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Summary: On The Edge of My Seat
Review: Bitter Harvest is one of Ann Rule's most provacative and interesting books. I am sight impaired and listened to the book within one day. I was hesitant to stop listening because the book captivated not only my interest, but my spous's. Reading is not my spous's enjoyment but has become so since I have been listening to books by Ann Rule. This book describes each of the charactor's personalities which enables the reader to gather a clear picture in their mind as well as becoming mesmerized about accounts written in the book. Ann does a great job explaining each character within the book while keeping events and situations going to the point where I was on the edge of my seat.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Book ,But much too drawn out....
Review: Iam a Ann Rule Fan all the way but this book is way to long and drawn out for my taste, it took 2oo pages before the actual crime was commited, unlike any of the authors books, this one is not my favorite and not ann rules best book that i have read.
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Summary: Classic True Crime Tale
Review: This is not only Ann Rule's best book but one of the best true crime books ever written. Rule writes in her usual crisp, clear, engaging style. Her exhaustive research into this tale of murder is very evident as well as her amazingly fair and insightful portrayal of all of the major participants. She keeps adding details and facts keeping you on the edge, never knowing what waits for the reader on the next page. And she brings up the apparently controversial thought: is this woman who allegedly killed her children mentally ill and deserving of our pity or truly an evil person? The reader has to decide. Riveting!
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Summary: Great!
Review: I really enjoyed this book, and felt like I wanted something very bad to happen to her, she was such an evil woman and ruined her husbands and daughters lives, as well as killed 2 of her kids.
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Summary: I can't help but feel a little sorry for Debora
Review: I have read five Ann Rule books and I've liked them all. My favorite so far is "Small Sacrifices". As for "Bitter Harvest", my favorite character in that was Mike Farrar. The poor man with his ill health and dead children, struggling to keep together a marriage he should have given up on long ago. But I wonder if he is as innocent as Ann Rule makes him appear to be. I feel sorriest of all for Lissa, who is just a little older than me. But I also feel a little sorry for Debora. She seems to be seriously sick in the head. But she is very dangerous and she got what she deserved; nothing more than that.
Rating: 
Summary: A tantalizing disappointment
Review: After hearing so much over the years about the quality of Ann Rule's books, I finally picked up this one and was prepared to be enthralled. Indeed, the story is fascinating, but Rule's treatment leaves something to be desired. She does provide meticulous detail, and the book certainly kept me reading. However, I found it finally unsatifying for several reasons. Rule telegraphs too much too soon about who is going to be the "villain" of the story, and her presentation of the Farrars' marriage is far too black-and-white. For a relationship to have deteriorated to such horrific depths, both partners were surely more to blame than Rule seems willing to suggest. The spouse whom Rule paints as the complete victim strikes me as having been, at the very least, a fool to the point of criminal negligence. Yet, at every turn, the author inserts an excuse for that individual's actions. Most frustrating to me was that hinted-at revelations about the guilty party's character never materialize. Rule drops teasers into her text that she never follows up on. For example, on page 27 of the hardcover edition, the supposed good spouse is "the last to know why" the partner behaves in a certain way, but that is the last we ever hear about it. Similarly, on page 322, a psychologist comments on "life experiences that happened...as a preadolescent" that contributed to the guilty party's mental state, and one is led to expect some explanation. It never comes. Ultimately we understand very little about who this person is--or why. Because I gather that other books by Rule are considered better than this one, I may give her work another try. This book seemed lazy to me--substituting repetition, regurgitation of data, simplistic moralizing, and purple prose for any true insight.
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Summary: Horrific -- But Not Quite Balanced --
Review: I read this book (in German) over the weekend, and could not put it down. Fascinating! What it did was make me appreciate all the nice, sane people I have in my life -- even if they're not perfect, they're a lot better than the characters in the book. I did have a problem with some of the tale, though -- I did not think it presented a fair picture. For example, I thought Mike should definitely have made some other moves a lot earlier. How could he think that it would be right to leave his kids with a woman who was drinking to the point of oblivion, who had tempertantrums in public, and who actually tried to kill him? A woman who did not have any friends? ... And yet, I can tell you how he could think this. He could think this because HE had not spoken to anyone about the problems earlier -- at least not to enough people. He thought that to take the kids away would be to punish her too much, and he felt guilty -- either about the affair, or leaving, or something. What this book has made me realize is the importance of intervention -- as Deb points out in a statement included in the end of the book. It is extremely difficult to intervene in the life of another person, but you have to try. If someone is acting really weird, find out why. Try to get them help. Don't wait for tragedy.
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Summary: fascinating book about an exceptionally troubled woman
Review: The true-crime story explored in Bitter Harvest is gripping and disturbing on many levels, underscoring the often imperceptible line between genius and madness, the curious combination of enviable professional achievement with a total disconnection from reality within an individual. Makes you wonder just how the human brain works. This was a fast read, very intriguing. Admittedly, the story is more interesting to me because I'm familiar with the setting and I've heard first-hand accounts of Debora Green's odd and somewhat antisocial behavior while she was in medical school and residency. I didn't notice any glaring flaws in the writing, but the story is so intriguing I'm not sure that I would have noticed. Rule does seem to be mighty sympathetic to Green's husband (an achiever who seemed to surpass his wife professionally, and who fooled around with a very attractive other woman while "chaperoning" a child's international field trip), but hey, it wasn't the husband who poisoned Green with castor beans, necessitating brain surgery. It wasn't the husband who set fire to the family manse. Though he's no saint, she certainly surpasses him in the hierarchy of bad behavior. This book left me concerned that mental illness is often overlooked, or at least minimized, in "accomplished" and professionally successful individuals -- a tragedy in itself that can lead to tragic results.
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Summary: Not bad
Review: This was the first book I've read by Ann Rule. I am not totally disappointed nor am I as upset like some of the other readers who gave this a terrible review. I looked for all the books they have written and couldn't find one of them. Hmmm...maybe they shouldn't be so critical? The story was a very good one and hard to fathom. It did seem pretty biased though. The author seemed to present this from the father's point of view which didn't seem entirely fair since he apparently had some issues of his own. I found this to be a good book overall. I can live with redundancy once in awhile unlike a lot of other wanna be authors.
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Summary: GREAT BOOK , COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN!!!
Review: Ann Rule writes with extreme attention to detail, regarding her main charater's; that I feel I become to know them quite well. Her books allow me the emotional & psychological involvement that I love when reading mystery and true crime. THANKS ANN !! BARB
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