Rating: 
Summary: Finally a book worth full five stars!
Review: Jeanne Boylan's book is one of the best I've ever laid my eyes on! It is definitely THE best in the criminal investigation field!Her new psychological interviewing process ,or "secret formula," in investigating a crime and interviewing witnesses, is just far beyond what you'll read in any FBI investigation or psychiatric trauma book. Dozens of government agencies and thousands of criminal investigators can't do what this woman does! This plane civilian with a huge heart is forced into playing the top role in cases like the Unabomber and Oklahoma City Bombing. She also perfectly lays out the political game some law enforcement agencies or figures are engulfed in. You emerge from reading this book with full knowledge of "the system"s capabilities, guidelines, politics, big shots and heroes. Her personal life story around the big picture is spicing it up immensely. She has one story to tell. Oh, and let me mention that she is a VERY good writer! Finally a book worth two thumbs up and full five stars!
Rating:
Summary: Intrigued by Salt Lake City missing child case
Review: I have heard this author's name chatted about by the news all week in relation to a case of a missing child in Salt Lake. It reminded me of my interest in this book when I'd seen her speak on the Today Show for another case a month ago, so I went to the local book store and finally picked it up. I'm glad I did. The books gives a rare glimpse into a world I've known nothing about. I can see more clearly what is (or perhaps is not) taking place in the present missing child case and can empathize with Miss Boylan's quest for change in the system. I found it to be a very good story, well written and informative book deserving of the highest rating. It's well worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: Facinating subject, well written book.
Review: I recommend this book to anyone with a warm heart and an open mind. Boylan writes beautifully and takes the reader into her unusual and chaotic world of forensics, (with a twist) and simultaniously weaves the power struggle in her marriage and effects of her demanding job on her personal life, into and in between the ongoing case to case dramas. Brilliantly balanced story with something to hold all interests from the hardest cop to the softest stay at home mom.
Rating:
Summary: Appreciated gift
Review: This book was given to me by a collegue who said it had been passed on to him in the law office he is a partner in. Curious, I read it over a weekend, also really enjoyed it. However, I wanted to give this woman writer a big brotherly hug for all she endures in what is a nearly impossible job. I salute her and recommend this book with vigor.
Rating:
Summary: Documentary material, I hope!
Review: I was just given this book as a "homework assignment" by my executive producer. I work as a documentary producer for a network television show based out of NYC and at first thought it was an mildly interesting topic, I mean, a police artist is a police artist and I've always had a mild curiosity about their work. But then I read Jeanne Boylan's story, and my mind was opened completely up. This woman is not in any way a "police artist" as you traditionally think of them, you know, the kind that asks someone to basically point out features from a book of choices and then compiles them into a face for a wanted poster. Big deal, anyone can do that and almost every police agency, much like a file clerk or a parking attendant, has someone who does. But what this woman does is nothing like that. My eyes were opened wider with every page. She uses no prompts or pictures, but instead, armed with an academic understanding in how memory works, she skillfully and slowly plumbs the complex area of recall that has been overwhelmed by the trauma a crime victim has experienced. She knows her job like no one else, and when she's finished working her magic, she has in her hands, not another generic police predictably wrong sketch that you see in any newspaper any day of the week, but instead, a precise and realistic image of the perpetrator. Her cases speak for themselves repeatedly throughout this book (many of them you will recognize) and they are all 100% "documentable" and you know what; you can't argue with history. She also leaves the crime victim with a memory that is through her unusual technique of interviewing, is newly refreshed, undamaged and highly likely to aid the victim or witness in correctly identifying their attacker. She proves that it is not the eyewitness that is notoriously unreliable as the press stories would have you believe, but instead it's the leading techniques used to interview them by investigators and artists that badly damage eyewitness memories. In light of all the people now being released from prison through DNA and who were originally wrongly identified by victims, this revelation is huge and why we want to do a documentary on Ms. Boylan's work. Some of the mistakes made by police have even landed innocent people on death row. She's a true frontrunner in a very important area that in the past, due to it's history of inaccuracy and widely known lack of academic training, has gotten no respect inside or outside the police community. I know now why my order from the network execs is "Get this woman!" We want to be the first to do a full length feature on her discoveries and also to shine a very bright light on the U.S. police agencies that are so slow to progress in this arena. When this information is available and they don't utilize it, they need to be made accountable and I'm the right producer to take this issue to task. What I learned in this book just makes plain sense, period. Now if I could just track down Ms. Boylan. She's off on more casework and last I was told by her office assistant, she was working on some high profile case in Australia or New Zealand, but, good things are worth waiting for. I'm not giving up. As a book, even if you're reading it just for enjoyment, PORTRAITS OF GUILT is actually a great read, not textbook like at all, thankfully, but full of real life stories that deliver varied and important lessons. The writing is excellent, its compelling, emotional and brutally honest, will hold your attention throughout and on top of that, you will learn a lot. I give it a full five star rating.
Rating:
Summary: Woman of Substance
Review: I just met the author of this book while a crew member of a television shoot this week. I'm not impressed with "celebrities", most believe the propaganda their own publicists put out, and I've met most all of them, but this woman was different than anyone we've ever taped. Unpretentious, authentic, humble, kind, in fact, she doesn't even have a publicist and had to be pursueded to do the shoot, and only then did so because it benefited the victim of a crime, not herself. I was impressed, so stopped by a bookstore in route home and read her book over the last two days. In person, she was one of the most interesting people we've ever interviewed in 19 years of "celebrity interviews." And in this book, she shows herself to be as true to her mission as I perceived. Her work and her efforts are all for others and at the cost of her own privacy, marriage, and any personal goals she could have in life. She could be rich, she could be a star, with her beauty and personality, she could be living a life of pure luxury. Instead she is out fighting an unsavory battle against crime in a way that no one else dares to take on and suffering some pretty steep consequences as a result. I'm in admiration, in appreciation and like the firefighters and police in NYC who gave their own lives to help others, in her way, she's given her whole life over to helping others too. I applaud her obvious courage and her rare integrity. The book is very well written, highly informative and is as pure and honest as this woman is in person. I highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Brain Candy for an airplane ride
Review: A good book for a trip on a airplane -- a low price and a quick, engrossing read, but.... you won't feel bad about leaving it behind at the hotel once you're done. That's a positive reveiew -- I look for books in this category when I'm traveling. It's an interesting story about how this remarkable artist develops her sketches. If you're looking for great literature, look elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: Documentary / love story / personal growth journal
Review: Amazing book. I thought the subject would be interesting, but I had not expected to learn so much along the way, to find cause to examine my own personal priorities and to come to view the justice system in a whole new light. This book is a timeless gem. Very good writing, previously untold facts about many well known US cases and an abundance of spiritual revelations all lie between it's unassuming covers. I will pass it on as a gift to friends. I highly recommend this read. Great use of your time.
Rating:
Summary: Lucky, I guess
Review: While in a doctor's office, I saw an excerpt from the book, "Portraits of Guilt", and began to read. It grabbed me by the throat. I am not a great reader. It was even more odd for me to purchase a book from an excerpt. Was I glad I did.
The book is very personal. Almost like reading someone's journal. Ms. Boylan is to be admired for stickingby her guns and her principles. Her trials became my trials. I felt what she was feeling. During my reading, there were, at times, when I stopped reading and openly sobbed. I am glad there are people like her in the world.
However, this writing could be in vain if the next publication she comes out with is not a textbook showing others how to do what she has done.
Rating:
Summary: A Triple Crown for Portraits of Guilt.
Review: Informative, touching and powerful. This book wins in all catagories. The writing is excellent and readable, the character highly respectable and relatable, the stories inspiring, true and deeply moving. I loved this book and give it the highest ranking available.
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