Rating: 
Summary: Engrossing read, but heavy on the ego
Review: A real life murder mystery that took place on one of the most isolated islands in the South Pacific. Perfect in almost every way and highly recommended to all true crime fans. Readers of this book will also enjoy the story "The Curse of Palmyra Island" in the book, "Labyrinth13: True Tales of the Occult, Crime, and Conspiracy." (Visit www.labyrinth13.com for details).
Rating: 
Summary: An outstanding crime novel
Review: A real life murder mystery that took place on one of the most isolated islands in the South Pacific. Perfect in almost every way and highly recommended to all true crime fans.
Rating:
Summary: Better than John Grisham (and it's true)!
Review: A real page turner. The improbable circumstances leading up to Vincent Bugliosi's involvement in the case are interesting. However, the court room drama is nothing short of riviting. It reads like, but better than, a John Grisham novel. Espicially interesting is the evolution of the summation.
Rating:
Summary: ABSOLUTELY RIVETING IN EVERY WAY
Review: Although this book is based on one of Bugliosi's actual cases, it is far more riveting and spellbinding than any fiction thriller could ever be. (No doubt many writers of fiction wish they could come up with something this good--I know I do!) Bugliosi is a fine writer and does a wonderful job of characterization as well as weaving a haunting spell of mystery around the events portrayed. I did not agree with Bugliosi that Jennifer was not guilty, but that didn't take away from my overall fascination with the book. A sad book, but one with a haunting end that readers will find hard to forget.
Rating: 
Summary: A lawyer justifies getting a guilty client off.
Review: Although this is a pretty good summary of the crime, the courtroom portion of the book is tainted by the author's involvement. He glorifies his own rhetoric at great length. Also, it should not be surprising that a lawyer can slant the truth very subtly. This book is about the murder of two people who sailed to a deserted island and had the great misfortune to meet there the author's client and her boyfriend, who were hanging out in a dilapidated sailboat with little food or fuel. The murderers then proceeded to take the victims' sailboat and sail to Hawaii, where they repainted it. The murders came to light only because of the near-miraculous discovery, long after, of bones of a victim in the deserted island's lagoon. After reading this book to the end, it doesn't take much thought to reach the inescapable conclusion that the author's client, whom he got off, was obviously a full participant in the murders. The author, however, makes it seem that her acquittal was some sort of triumph of justice. He and Johnny Cochran must get along well.
Rating:
Summary: A must-read for those who love mysteries-true crime stories!
Review: And the Sea Will Tell is a riveting account of a double murder and the long journey to justice. Bugliosi creates suspense and foreboding from the very beginning, and it quickly becomes difficult to put the book down. He paints a picture so vividly of each person involved that this reader felt she knew them personally. His description of the exotic and dangerous scene of the crime truly takes you there. Some of the courtroom proceedings can get a little bewildering to a layperson in spite of Bugliosi's best efforts to explain them, but his keen insight into the psychology of the witnesses and of his client, Jennifer Jenkins, make for a most satisfying true crime story
Rating:
Summary: Two quite different books but fascinating
Review: As other reviewers have noted, this is really two books, the first written by Bruce Henderson and the second, dealing with the trial, written largely by Vincent Bugliosi. Unlike most reviewers, I find Book One harder to swallow: Henderson novelizes, assuming a God-like familiarity with the characters that he cannot possibly have ("As she got up, it occurred to her that it must be Jennifer and Roy's friends arriving with their supplies." Excuse me Bruce, she never got off the island alive. How do you know what she was thinking?) Given that the actions and thoughts of the characters are instrumental to the question of the accused's guilt, and that these actions and thoughts could only be determined at trial by conflicting, often unreliable testimony, Henderson's putting them into narrative form -- thereby establishing his view as revealed truth -- is impermissible. I also suspect that Henderson needs to take more cold showers ("Sharon, a fitness buff with a slim, taut body to show for it, walked barefoot . . . often going entirely without clothes in the moist heat. Her tanned nimble figure, coal-black hair, and dark-brown eyes gave her the appearance of a Polynesian princess exploring her tropical domain." Bet that observation was important at trial.) Book Two hits its stride as Bugliosi prepares his defense. True, he has an ego second only to Alan Dershowitz -- I don't know which I find funnier: his palpable false modesty ("I felt forced to use [it], though it was embarassing to me . . . . I handed [the judge] an issue of [a legal newspaper in which the editor wrote] 'Mr. Bugliosi's performance today was the finest I have ever seen, and I have been a court watcher in Chicago for twnety-one years'") or the fact that he makes not one but two utterly irrelevant references to the BBC mock trial wherein he defeated Gerry Spence -- but only a fool would expect modesty from the best trial attorney in America. Bugliosi's final summation is nothing short of awesome in its encyclopedic breadth and command of the facts; as an attorney I can only marvel. If you agree with Einstein that God is in the details, then you will find this book riveting.
Rating:
Summary: Read in non-stop 2 days
Review: Could not put it down. This books is great several ways: the adventure is fantastic with visions of an island in paradise, the court procedures are so well described, so intense on so... educational! Hopefully I never need a lawyer, but if I am trouble, I know whom to call. I am buying a boat and going to Palmyra, I need to see by myslef!
Rating:
Summary: An enthralling read
Review: Half murder mystery, half courtroom drama, "And the Sea Will Tell" makes for brisk reading. Part One tells the story of two couples--the murder victims and their suspected killers--who land on Palmyra Island around the same time in 1974. By including descriptions of the island's geography and history, the authors set the scene for the drama quite well. (Note: Interested readers should see the March 2001 issue of National Geographic Magazine, which features a color feature on Palmyra to commemorate its recent acquisition and designation as a nature preserve.) Part Two, which begins after both suspects are apprehended, describes four trials--first each is tried for theft, then for murder. As one might expect, Bugliosi's client is last to bat in a trial which makes for the climax of the book. The division between the two parts is pretty clunky: it's a good guess that Henderson wrote Part One and Bugliosi Part Two, with obvious, major differences in style. In criticism, it must be said that Bugliosi has an ego to match his courtroom reputation, and many readers may well be turned off by his apparent self-promotion, which at times jumps right off the page. Also, those who read Bugliosi's "Outrage" will find much that's familiar here, since his later book borrowed heavily from this one in discussions of legal doctrine and strategy. Overall, however, I highly recommend the book for both true-crime mystery buffs and trial lawyers, who will find many gems in Bugliosi's blow-by-blow analysis of trial testimony.
Rating:
Summary: An enthralling read
Review: Half murder mystery, half courtroom drama, "And the Sea Will Tell" makes for brisk reading. Part One tells the story of two couples--the murder victims and their suspected killers--who land on Palmyra Island around the same time in 1974. By including descriptions of the island's geography and history, the authors set the scene for the drama quite well. (Note: Interested readers should see the March 2001 issue of National Geographic Magazine, which features a color feature on Palmyra to commemorate its recent acquisition and designation as a nature preserve.) Part Two, which begins after both suspects are apprehended, describes four trials--first each is tried for theft, then for murder. As one might expect, Bugliosi's client is last to bat in a trial which makes for the climax of the book. The division between the two parts is pretty clunky: it's a good guess that Henderson wrote Part One and Bugliosi Part Two, with obvious, major differences in style. In criticism, it must be said that Bugliosi has an ego to match his courtroom reputation, and many readers may well be turned off by his apparent self-promotion, which at times jumps right off the page. Also, those who read Bugliosi's "Outrage" will find much that's familiar here, since his later book borrowed heavily from this one in discussions of legal doctrine and strategy. Overall, however, I highly recommend the book for both true-crime mystery buffs and trial lawyers, who will find many gems in Bugliosi's blow-by-blow analysis of trial testimony.
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