Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
muggs33's review
3.0
True crime books are both entertaining and revolting simply because they illustrate actions performed by people that I can’t even fathom being desirable. I suppose that’s the nature of the crime world, though, and is part of the reason that psychology is so fascinating. The inner workings of one person’s body chemistry being so very different from my own, even though we are primarily made of the same materials, approaches that awe-factor that the greater universe seems able to present so easily.
In this real case, Pat Taylor is an attractive and frail Southern belle who dreams of romance and a genteel lifestyle right down to envisioning herself as Scarlett O’Hara during the pre-war years. While most around her flutter like moths to a flame and are blinded by the danger of her light, some key in to her manipulations early. Those that catch on become the targets of her vindictiveness, and as the details are revealed, it becomes ever-increasingly harder to understand how those that support her could continue to do so and fail to see the monster hiding behind the mask. Instead, those that spoke up were ostracized by Pat’s circle, threatened with words and even more dangerous means, while at the center Pat sat serenely and projected an air of confusion as to why people didn’t think she deserved all the good things she had (or had stolen).
As the “True Crime Queen”, author Ann Rule likes to present colorful pictures of what might, on paper, read as factual and dry cases. Research and interviewing leads to attempts to recreate a scene as it may have been in a three-dimensional world, as it really unfolded. While it helps to make the reading more interesting, a lot of what is mentioned has to be taken with grains of salt. There are a lot of specifics about what a person was thinking or feeling at any given time, and since this book involved events that occurred fifteen years (or more) prior to their telling, it’s difficult to reason that people would have been able to accurately convey their precise thoughts/feelings on a specific day at a specific time, especially during moments when the person being written of was alone and there are no witnesses who can substantiate the attitude or demeanor of the person portrayed.
It is because of this that books like this one (and including this one) can sometimes feel overly-dramatized for the reader’s benefit. For me, it meant storytelling that ran overly long and, at times, was hard to get through. I found the oft-repeated comments about Pat Taylor being doted on redundant filler; at 500+ pages, if you hadn’t gotten it by page 300 that her parents were totally blind to her ways, it wasn’t ever going to be a fact that sank in, so why keep repeating it over and over?
While I found the general story to be interesting, a lot of the backstory and additional filler slowed my reading way down. I appreciated that the author wanted to set the scenes but I’m not entirely sold that all of the detail provided was necessary for that. I felt like I had to wade through a lot to get to the interesting bits, and, as a result, finishing the book took far longer than I would have liked.
In this real case, Pat Taylor is an attractive and frail Southern belle who dreams of romance and a genteel lifestyle right down to envisioning herself as Scarlett O’Hara during the pre-war years. While most around her flutter like moths to a flame and are blinded by the danger of her light, some key in to her manipulations early. Those that catch on become the targets of her vindictiveness, and as the details are revealed, it becomes ever-increasingly harder to understand how those that support her could continue to do so and fail to see the monster hiding behind the mask. Instead, those that spoke up were ostracized by Pat’s circle, threatened with words and even more dangerous means, while at the center Pat sat serenely and projected an air of confusion as to why people didn’t think she deserved all the good things she had (or had stolen).
As the “True Crime Queen”, author Ann Rule likes to present colorful pictures of what might, on paper, read as factual and dry cases. Research and interviewing leads to attempts to recreate a scene as it may have been in a three-dimensional world, as it really unfolded. While it helps to make the reading more interesting, a lot of what is mentioned has to be taken with grains of salt. There are a lot of specifics about what a person was thinking or feeling at any given time, and since this book involved events that occurred fifteen years (or more) prior to their telling, it’s difficult to reason that people would have been able to accurately convey their precise thoughts/feelings on a specific day at a specific time, especially during moments when the person being written of was alone and there are no witnesses who can substantiate the attitude or demeanor of the person portrayed.
It is because of this that books like this one (and including this one) can sometimes feel overly-dramatized for the reader’s benefit. For me, it meant storytelling that ran overly long and, at times, was hard to get through. I found the oft-repeated comments about Pat Taylor being doted on redundant filler; at 500+ pages, if you hadn’t gotten it by page 300 that her parents were totally blind to her ways, it wasn’t ever going to be a fact that sank in, so why keep repeating it over and over?
While I found the general story to be interesting, a lot of the backstory and additional filler slowed my reading way down. I appreciated that the author wanted to set the scenes but I’m not entirely sold that all of the detail provided was necessary for that. I felt like I had to wade through a lot to get to the interesting bits, and, as a result, finishing the book took far longer than I would have liked.
uncommonbirb's review
dark
medium-paced
3.5
Well written as Ann Rule tends to be. What an utterly bonkers story, and really begs the question - is it nature or is it nurture?
audreyhoyt00's review
slow-paced
4.0
She just kept going. This book felt long because Pat just kept going. It's wild.
kristindh's review
3.0
I started out with the full version but after about 2 hours, it was like holy ****, I can't do 20 hours of this. And yes, the full version is 20 HOURS AND 23 MINUTES. It did not need to be that long. I switched over the abridged version and I cannot imagine what Ann Rule did to fill the other 18 hours of this book. That level of detail seems unnecessary since it was pretty clear from the beginning what this manipulative woman was all about. It was interesting but not 20 hours worth. So I would give the full version maybe 2 stars. The abridged version I would probably give 4 stars.
mutewolf's review
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
4.0
Ann Rule's writing is fabulous, as always. In-depth research, lots of details, and interesting connections.
matriarchofawesome's review against another edition
3.0
I listened to the abridged audiobook today and it definitely felt like large chunks were cut out. My library didn't have the full version available on Libby so I thought I'd give this a try anyway. It was ok.
devilishangelreads25's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.0