Perfect Murder Perfect Town

Rating:
Summary: The book was very informative & well written for its length
Review: This book offered factual insight(aside from the Media)that was written in a time line easy to follow. I only wished that there was more substantial evidence to have proven that the Ramsey's are quilty of this crime.

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Summary: Poorly written; the word "that" used ad nauseum
Review: Coming from a Dershowitz book, this book was hard NOT to put down

Rating:
Summary: Excellent true crime reading.
Review: Off-and-on a huge true crime fan, I found this book to be great reading, particularly since the case is so much in the media and on my mind. Probably the most important facet of this book that makes it great reading is that unlike many true crime reads, the author is exceptionally literate. Though he occasionally gets bogged-down in obsessive detail, I found this to be one of the most compelling true crime books I've read. The difficulty in this book lies in its ending: Suddenly, sort of without warning, BOOM, it's the end of the book.....and the ending whimpers a little, rather than crashing. And, of course, since this case has yet to come to any resolution, the reader is left with that same sense of dissatisfaction that the investigators must feel. Still, it's a powerful book, and, I think, is without bias, which would be a difficult task for most authors to accomplish.

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Summary: Another Schiller masterpiece.
Review: If whodunits are bread for your brain, the detail in this book will feed you till you can't eat anymore. Schiller is the master of complicated, convoluted detail and never more so than in this fiercely tangled skein of unbelievably compromised crime scene evidence and bickering. leaking, politicking, inexperienced law enforcement agencies. While the disappointment of not knowing with a certainty who killed JonBenet at the end of 640 pages is palpable, nevertheless there were feasts of information leading up to that regrettable conclusion and my knowledge of the crime was greatly enhanced by this book. I have read all of Schiller's books and will continue to do so. I want the organized detail that only he brings to true crime. It is not Schiller's fault that no one has yet been arrested in this case and to castigate him or his book for it is a bit like shooting the messenger. In exquisite, careful, chronological detail in a murder case that absolutely defies organization or clarity, at least Schiller has brought me up to date. I'll read the rest of it when he writes it... when someone is arrested and convicted of this brutal murder of a child that simply defies belief as do all the circumstances surrounding it.

Rating:
Summary: dull minutiae
Review: Very disappointing considering Schiller's previous works.Simply a rehashing of every article I've ever read in the newspapers about this case.. Hundreds of pages devoted almost exclusively to the police department/DA's office confliicts of personalities and philosphy of solving crime.Became repetitious and tedious very quickly.

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Summary: Read it for the story of Jeff Shaprio
Review: I agree to an extent with the others -- there are few bombshells, but there is really only one bombshell left and that is an arrest. But I don't read the tabloids (which broke much of the story) and have not followed that closely -- this filled me in on all of the evidence in a classic, real-life whodunit. The Boulder stuff was interesting, but not as interesting as Jeff Shapiro, a young, driven Globe reporter who literally becomes a key factor in the investigation!! He's wacko but by far the most interesting personality in the story. One major complaint -- pictures! There are none, and with all these characters (besides the obvious ones) it would have been helpful to put faces to the names. But as a re-cap of an unsolved (unsolvable?) case, this will be the primary source document.

Rating:
Summary: Save Your Money
Review: While a decent read, all we learn is that even with all the politics and backstabbing, that this case will never be solved. A beautiful child is lost and another sorry chapter is written in the history of U.S. justice.

Rating:
Summary: Generally well-researched and well-written.
Review: I felt the book was extremely well-researched and objective. The author was very focused on the conflicts between the Boulder PD and the Boulder DA. Although this was vital to explaining why the investigation struggled, it caused the content to be dry in some places. I found myself wishing and looking forward to the parts where discrepancies and evidence was analyzed, and I found this very lacking. I was also a bit disappointed with the author's conclusions. And in the end, no one is any closer to finding JonBenet's killer beyond a reasonable doubt.

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Summary: I find the book interesting and informative.
Review: The book has many excellant interviews

Rating:
Summary: Utter disappointment
Review: What a letdown. This book goes nowhere that most readers haven't been before. Most readers will already know who JonBenet was and that she was murdered, before they get hold of this tome. After reading it, they won't know anthing more significant than before. The author seems to have gathered every scrap of information from newspapers, magazines and interviews and then assembled it quickly without much sorting and without making sense of it. To add to the confusion, the book is replete with typos that tend to show just how quickly this was made up at the printery. The question remains: who killed this little girl? We may not like the Ramseys or their values or their style of living, but there is no PROOF that they caused the death of JonBenet. Analysis of handwriting won't do it. Any defense lawyer would tear that to pieces. Fingerprints and DNA on the body won't prove anything either. Forget about lie detector tests and a neighbor who says he heard a scream in the night. It is still possible that someone outside the household came in, using one of the multitude of housekeys that were floating about, and killed the girls for reasons yet unknown. Without a confession there will never be a conviction in this case. Speculation may be interesting as a parlor game, but a jury is going to require proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Mr. Schiller's book did not bring the reader one step closer to the truth. His previous books, some of which were apparently assembled by a real writer, were masterpieces--but not this one.