Rating: 
Summary: Great Book...Highly Recommended
Review: I got this book on a whim...and I am so glad that I did. It was well written and fast-paced. I honestly couldn't put it down. I even read it while I was out eating at a restaurant with my fiancee - now after seeing how engrossed I was in the book, he wants to read it. I also thought about it during the times when I wasn't reading it...it is such a bizarre story. It really makes you think about what makes a person sane/insane and whether or not true evil exists. Read this book! You won't be sorry...
Rating: 
Summary: The Children of Sacrifice
Review: "Small Sacrifices" is another of Ann Rule's true-crime accounts, and this one delves into the darkest alley of the mind and brings to the light of day the danger some children face at the hands of their own parents. This crime is one of them, and the small sacrifices are one mother's own children, each of them shot because their mother's boyfriend (who couldn't wait to unload her) didn't want to be a father. Diane Downs, the mother convicted for the murder of one and attempted killings of two of her children, represents the worst of all of us, a self-serving, ego-centered psychotic whose own wants supercede the basic needs of everyone else, including her own children. Beyond the chilling account of how three young souls were sacrificed, Rule takes us well into the legal complications of this horrendous case and gives us an education in the complexities of the legal machine, even in cases that seem airtight. This isn't an entertaining read and instead should be taken on as a character study and why the protectors of children have to include a collective society. Certainly, the sense of tragedy prevades the senselessness of Downs' crime throughout the book. Just as strong an emotion is the total disdain of the woman the reader will feel.
Rating:
Summary: "Hungry Like the Wolf"
Review: This book is an excellent study of the anti-social personality; without a conscience or actual emotion, Diane Downs mercilessly shot her children so that she could have "a new life". Even with her oldest daughter - who technically died and was brought back to life - crying on the witness stand, Diane sheds tears only for herself. (The only complaint that I have is of Anne Rule's exagerated descriptions. Diane Downs is described as "beautiful" (physically) and "a knockout", while her pictures - of an attractive but average woman - do not necessarily agree; also, her intelligence is described as being a step away from genius, though her I.Q. is only 126.) But don't let my complaints stop you; read this book! It will grip you and not let go.
Rating:
Summary: A new Ann Rule fan
Review: This was my first Ann Rule book, after seeing her in a television interview. What can I say? I am now an Ann Rule fan and have read two more: The Stranger Beside Me, and The I-5 Killer. I have just ordered The Want-Ad Killer and Dead by Sunset. Diane Downs is so frightening! It's so unbelievable to think that anyone could shoot their own children at close range; but Ann Rule shows us how a seemingly normal person (Diane Downs) became the kind of sociopath killer that did just that.
Haunting and unforgettable
Rating:
Summary: Ann Rule at her best!
Review: This was the first Ann Rule book I've read, and while I've read most of the others by now, I still think this is the best. Ann Rule is most talented at writing about psychopathic, manipulative females. This book really excited my emotions -- I felt burning hatred for Diane, and I nearly cried at the descriptions of what her poor kids went through. Especially brave little Christie. At the end of the book Ann Rule wrote about Diane's psychiatric diagnoses in prison: she's both a psychopath and a narcissist. A narcissist loves only herself. A psychopath has no conscience. It's a terrible combination. If Diane ever comes up for parole, maybe this book will help keep her in the public eye and off the streets. I sure hope so.
Rating:
Summary: Small Sacrifices
Review: The book I just recently read is Small Sacrifices by Ann Rule. The book was an excellent book. It was the kind of book that made you want to keep turning pages. This book is about a mother that goes through a tragic event when her three children were shot. The book goes into detail on what went on the night of the shooting and how the cops got the answers they were looking for. The main plot was easy to figure out once you got started into the book. The mother of this story plays an incredible unbelievable part in the story. The ending is unbelievable and makes the whole book well worth reading. I strongly advise anyone that likes Ann Rule or those types of books to read this one.
Rating: 
Summary: True Justice
Review: The reason that I chose to read this is because I saw the movie, and wanted to get a better idea of how the law works. Reading the reviews on the cover made my stomach turn. It's a true crime story, not a who-dun-it! It's my position that Anne Rule's writings are well written. If someone reads this carefully, they may have a better understanding of how the judicial system works, and also how much help we need, as a society to understand that in this story, and so many others similar to it, there truly are no winners. Remind yourself that it isn't fiction, and then make your decision on how riveting it is. The question is, should we continue to allow horrible crime to be glorified? To do this would be, in my opinion a true miscarriage of justice!
Rating:
Summary: She's *Unbelievable*
Review: I have *no* sympathy for Diane Downs -- none. My compassion and tears are for the daughter she murdered, and the daughter and son she crippled -- physically and emotionally. The book is well researched and presented and though I'm not sure the motive offered by the prosecution (Lew) is really WHY she did it -- who cares? She did it. The myriad lies, excuses, ludicrous insinuations -- a crock. A narcisstic mythomaniac who should never, ever be a free citizen of this world. It's difficult to accept that a mother could do this to her own children, but as Fred Hugi said, to Diane, children were 'fungible.' Shudder. Makes me wonder how in the world she was ever approved as a surrogate mother. That is truly terrifying.
Rating:
Summary: horrible crime, distorted justice .. and biased journalism
Review: Small Sacrifices provides the reader much of what one expects from an Ann Rule book: extensive research into both a horrible crime and the rather twisted criminal (or accused criminal). However with this book Ann Rule really fails to deliver unbiased journalism which, ultimately, made me rather disappointed.Small Sacrifices is the story of a the shooting of three small children, and their very strange (, sick, twisted) mother (Diane Downs) who is accused of the crime. Ann Rule does a wonderful job detailing the events surrounding the shootings, and then tells us ALL about the mother - eg, I now know her nipples cracked and bled while breast feeding one of her kids - ugh!. This is all rather fascinating. BUT then the mother goes on trial and, for this reader, the book makes a turn for the worse. For many reasons (..no spoilers here) I found the trial to be a miscarriage of justice - or rather, it was simply an unfair trial. Worse, Ann Rule only details what the prosecution went through in preparing and executing the case. She doesn't mention anything about the defense, other than how the defense attorney is dressed. In the end I felt rather sorry for the mother, which I'm sure isn't what Ann Rule intented for her readers to feel - after all, Diane Downs is indeed a psychotic individual and, undoubtedly, a mother from hell. Bottom line: Ann Rule is most effective when sticking to the facts on BOTH SIDES of a criminal trial. Unfortunately she fails with Small Sacrifices. Recommended to Ann Rule fans only.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: The chilling mind of this child killer was brought clearly to life. Details of evidence from the surviving child was a real page turner.
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