Rating: 
Summary: Tremendous true-crime writing
Review: Once upon a time Vincent Bugliosi was a star student at UCLA. After that he became a famous star district attorney then went on to private practice where he became a star defense lawyer. Then he became entrapped in that morrass which seems to call with a siren-like persuasion: politics. There was that awful book about JFK (the Warren Commission was right), then an angry defense of Clinton (Paula Jones, et al and 2000 where he wrote that Gore was robbed by the [Democratic] courts of Florida.Thankfully, this was in an earlier incarnation (plain lawyer) where he takes an unthankful case that doesn't seem to have a prayer. A murder at sea and the person on board is not guilty? The difficulty was compounded by the unwillingness of the defendent to "tell all". Despite this, he worked 100 hours/wk (once he had convinced himself of her innocence) and eventually was vindicated. Great story, great writing.
Rating:
Summary: Bugliosi is awesome!
Review: The book makes a great read as a crime story. One can only hope there are lawyers around who are reading this book and following Bugliosi's example. As for the crime itself, generally speaking I was convinced of Buck's guilt and Jennifer's innocense. However I did find it puzzling that Buck would have the patience to hang around and participate in the search for his victims for two or three days. Since several other boats had dropped in during their stay at Palmyra another unexpected visitor was a definite possibility. It would have been very difficult to explain the presence of the two ships without stating that the couple had disappeared. This in turn would have made it difficult for Buck to leave with the ship of the murdered couple. Yet Jennifer states she had no idea Buck was involved. So we have the murderer patiently spending days searching for his victims instead of fleeing immediately with his prize. This detail could been further explored. Even in retrospect Jennifer never notes any untoward haste in Buck?
Rating: 
Summary: grand fiction
Review: The femme fatale in this yarn has convinced the author that she was just an innocent passenger in the cruise of the Iola to Palmyra, the murder of Mac and Muff Graham, the theft of the Seawind, the return to Hawaii in the pirated craft, and everything else that transpired. Why did she stop to get her dog and thereby get arrested? [Huh?]. After her arrest, what did she flush down the toilet in the ladies' room of the Hawaii Yacht Club? Why did they paint the stolen boat's hull a new color (white with lavender trim) but leave the cabin its original blue? Real people did the crime to real victims in real places, but Bugliosi overlooked more opportunities to find facts than did the prosecutors. An exciting story, it should not be considered entirely factual.
Rating:
Summary: Riveting and Tragic
Review: The first half of the book is one of the best told stories I've read. The second half is complete ego of Bugliosi. Bruce Henderson, the co author and author of a great book Trace Evidence, probably wrote the first half. I almost felt like I was on the island or had met the murdered couple. I was disappointed in Bugliosi's blind faith in his client's innocence. It's as if he did not read the first half himself. All in all, one of my favorite true crime books.
Rating: 
Summary: Starts Strong
Review: The start of the book is riveting. I really enjoy reading about the mystery on the island. I was totally engrossed in it. Then the trial starts... Now I have no doubt that Bugliosi is an excellent lawyer, but his long dawn out trial script is a really though read. It worked in Helter Skelter a lot better then here. But I found both books sort of dragged. But this book is worth getting just for the beginning.
Rating: 
Summary: Vanity, all is vanity...
Review: This actually isnt a bad story. As you can see below, two couples, two boats, one desert island, one murder. Half the book recounts what happened in Palmyr, and the second half recounts the trial of the two accussed. This by itself wold recommend it to readers interested in true crime/legal dramas, but there is one thing spoiling it.... The writer. Although you would expect a certain degree of self indulgence this is incredible. A few quotes: "No lawyer works harder in preparing a case than me", " I never defend anyone who I think is guilty", " My deamenor in court is some what freewheeling" etc etc etc. Now this would be OK in dribs and drabs, but it is almost every page and after a while it gets a bit annoying. Still, well worth the money, and an enjoyable read.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating story, couldn't put the book down, but...
Review: This book just riveted my attention like none have in awhile. The story is just so romantic (in the romanticism sense) yet unreal, reading just like an adventure/mystery novel. And it is an engrossing introduction to sailing, survival in the pacific, and U.S. trial law. Mac is like a guy after my own heart...his sailing & exploring seems so exhilarating I find myself wanting to take sailing classes, buy a yacht, sail around the world... The book bogs down a little in the trial portion...I spent 3 days reading the first 250 pages and 3 weeks on the latter 400. But I couldn't stop reading. The story mesmerizes me in a strange way...two couples from opposing cultures flee the rat race only to clash on an exotic tropical paradise...suspense...mystery... and all of it really happened. Truth is truly stranger than fiction
Rating:
Summary: Could have been as good in 400 pages, but good
Review: This book started off as a typical true crime book of the Ann Rule variety, and ended up being a transcript of hundreds of pages of trial; the latter was a bit dry. Bugliosi does a good job of convincing the reader that his client was completely innocent (so why did he give her a fictitious name in the book?), but I still have my doubts. All in all, it is more a book about his courtroom style than the crime itself. I thought that it could have been 30% shorter if he left out everything that was repeated. But, this was a book about Bugliosi, not Stephanie Stearns (alias Jennifer Jenkins).
Rating:
Summary: Very Good Book
Review: This book was long and in paperback the print is very small, but I stayed glued to the book. I learned a lot about sailing and the sea. Extremely interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Great Start, Slow Finish
Review: This is a fascinating story of murder on a deserted island. The first half of the book is a riveting, well-developed account of two couples seeking paradise and finding disaster. Descriptions are thorough, and character development is excellent. However the latter-half of the book dealing with the trial is long-winded and somewhat annoying. Bugliosi's entire 5-hour closing argument fills page after tedious page, and I found myself simply skimming over the latter 1/4 if the book. Legal buffs and lawyers will enjoy it, the rest of us will be content to indulge in the characters, the island and the crime, and then simply browse through the ending.
| 
