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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
I did not like this one and dropped it after 8 chapters. Everytime i read it i ended up pissed off. Ann was not an objective reporter in this one.
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Murder, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Animal death
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
As with any true crime, book or documentary I went into this book with an open mind. I knew little about Debora Green or the horrifying events surrounding her and her family. On the outside Debora and her husband Mike Farrar had a perfect life a beautiful mansion, three beautiful children, both were doctors and they lived in an exclusive neighbourhood. But just under the surface all was not well. Debora had a genius IQ but lacked people skills and went from one medical practice to the next. She had a temper and often turned the kids against their father when they fought. When Mike filed for divorce a fire burned down their home. Mike returned to Debora hoping they could make things work. They didn't. After a school trip to Peru Mike fell in love with another woman. As he was about to leave again he became suddenly ill and nearly died. Each time he returned to Debora he got sick again. Meanwhile his mistress's husband is found dead in his garage from an apparent suicide. When it dawns on Mike that his wife is poisoning him he moves out. Not long after a fire tears through the family home and only Debora and the middle child survive. The oldest child Tim and youngest Kelly die along with the two family dogs. Arson is immediately suspected and from there the investigation, pretrial and eventually plea follow. While I love true crime and Ann Rule this book didn't sit well. To me Debora Green struck me as not the pure evil cold blooded killer portrayed but as a woman desperately ill. The story reminded me of Andrea Yates a woman who also murdered her children. As I read the more I believed that Debora suffered from severe bipolar disease and I'm sure another mental illness on top of that one that were not treated properly. She drank while on her medications and she could very well have stopped taking them altogether. I believe she was in a manic state pushed over the edge by her husband's words in their last phone call when he goaded her on. The poisoning of Mike was cold hearted but I also believe she was not in her right mind this was before she was given any diagnosis or treatment of any kind. I think Mike got off far too easily in this book. Knowing full well the state his wife was in he left the kids with her? Knowing that she had poisoned and tried to kill him he didn't report it sooner, have social services check? While I'm not excusing or condoning her crimes like one of Debora's lawyers said I think the entire system failed. Mike failed to report his wife or find help for her, the mental health system failed not only in keeping her and those around her safe but in educating her and her family on her illness and the need for medication and care. This was a heartbreaking and sad story but also a one sided slightly biased one. Still a good read but not her best.
Rule is well-known for her true crime writing and justifiably so. Ever since Truman Capote popularized the form in In Cold Blood, true crime has become a popular genre.
This harrowing book tells the story of Dr. Debora Green, a very bright Kansas physician whose life unraveled into a nightmare of murder and virtual insanity. After her trial for the murder of two of her children and the attempted murder of her husband, Michael Farrar, psychiatrists attempted to answer why something like this could have happened. Their diagnosis was that Dr. Green had a limited ego, was a very immature person with the emotional responses of a small child. Ostensibly, she was able to function quite well, until her marriage and the pressures of raising a family began to stress her life. She had an IQ of 165 and had zipped through medical school, married a brilliant cardiologist, and borne three children. The family lived in a large house in the Kansas City suburbs.
By the end of the story Debora had become a violent and irrational monster who had driven away her husband, as she descended into a maelstrom of alcohol, drugs and invective. In hindsight, a house fire that destroyed an earlier home was probably her doing. The final straw was apparently her husband's affair with Celeste Walker, a nurse whose physician husband had committed suicide. The family had returned from a long-awaited vacation to South America, when Mike became deathly ill. He could keep no food down and suffered constant diarrhea. His condition puzzled the clinicians because the symptoms did not seem to match anything in their knowledge base. The only thing they could think of was that perhaps Mike had picked up some kind of virulent bug while traveling, but none of the others who had been on the trip had suffered anything beyond the normal traveler's stomach problems that quickly disappeared.
Bouts of his illness always seemed to come after he had been released from the hospital and had eaten food served by his wife. After what seemed - to me - an interminable period he began to suspect that perhaps Debora might be trying to poison him. One afternoon when she was out, he searched her purse and discovered several packages of Castor beans. Warnings on the package labels revealed that these beans contain a very toxic poison called Ricin. Normally, the beans could be swallowed whole without much difficulty because they had such a hard shell, and the beans would pass through the system without causing any ill effects, but if crushed, they could be terribly destructive. Mike also realized his wife had just finished an Agatha Christie novel in which the murder is committed using Ricin.
Several months later, a fire, clearly arson, broke out in their house. Mike had moved out in preparation for a divorce. Two of the children died, trapped in their bedrooms by a fire, fed with accelerants, that blocked access to the hall and the stairs. The responding police and firemen were immediately struck by the mother's bizarre behavior, talking of her children in the past tense, even before anyone knew whether they had been killed or not. Eventually, she confessed to all charges and escaped the death penalty with a guilty plea.
A truly tragic story spellbindingly told by Rule, a master of the genre.
This harrowing book tells the story of Dr. Debora Green, a very bright Kansas physician whose life unraveled into a nightmare of murder and virtual insanity. After her trial for the murder of two of her children and the attempted murder of her husband, Michael Farrar, psychiatrists attempted to answer why something like this could have happened. Their diagnosis was that Dr. Green had a limited ego, was a very immature person with the emotional responses of a small child. Ostensibly, she was able to function quite well, until her marriage and the pressures of raising a family began to stress her life. She had an IQ of 165 and had zipped through medical school, married a brilliant cardiologist, and borne three children. The family lived in a large house in the Kansas City suburbs.
By the end of the story Debora had become a violent and irrational monster who had driven away her husband, as she descended into a maelstrom of alcohol, drugs and invective. In hindsight, a house fire that destroyed an earlier home was probably her doing. The final straw was apparently her husband's affair with Celeste Walker, a nurse whose physician husband had committed suicide. The family had returned from a long-awaited vacation to South America, when Mike became deathly ill. He could keep no food down and suffered constant diarrhea. His condition puzzled the clinicians because the symptoms did not seem to match anything in their knowledge base. The only thing they could think of was that perhaps Mike had picked up some kind of virulent bug while traveling, but none of the others who had been on the trip had suffered anything beyond the normal traveler's stomach problems that quickly disappeared.
Bouts of his illness always seemed to come after he had been released from the hospital and had eaten food served by his wife. After what seemed - to me - an interminable period he began to suspect that perhaps Debora might be trying to poison him. One afternoon when she was out, he searched her purse and discovered several packages of Castor beans. Warnings on the package labels revealed that these beans contain a very toxic poison called Ricin. Normally, the beans could be swallowed whole without much difficulty because they had such a hard shell, and the beans would pass through the system without causing any ill effects, but if crushed, they could be terribly destructive. Mike also realized his wife had just finished an Agatha Christie novel in which the murder is committed using Ricin.
Several months later, a fire, clearly arson, broke out in their house. Mike had moved out in preparation for a divorce. Two of the children died, trapped in their bedrooms by a fire, fed with accelerants, that blocked access to the hall and the stairs. The responding police and firemen were immediately struck by the mother's bizarre behavior, talking of her children in the past tense, even before anyone knew whether they had been killed or not. Eventually, she confessed to all charges and escaped the death penalty with a guilty plea.
A truly tragic story spellbindingly told by Rule, a master of the genre.
I'm not sure how to rate or review a true crime as this might be the first true true crime book I've ever read.
It's just odd to rate a story that consists of real people and what seems like, personal accounts of the events. I can't complain that the characters are unlikable because Rule didn't make them up. That being said, the way the book is written seems to paint the father as sort of a bumbling moron. This is because what was going on with Debra was so clear and obvious to the reader because Rule does a great job painting the whole picture. The issue with this is we see Michael as an idiot for not seeing it sooner, or being concerned about his kids with their mother. I doubt he was as blind as he seemed to be, but I guess it's possible. People see what they want to see.
It's also hard to say I "enjoyed" this book. It was depressing and awful and I just can't imagine humans doing this, especially to their own children. However, Rule does a great job not getting too depressing. The way it's written is detached enough that the reader isn't overwhelmed with grief. Rule does a really good job putting this together and gives a really good and pertinent history of Debra. I love psychological stuff and this particular woman was an intriguing case to read about.
Audio book production was good.
It's just odd to rate a story that consists of real people and what seems like, personal accounts of the events. I can't complain that the characters are unlikable because Rule didn't make them up. That being said, the way the book is written seems to paint the father as sort of a bumbling moron. This is because what was going on with Debra was so clear and obvious to the reader because Rule does a great job painting the whole picture. The issue with this is we see Michael as an idiot for not seeing it sooner, or being concerned about his kids with their mother. I doubt he was as blind as he seemed to be, but I guess it's possible. People see what they want to see.
It's also hard to say I "enjoyed" this book. It was depressing and awful and I just can't imagine humans doing this, especially to their own children. However, Rule does a great job not getting too depressing. The way it's written is detached enough that the reader isn't overwhelmed with grief. Rule does a really good job putting this together and gives a really good and pertinent history of Debra. I love psychological stuff and this particular woman was an intriguing case to read about.
Audio book production was good.
dark
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Her descriptions sometimes tend to be a bit much, but she also does a great job getting into the heart of the crime.
That's a hard balance to reach and I appreciate her hard work.
That's a hard balance to reach and I appreciate her hard work.
Ann Rule's books are familiar, but fascinating exploration into the criminal mind. This one seems tighter with a smoother arc of the background, crime and trial. The crime is unspeakably sad and so very hard to comprehend. I typically give her books four stars, so will add a half story because of Bitter Harvest's better writing.
dark
emotional
slow-paced