For trade/release.

Birthday RABCK to LeishaCamden, 10/27/07.

This arrived in the mail for me today; what a great surprise. :-) I'm something of a true crime buff but I've never read anything by this author ... and already I am a little inclined to dislike her because I see from the blurbs in the book that she's also written a book about Brandon Teena and titled it 'All She Wanted' - this seems really disrespectful to me since Brandon was - I'm tempted to say, as everybody knows - male identified. But I guess I can hardly blame a true crime writer for being sensational ;-) and I will definitely do my best to read this book with an open mind.

I am slightly familiar with the case this book deals with and I think I've seen a documentary on it a couple of years ago. It'll be interesting to read the story in more detail.

Thank you for sharing, ghir!!

I started reading this book on Wednesday, January 9th. Not too well written, but an interesting story so far.

Shame on me ... I actually finished this book on Sunday, January 27th, but I'm only getting around to journalling it now. What can I say, I am slow sometimes ... Better late than never?? :-)

This was an interesting story, but not well written. It says in one of the blurbs that Jones is such a wonderfully gifted writer, something like that ... but judged on this book, no, she's not. She's actually not very talented and she has a lot still to learn ... which makes me think that she will probably never learn it, since she's been working as a writer for something like fifteen years now. Oy vey. Jones seems to have some kind of pronoun phobia as she overuses the characters' names something awful ... this got really annoying as to my eyes it's rather condescending to the reader to write like that. As if we have memories like goldfish. >:-(

She also uses some weird words and phrases that I found inappropriate, they seemed to make light of the very serious story. Like she uses 'waltz' as a substitute for 'walk' in at least five different places ... and it just sounds ridiculous, she says things like 'even though she had been told that her parents had been killed, she felt like they might come waltzing through the cemetery at any moment'. Several things like this gave me the impression that Jones felt no real respect for her subject, but mainly cared about it as a topic that she could work with.

What I do like about the book :-) is that the story itself is interesting and that Jones treats it in a good way in that she doesn't really place any sort of judgment on the people or phenomena involved but clearly strives to tell the story in an objective way. This doesn't quite succeed as she 'goes too deep' on numerous occasions, seeming to look into the past and read her subjects' minds - these sections strained my credulity - but I did like how she let the actions and words of those involved speak for themselves, and presented all sides of the story. Jones has done extensive research.

The book was certainly worth reading for a true crime buff like myself, although its literary qualities definitely left something to be desired. :-)

Thanks for again for the book, ghir!

I guess the book will go with me to the BC meetup here in Oslo on March 2nd, to see if anyone there wants it. If not I will find somewhere to release it.

From the front cover:

'''Frank and frightening ...'
-Denver Rocky Mountain News'

From the back cover:

'With an extraordinary talent for staring evil dead in the eye, New York Times bestselling author and journalist Aphrodite Jones plunges readers into the front lines of a modern nightmare.

THE EMBRACE

On November 25, 1996, in their home in the lakeside community of Eustis, Florida, Rick and Ruth Wendorf were savagely beaten to death with a tire iron. The Wendorfs' new For Explorer was stolen, but this was no routine robbery gone bad. This was a crime carried out by one Roderick Ferrell, a sixteen-year-old self-avowed Antichrist. His human sacrifice was a testament to the unique and sinister bond of four brainwashed teens. Heather Wendorf was a straight 'A' student, a petite blonde with wide-set brown eyes. Yet she had been heard to wish her parents 'off the face of the planet'. Heather never dreamed that when she joined her friends for a joyride one fall evening, her wish had already come true.

Including exclusive interviews with every living character involved in the case, THE EMBRACE will forever change the way we look at one of the fastest-growing religious movements in the country, and its most vulnerable fold: our children.'

The blurb is rather more speculative than the book.

RELEASE NOTES:

I brought this with me to the BC meetup here in Oslo today, but alas, I was alone as a true crime buff there. :-) So I released the book in the zone. Hopefully some interested reader will come along! :-)

Picked this up at the OBCZ Kaffe & Krem Vika at the meetup yesterday... I really shouldn've, as I have such a huge TBR pile... But, oh well.

I tried to read this ages ago, but it didn't quite strike my fancy, so I'm letting it go.

Released at the goth/rock shop Bodymap.

Challenges:
- The Bookcrossing World Cup Match 5: Romance Vs Horror (Horror)
- Rett bok på rett sted