( 6 reviews )
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Posted: Nov 24 2007
This is the second book about the Brendels that Ive read. Its alot shorter, but I found it to be a good read. I acctually knew Ernie and Emily. I was about 13 at the time, but i remember them being so much more nicer than most people. I still live about a half mile down the road from their house. I drive by it alot and always think of them. I feel this book told the story well (most being what supposedly happened from known facts). I suggest it to anyone, even if you've never heard of it.
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( 4 of 4 found this review helpful ) Posted: Oct 5 2004
The only bad thing I can say about this book is that the author took it upon himself to put thoughts into dead people's heads. They are dead, so no one can say what they were thinking at various times. Yet, he tries to, which I really find irritating. In true crime, I like fact, not the author's assumption. That said, he did an excellent job of writing the story of a very sad case and a very evil man. Hightower should hang for what he did.
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( 2 of 2 found this review helpful ) Posted: Sep 18 2004
I have no idea how long I have owned this book, which I had purchased years back in hard cover form, but I stashed it in my bookcase and never read it until now. I began it Thursday, and stayed up until after 3am before forcing myself to put it away for a few hours so I could get some sleep. It is a long book, but it had a lot of territory to cover. It started with the Florida childhood of Christopher Hightower through to his growing up, getting married, divorcing, and finally getting remarried to a young Susan Slicker. It follows his many failures at school and at work, and how he put on the facade of a highly intelligent, successful man. Then tragedy struck the town of Barrington, Rhode Island, when a husband, wife and their 8-year-old daughter, disappeared. What resulted was a murder investigation with no bodies, until a woman's dog led the police to the shallow graves of the Brendel family. As the detectives and police gathered evidence, described in mindabsorbing detail, they were led to Christopher Hightower, setting the stage for a 26-day trial. This is where Davis' skill really shines as he lets the reader know as much about what went on as if they were actually seated in the courtroom. The once-haughty Hightower, so sure he could fool everyone, comes apart in the end under the state's crossexamination of his rambling account of what "really" happened to the Brendel family. The cat-and-mouse game of the prosecutor questioning Hightower, catching him in lie after lie, will draw the reader in like few other trial accounts can. Bits of humor help them handle the grim fact this was a brutal murder, and give them hope for a successful verdict. I am a lover of true crime, and have a growing library, but this ranks as one of a select few that held my interest from the very first page to the very last page, and I would highly recommend this book.
