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Rating: 
Summary: Okay, so its gory ...
Review: ... but what a wonderful book! The photography in this book is so fantastic, that any person who admires excellent photographic skill will not be able to remain dispassionate. The topic (crime, criminals, accidents, homicides, etc.) is well represented, both in words (and the authors thankfully belong to the less is more school) and imagery. Buried here and there in the book you'll find an image and some commentary that makes a particularly relevant statement presented in a decidedly understated yet compelling fashion. For example, page 68, Elmer Fanter. The shot is of a young kid (16) who's standing in a cell, holding the bars and looking completely bewildered. He and his pals had murdered a man who had the temerity to come to the aid of a woman the lads were robbing. Of this shot, the author makes the statement (in part): "He and his friends saw no violent movies and were not subjected to inappropriate scenes on television, and those hands clenching the bars of the prison door never moved a mouse in a violent video game."
Rating:
Summary: Okay, so its gory ...
Review: ... but what a wonderful book! The photography in this book is so fantastic, that any person who admires excellent photographic skill will not be able to remain dispassionate. The topic (crime, criminals, accidents, homicides, etc.) is well represented, both in words (and the authors thankfully belong to the less is more school) and imagery. Buried here and there in the book you'll find an image and some commentary that makes a particularly relevant statement presented in a decidedly understated yet compelling fashion. For example, page 68, Elmer Fanter. The shot is of a young kid (16) who's standing in a cell, holding the bars and looking completely bewildered. He and his pals had murdered a man who had the temerity to come to the aid of a woman the lads were robbing. Of this shot, the author makes the statement (in part): "He and his friends saw no violent movies and were not subjected to inappropriate scenes on television, and those hands clenching the bars of the prison door never moved a mouse in a violent video game."
Rating: 
Summary: could have been better
Review: For a table book not quite the amout of pictures I would have liked to see. I gave it to my daughter and she loved it...One just never knows...
Rating:
Summary: Holy Sh*t!!
Review: I was in Media Play with my ex-boyfriend and 2 of our friends one night and we were looking (well, okay...running) around in the books section getting sex books off of the shelves and yelling out positions. I was getting bored and started walking around looking for something to do, when I saw a book with 2 dead bodies on the cover with "SHOTS IN THE DARK" as the title caption. I skimmed through the book and was shocked as hell. Not only because the photos were very in-your-face, but because I would've never guessed that Gail Buckland could get so much information on the gorey pictures. When I saw the passages about John List, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, The Buther of Clarksburg, and John F. Kennedy's autopsy photos, I was covinced to buy this book. I showed my ex and our friends and after purchasing the book, we couldn't put it down. I gave the book 4 stars because you will more than likely get sick of the book. I recommend this one to the Freaks and the Juggalos. Later y'all!
Rating:
Summary: Not for the faint of heart
Review: I've always been fascinated by true crime and forensics, and was quite amazed that this book had such uncensored, graphic photos. Crime scene photos, autopsies, serial killers, mob deaths, the pictures go all the way back to the late eighteen-hundreds and Lizzie Borden, and the text was very informative as well. It's definitely not the kind of book I would leave out on the coffee table, but for crime buffs it's a real must have.
Rating:
Summary: WHEN SHOTS RING OUT-PHOTOGRAPHERS SHOOT BACK
Review: SHOTS IN THE DARK is a book that takes you into the world of crime-and its not pleasent!...P>The start is kind of boring-with the writer telling us all about crime-who cares about that-we wanna see some dead bodies! Some of the pictures in this book are kind of gory and gross-especially JFK laying on a table with his brains showing. YUCK! The cover of this book-with two dirty-bloodied male corpses laying in an elevator makes you think-where did they get shot? I kind of dont and do wanna know! I would reccomend this book to anyone who is a crime nut-and is into photography-this is the book for you! THERES TOO MANY BODIES-ITS NOT ENOUGH ROOM-EVERYBODY OUT OF THE WATER!
Rating:
Summary: must have for true crime buffs
Review: The content of this book is often quite shocking and surely not for the squeamish. I am aware that many people will dislike it. But in order to understand crime and its effects on society one has to face reality. The ugly face of reality and not only crime as a figure. The book starts with an excellent introduction by Harold EVANS "Looking Crime Squarely in Its Disturbing Eye", followed by an essay by author Gail BUCKLAND about the development of forensic photography and the creator of the mugshot, the frenchman Alphonse BERTILLON in particular. I found this chapter especially compelling.
The rest of the book consists of crime pictures with short captions by the author, many of them are unfortunately rather brief. With only one or two exceptions all featured photos are black and white. Many of those shot in the period from 1930-1950 have a certain film noir look due to sharp contrast. Many pictures are not easy to look at particularly those shot at homicide scenes. And you'll see a lot of homicide scenes. There is a picture taken by a surveillance camera during the April 1999 Columbine school shooting, a police officer looking in despair at the body of a girl shot at the 1984 Mc Donald's massacre in San Ysidro, the corpse of slain actress Sharon TATE, crime scene photographs of stabbed Nicole SIMPSON, lots and lots of unknown victims of murder...As mentioned before, this is sometimes not easy to look at.
Another chapter is about punishment. An horrifying account of lynch justice is given; according to the author it was common practice in the last decades of the 19th century to send photographs of lynchings to friends and relatives. I didn't know that. You see photographs of the last public execution in the US, which took place in 1936, convicts in prisons, an arrested man tied to a restrainment chair etc. A very compelling chapter but I have to add that BUCKLAND shows way too much compassion for convicts in her captions commenting the pictures. Undoubtedly a convict can not be denied his human rights, but we have to bear in mind that many of them committed unspeakable acts of violence and too much compassion for such people is highly inappropriate. I especially liked the chapter about presidential assassinations. There are portraits of president LINCOLN's assassin's co-conspirators and photos of their execution on the gallows. The most infamous political murder of the last century, the assassination of president KENNEDY in Dallas, is depicted in a very detailed manner with many rare and often cruel photos ( e.g. the slain president on the autopsy table and the corpse of Lee Harvey OSWALD after a postmortem was conducted) accompanied by insightful captions, which convey more information in some sentences than many non-fiction books in hundreds of pages.
A selection of celebrity mugshots (including Frank SINATRA, Jane FONDA and Bill GATES) adds a little curiosity and fun to an otherwise sombre and shocking book. Especially FONDA and GATES look incredibly ludicrous in their mugshots.
While I generally found SHOTS IN THE DARK a great book I didn't like two chapters very much, because they are so "overpublished". These were about gangland world and infamous cases. I mean how often did you see photographs of the O.J.SIMPSON trial? How often did you see Al CAPONE's not so friendly features?
But these are only minor complaints. This book is a must have for every true crime fan. It could also be of interest for people who like death shockumentaries.
Rating: 
Summary: Crime is not a pretty picture....
Review: True Crime has always interested me;particulayly what made these criminals tick.There,s lots of speculation about their thinking;but never many resolutions;particularly with the loners.This book was very disapointing.the text was very poor,disjointed and difficult in connecting with the photos.If this book shows anything,it is that the photography was much better in the past than recent times.Sure, there was some pretty gruesome stuff,but there is more to the art of crime photography than presented in this book.Before buying ,I would suggest giving it a pretty good look over.I was quite surprised by the high reviews this book received;however,considering the background of the authors;maybe it is a better book for the insiders of crime photography.But then,who do they do this work for,themselves or others? the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words doesn't hold here.Most shots are like snapshots taken by amateurs who just happen to be passing and took a shot.
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