pretty weird stuff, and it isn’t completely outside the realm of possibility that her role as a slave fulfilled her somehow. I’m not saying I believe that, but it’s possible.
As far as the wife, I do think she beat the rap. To bring up another book, a similar situation occurred in “The Kirtland Massacre,” the story of the slaughter of a couple and their two young daughters in NE Ohio by Jeff Lundgren and his Mormon-offshoot cult. This one, as it happened, was right in my backyard; I lived about 10 minutes north of Kirtland at the time. My mother-in-law served on the trial jury of Alice Lundgren. She claimed that she was abused, brainwashed, etc. by Jeffrey, but the jury didn’t buy it. She’ll be spending the rest of her life in prison.
“Perfect Victim” completely wigged me out for days after reading it. The fact that someone could become so completely warped and not retain even a shred of independent motivation as was described in the book took me a while to get my head around.
I also really like the behind the scenes pieces, such as the John Douglas books. Douglas was one of the pioneers of the FBI’s Behavioral Scienes division and was a loose model for Jack Crawford in the Thomas Harris books and movies.
Also, “The Evidence Never Lies” by (Herbert?) MacDonnell is absolutely riveting. He’s a modern day Sherlock and recounts some of the most famous / interesting cases he’s worked on. A damn nice guy, to boot.
Yeah, he did make threats to her family if she didn’t return. What interested me is how gullible she was to believe that the police and other officials were involved with Cameron in a slavery organization and that no matter where she went there would be members watching every move she made, ready to sell her to another master. He convinced her that compared to other masters, he was actually very kind. Things he told her were outrageous and unbelievable, but because of her state of mind, she believed him.
It’s fascinating that someone can mentally and physically abuse another person to the point of having total control. Never having experienced the level of fear and abuse Colleen endured for 7 years it is hard for me to understand how she got to the point of writing love letters to Cameron. It is even harder to understand his wife’s involvement and how she was not punished.
I too have wondered if Colleen got to the point that SM/BD became enjoyable, afterall, he basically destroyed the person she was and rebuilt her to his specifications.
Dang, it is too bad that we all live so far away from one another. I have a huge library of true crime paperbacks (although some are pretty hammered but still readable) that I would love to share and trade.
Me too…although I don’t read much at all anymore. (I need glasses and keep putting off going to the eye doctor.) I’ve read so many true crime stories that I cannot remember the names, particulars or authors of some of them. The last thing I did read was John Douglas new book “Anatomy of Motive”. I do go into the Crime Library everyday and look at the news, check out the site and see if they’ve added anything new. I also watch my fill of “Investigative Reports”, “City Confidental” (which was last week about the guy in Boston that shot his preggers wife then himself and blamed it on a black guy, I read that book but can’t remember his name even now or who wrote the book. I’m getting feable in my old age.), and “Crime Files” on A & E and MSNBC.
I guess the stories that have stuck with me the most have been the book about the West Memphis Three, the rich guy in Texas who got away with murder, (see can’t remember his name or the books name) and the story of I think his name was Mark Chapman (the forger that authored the “White Salamander Letter”).
Sometimes you do have to separate yourself from this kind of thing. When I was reading a lot, sometimes 3 to 5 books at a time, I would switch up. You just get your fill of the grisly stuff, horror and fictional crime stories were in my steady diet too. Believe it or not I used to be pretty good at actually trying to read a “classic” at least once a year. I could also remember a lot more details like names and authors. But I do remember the stories and situations. Funny how your mind deteriorates that way.
I do need to get myself some glasses, brush up on a few things. I miss being able to read.
I have to confess to being a fan of the genre myself.
My SO keeps telling me I should read stuff to ‘enrich’ myself (like he does, science and stuff), he doesn’t understand I’m looking for pointers…
Anyhow. Does any one remember this book/story (it was also made into a made for TV movie starring, I think Harry Hamlin, but I digress)
a well to do family is found murdered. suspicion starts to be drawn to one of the adult daughters, who has had some history of emotional illness. She’d lived for a time in Japan or China. came back, really odd. Family didn’t know what to do with her . She and her husband divorced, she started an affair with (Harry Hamlin played him in the movie). When the police started closing in, she piled her kids into the car with the guy, they drive off, with the police behind them, the car blows up all 4 people are killed. Seems to me it took place in one of the southern states near the East Coast (like, no farther west than Louisiana, no farther north than Maryland, but not Florida). that’s all I remember.
Actually, the guy is Mark Hoffman. His first murder took place two blocks south of my office and then he accidentally blew himself up two blocks to the north. When reading the book, I could look out my window and see the spots they were talking about.
It is also a good source of information regarding the Mormon Church. Information they would rather keep hidden.
Good book.
(I am starting to wonder if I should be worried that I know so much about this subject. :))
Found it. (Kelly McGillis played the woman, a ‘Lifetime’ original movie)
Family was from North Carolina, by the end, nine people were dead. the woman refused to allow her ex husband to see his kids, she was having an affair with her first cousin, an unemployed gun fanatic. book is called “Bitter Blood” by Jerry Bledsoe.
Also Small Sacrifices about the female letter carrier who tried to kill her 3 kids ( I think it was 3), because her new lover didn’t like kids.
Bitter Blodd was okay…I’m not a real big fan of Jerry Bledsoe, though. Story was DEFINITELY weird.
And yep, it was 3 kids in Small Sacrifices. One died, one is paralyzed from the waist down, and the other one lived with some brain damage from dying and being brought back. Coolest thing in that case…the prosecutor adopted the two surviving children.
I agree about the Small Sacrifices. I read BB a long time ago, and am amazed at how vivid the ‘creepy weird’ factor still is to me. Don’t know if it’s attribuatable to the writer or the story.