Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Bringing Adam Home, by Les Standiford

This book is about the kidnapping and police investigation of Adam Walsh. If you don't know the story, the background is that Adam Walsh, a 6-year-old from Hollywood, FL was kidnapped from Sears store in 1981. His severed head was found a couple of weeks later, however, nothing else was found. A suspect was tentatively identified as Otis Toole, a serial killer. He confessed to the crime and then recanted numerous times, but evidence definitely pointed to him. However, the Hollywood police department, totally overwhelmed with the seriousness and enormity of the crime, did not conduct a decent investigation. Otis Toole was never charged and he eventually died in prison in 1996.

Adam Walsh's parents, John and Reve Walsh asked a police detective from Miami, Sgt. Joe Matthews, to investigate. He was originally brought on the case in 1981, but the local police decided they didn't need him -plus he was asking tough questions regarding the investigation and the detective in charge, Hoffman, didn't like being questioned. Sgt. Matthews was able to unearth information that was already in police files, and make a case for Otis Toole being the killer. The Hollywood police department agreed, and in 2008, the Adam Walsh case was officially closed with Otis Toole declared the killer.

I have always been interested in the Adam Walsh case - not sure why. I remember watching the made for TV movie in the 80's and being upset. After reading this book, I cannot imagine the frustration the Walsh family has lived with for all these years. You don't want to believe that the police could screw up something so badly, but I don't see how you could believe they did a thorough investigation. It is amazing how police politics can become more important than actually finding a person who murdered a child, especially in the way Adam Walsh was killed. I guess it is similar to how government agencies don't share information now. Egos get in the way.

Although I am sure knowing who the murderer is, is some kind of closure for the Walsh family, it happened way too late. The fact that Sgt. Matthews just used the information that the police already had, is unacceptable. This book should be a lesson for police departments to see how petty differences affect so many people - and the pain it causes.

Great book!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

The Madness of Mary Lincoln, by James Emerson

So, I don't really have a Lincoln/Civil War theme going on right now. Just they were both in the new book section at the library and they both seemed interesting to me.

Anyway, this book is about the breakdown Mary Lincoln has after the assassination of Abe and continues to her eventual stay in an asylum for a few months in 1875. The author actually wasn't intending to write this book. He was working on a book about Robert Todd Lincoln, the only surviving son, when he came upon some letters pertaining to Mary's insanity trial.

Mary Lincoln had a long history of being very dramatic with periods of intense depression. She has a difficult life, including the loss of two sons, the loss of her husband in front of her eyes, and then the loss of another son. Her behavior became increasing erratic after the loss of her son Tad in 1871. He sole surviving child, Robert Todd, tried very hard to appease his mother, but as things became worse, he consulted with various friends and family members and decided his mother needed professional help. She was committed and did start to improve, but with the help of some friends, she was able to gain her freedom from the asylum after only about 4-5 months. After her release, she continued to deteriorate and refused to have anything to do with Robert. They did reconcile before her death in 1882, but Mary never fully recovered.

James Emerson follows the belief that Mary had bi-polar disorder. Definitely makes a good case, but I'm certainly not a psychology expert. Her suicide attempt after her insanity trial, her manic shopping sprees, her obsession with money, and her low lows and high highs seem to point to bipolar. It is also believed that she died of complications from undiagnosed diabetes, so who knows if that might have contributed to her mental health. And she certainly experienced a lot of trauma that would also affect most people. Who knows?

This book was okay, but I don't think I would really recommend it. It was pretty dry in a lot of places and very technical, especially in regards to her trial. If you are REALLY into Mary Lincoln or psychology, maybe, but that's about all.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Bloody Crimes: The Chase for Jefferson Davis and the Death Pageant for Lincoln's Corpse, by James L. Swanson

Anyone who knows me pretty well knows that I love history, particularly American history. And one of my favorite time periods is the American Civil War. So, when I saw this book in the new section at the library, it definitely piqued my interest. Obviously, a ton has been written about Lincoln, his presidency, and his assassination. But not much has been told about Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy. This book covers only a small part of him and his life, but more than I have seen.

This was a pretty good read. I think more space was devoted to Lincoln, but a fair amount was spent on Davis. I really like the background that was given on both of them. It was interesting to see how much they did have in common and how Davis was way more well-known and on the presidential track. But obviously, their fortunes parted way during the Civil War era and Lincoln is now the more famous President.

I also never realized how much went into Lincoln's funeral and that he was put on public display on his way back to Springfield, IL for his burial. He wasn't buried until about 2 weeks after his death - and the embalmers were fighting a losing battle most of the journey. But the displays put on by his host cities was amazing. Every city had special hearses made for him and some even built special tents and buildings to hold the viewings.

I also thought it was interesting that even after Lee surrendered his army at Appomattox Courthouse, Davis was convinced the Confederacy could survive. It took about a month for him to be captured. Interestingly enough, even though he was charged with treason, he was never tried. Some historians believe this gives credence to the charge that the Confederacy had the right to revolt and should not have been forced to stay in the Union. Interesting thought.

Anyway, I recommend this book to people who love American history during the Civil War era. Otherwise, you might find it a little boring! But I'd give it a thumbs up!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson

So, I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. I really didn't know much about the actual content of the book. I had heard that is was good but graphic and that the movie was good, but that was about it. So, I saw it while wondering around the new books section of the library and thought I'd give it a go. SOOOOOO worth it! Great book!

Without giving away too much, basically this journalist who was recently convicted of libel, is asked to investigate the disappearance of the niece of a well-known industrialist 4o years prior. The journalist gets mixed up with a very unusual PI and they end of working together to solve the mystery. Obviously lots more to the plot, but don't want to give anything away.

The book wasn't nearly as graphic as I had thought it would be based on comments I'd heard. Definitely graphic in places, but not enough for me to be too offended. I think I was expecting more gore type graphics and that is not the case. Not that violence toward women is not upsetting - just not gory like I had in my mind.

I was a little confused about what happened in the past of Lisbeth (the PI), but I'm assuming I'll get more info from the other books in the Millenium Series (I have them already, but I'm reading books that are due before I get to these). It's pretty obvious something very bad happened (it is actually called The Bad Thing), but I'm not sure what and it isn't a huge part of this book. Guess we'll see!

Overall, I recommend this book, but I would definitely read it at the same time as something more lighthearted (I also was reading a Zits compilation by Jim Borgman and Jerry Scott while reading this).

Slight Change in Blog Content

So, since it has been forever since I've actually blogged, I thought I should maybe change my blog content. Obviously, my life is not interesting enough to write about. I'm okay with that - it's who I am :) So, trying to come up with something that is interesting about me, I got an idea at work today. I LOVE to read - like really, really love to read. And I am able to usually go through a book or two a week. So, I thought that maybe "reviewing" the books I've read might be somewhat interesting - or at least a place to get re-started with the whole blog thing. And obviously, if any of the 5 people who are reading this have any thoughts or ideas about books I should read, please let me know!! If I don't have anything in mind to read during a library visit, I usually just wander around the new books section hoping to find something. My last trip was very successful, so I have some catching up to do already!!