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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
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sad
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Horrifying case, but I love Ann Rule’s style of laying out all the facts.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, Medical content, Murder, Fire/Fire injury
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Deborah Green, at the time of this incident, was a licensed doctor operating her own private practice in the United States. She was married to Doctor Michael Farrar, with whom she had three children. The family was living in Kansas City, where the children were enrolled in private school. She had some chronic ailments, and decided to give up her medical practice after the third child was born to become a stay at home mom. Several people made claims that she was very cold and aloof towards her patients and her family members. Her husband also said that she was not a very good homemaker, and he wasn't really impressed with her as a wife either. She was not very nice to him and had little to no interested in an intimate relationship. He also mentioned to the author of this book that she had been using prescription narcotics off and on throughout their marriage. Tragically, the family home caught fire and two of the children died inside, along with the dog. Deborah and one of the children were outside, with Deborah being absolutely calm during the whole event. Police were not convinced by her story and proceeded to investigate arson and claims of poisoning her husband. Eventually, she was charged with two counts of murder for the two children she killed, attempted murder for the child that made it out of the house, and attempted murder for poisoning her husband.
This woman is disgraceful. I hope that she is really enjoying her life sentence, but I believe she should have had done to her what she did to those kids. Her plea deal stated that she had to serve a minimum of forty years before she could be considered for release, which would be sometime in 2035. She would be in her eighties. I cannot imagine setting my house on fire and burning my kids to death in it. This book was well researched like all of Ann Rule's books. I think this one was especially good because it had first hand accounts from Deborah's husband in it. He spoke at length with the author, which I think added a lot of value to this book. It is amazing to be how awful people are. I am glad that one child survived and that the husband did as well, but I hate that for the two children who were senselessly murdered thanks to their "mother".
This woman is disgraceful. I hope that she is really enjoying her life sentence, but I believe she should have had done to her what she did to those kids. Her plea deal stated that she had to serve a minimum of forty years before she could be considered for release, which would be sometime in 2035. She would be in her eighties. I cannot imagine setting my house on fire and burning my kids to death in it. This book was well researched like all of Ann Rule's books. I think this one was especially good because it had first hand accounts from Deborah's husband in it. He spoke at length with the author, which I think added a lot of value to this book. It is amazing to be how awful people are. I am glad that one child survived and that the husband did as well, but I hate that for the two children who were senselessly murdered thanks to their "mother".
Holy shit. This book was hard for me to read. So many of these crazy antics reminded me of my father. I am so thankful that my mother absorbed them so that they we didn’t have the tragic ending of the Farrar children. This really just reinforced my beliefs that if my mom and I hadn’t endured what we did and responded as we did, I probably wouldn’t be alive to tell the tale.
Terrifying true story. Very creepy as the mother in this story read a loooot of books. But more to escape life and not as much for learning or entertainment. Very sad story too. Of course I had to google the person to see if there were updates & it seems she’s still insisting she couldn’t have done what she was convicted of.
I will never again read a true crime book where I know some of the people on the narrative. A good book that I deeply regret reading.
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emotional
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mysterious
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This is not my first Ann Rule read and it most definitely won’t be my last either! In fact, I think it’s amongst my favourites I’ve read by her. Minus maybe The Stranger Beside Me because that one is just beyond iconic and my fave by her. But this one made me feel almost as excited and horrified while reading it. This story is really both horrifying and fascinating, a space Rule occupies so well. Of course the events these victims went through at the hands of their mother/wife were horrifying but seeing justice served provided such an immense sense of satisfaction. Knowing the victims got justice makes any true crime read all that much sweeter. And as usual Rule’s sensitivity is on point in her writing, she’s not being sensationalistic or exploiting the victims. That’s one of my favourite parts about her writing, her ability to bring class and sensitivity to a normally quite exploitative genre.