Review by Booklist Review
Although it will be of interest primarily to true-crime aficionados, this is not really a true-crime book. The focus is on the people perpetrators and victims rather than the nuts-and-bolts details of the crimes and investigations. For example, Rick Anderson profiles a career criminal who spent most of the past quarter-century in jail but still managed to rack up 112 convictions over the brief periods when he was out. David Grann's story about a man who may have been wrongly convicted of burning down his own home and murdering his family has moments of heartbreaking sadness. On the other hand, Kevin Gray's story about a con-artist gigolo is, if not outright funny, at least worth a raised eyebrow or two. And Ron Chernow's piece about a couple of notorious pyramid schemers who predate Bernie Madoff provides a nice capsule history of this always-profitable (and usually self-destructing) swindle. Another fine entry in a consistently interesting series that always spotlights fine writing and engaging stories.--Pitt, David Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
From sitting face-to-face with a cartel hitman to an unsolved kidnapping, the stories collected here are some of the best depictions of the worst of humanity. Guest editor Dubner (co-author of Freakonomics) wisely opens with a pair of pieces from long-time New Yorker staff writer Calvin Trillin, which demonstrate the wide scope of the collection: a darkly humorous poem about Roman Polanski's defenders against a statutory rape charge, and a small-town crime story about a Michigan man who gunned down a group of teenagers at a local swimming hole because he had "nothing to lose." Other standouts include Lisa R. Cohen's New York magazine piece about the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz from his SoHo street and the protracted battle to bring his suspected killer to trial; Peter Savodnik's unsettling report from GQ of the Russian serial killer Alexander Pichushkin (known as the "The Maniac"), who was convicted of murdering 48 people but claimed to have killed 63; and Charles Bowden's unnerving account in Harper's of interviewing an assassin who "disappeared" hundreds of people in Mexico. Series editors Otto Penzler and Thomas H. Cook continue to deliver top-notch collections of crime stories big and small. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
