Portraits of Guilt

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Summary: Page turner.
Review: Thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it highly to readers of all ages, both genders. Educational, entertaining, moving and genuine.

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Summary: Required reading in Principle and Ethics class.
Review: I have just been forwarded this book by a fellow professor who recommended it be considered for a Principles and Ethics course I teach at 4th year university level. Upon skimming the title, I was unable to understand his reasoning. But over the weekend, I read Portraits of Guilt. I don't normally offer reviews of book on the Internet, however want to make an exception. This author exemplifies the best in human behavior and in doing so, suffers the consequences. I want my students to see that having high standards and ethics as well as living by one's principles is not without conseqence, but the reward is dignity and self respect as this story illustrates. I highly recommend this book as a general read, as well as to those wanting to appreciate a needed lesson in life about the capacity for good we all have within us.

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Summary: TIME MAGAZINE was right!
Review: I want to submit a strong endorsement for PORTRAITS OF GUILT. I first heard of the author when I saw that TIME MAGAZINE had named her the "Top Innovator" of change in the criminal justice field earlier this year. I was intrigued and how one person could change a system, a prospect about as simple as singlehandedly stopping a train. I immediately bought her book and see now in reading it that she's struggled a great deal at trying to alert investigators to the mistakes they repeatedly make. Her efforts seem to be more rewarded by the media (I have read about her in numerous national magazines and even in Japanese and London papers) than by the U.S. justice system itself. But her work is rightfully honored and acknowledged literally by the world press and I hope that she succeeds in getting our own criminal justice system to shake off their old fashioned ways and in shifting their efforts to incorportate all the academic insights Miss Boylan has so painstakingly unearthed. If they fail to hear this important voice, it is surely not for the lack of effort that this author has put forth. In PORTRAITS OF GUILT, she is freely offering them twenty years worth of her hard earned wisdom (along with her documented results in major cases) for the simple price of checking out this well written and highly enjoyable book.

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Summary: A book worth passing on.
Review: I am the parent of 14, 16 and 18 year old daughters. I read this book after it was given to me by my neighbor to take with me on summer vacation. After hearing her rave about it for days, I opened it, and to my amazement since I normally don't read crime related books, I could not put it down. It is a rich and unique biography. I've since given it to my 18 year old who is engrossed in it as I type, and the other two girls are fighting over who gets to read it next. This writer is not just a groundbreaker in her field of forensic investigation, but a courageous and strong role model for young women everywhere. I am delighted to have her book to pass on to all my daughters as an example of what one can do to turn tragedy into triumph and to open the minds and hearts of a male dominated police system that is traditionally very resistent to change. Hats off to this amazing woman and her extremely engrossing and well written book.

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Summary: Duely impressed.
Review: As a university professor in criminal justice, I was given this book by a fellow professor from the psychology department who raved about it's subtle but powerful lessons about needed change. Skeptical at first, I'm now fully converted.

I'm not sure I would have been as gentle and kind in delivering the message about errors police make as Jeanne Boylan was in PORTRAITS OF GUILT. She utilized the format of a good 'novel' to tansport the reader through important lesson after lesson about mistakes made in major cases with a personal story (hers) as the vehicle to tie them all together, but her intent in being so gentle is perfectly clear. She's being a diplomat. However, she had the right to use a club over the head and didn't.

Boylan is sounding an alarm in the world of investigations.We'd better listen. After seeing a child murdered who could have been saved had police not errored, she sets out to make a difference by quietly calling the system into accountability for it's arrogance and ignorance when it comes to interviewing crime victims.

She's telling us that recovering eyewitness memory of a perpetrator's face is a very complex task embedded deeply in psychology and not as now thought, based simply in art and she suggests a route of study that would bring her field out of the often useless cartoon realm and into the world of academia. This superb book will be required reading over in the psychology department this year and I've decided to make it required reading in my law classes as well. It is well written and very informative.

My only complaint is that I wish she'd have been a little less diplomatic. When you see the high cost of errors as proven throughout her book, (literally lives) you know that the system has to heed her call and step into this new century with the valuable insights into crime victim's mind that Boylan has gained through actual real case experience.When you put this book down, you'll find yourself examining what you can do to help.

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Summary: BREATH OF FRESH AIR
Review: It's about time an honest person wrote an honest book. I recommend this book highly to anyone tired of self interested authors writing books on traditional subjects in which they have the minimal knowledge to call themselves the masters. This author makes no such claim, yet has the proof through her work that she's just that. Her honesty is refreshing, the topic facinating and the writing style, relaxed and genuine. Great book which opened my eyes in an area I'd never before given much thought.

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Summary: A courageous and candid biography
Review: As I was about to enter my review of this book which I just read over one weekend, I read one very recently submitted from a reader who in odd ways seems to compliment the author throughout, but then gives this book a one star rating because he said, "She's too good to be true and is someone he can't relate to." He calls the book a "comedy" but it was his review that made me laugh!

To him I want to say that it really is okay for someone to do good work and be selfless, kind and compassionate. This author is all that and had found a way to apply her abilities to do some good in this rough world in which we live. It IS hard to relate to someone who would put their own needs aside to do good things. Such people are indeed rare.

But besides to just reacting to that review from a person so sadly deprived of such encounters as to need to pull someone else's work and good deeds down to his own level with his rather cruel one star rating as his weapon of jealousy and animosity, I want to add my own take on 'Portraits of Guilt:'

I found it inspiring, extremely well written and balanced in content. I loved getting to know the woman behind the work as well as more about her work itself. Boylan masterfully manages to make what could have been a dull documentary, as full bodied and real as a good novel. Her story is her life, and she tells in candidly and with real heart. All of it. How many of us would be willing to do that?

Nothing less than five stars from me for an outstanding, warm and very well written first book by a good hearted lady which will keep you glued to your seat. I can't wait to read her next offering.

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Summary: No good deed goes unpunished.
Review: This spring, I attended a book signing by Ms. Boylan, author of "Portraits of Guilt," when I saw a growing crowd gathered around her in a bookstore and hanging on to her every word. I had no knowledge of her topic at the time but out of curiosity, was compelled to buy the book to see what the hoopla was all about.

I read it, completely loved it, learned a lot from it, and then took it to the metropolitan Chicago police department to give it as a 'gift' to the people I thought could benefit from it the most. (Forensic investigators.) But what happened next was astounding. They balked at sight of the book, immediately began to criticize Ms. Boylan and her methods of working, (though they seemed to actually understand none of it as none had ever read the book.) So I reopened and read back in the book at where Ms. Boylan talks about exactly the phenomenon I experienced. She explains how hard change is for so many people and how threatening most forensics people find her because what she does really works and they fear it is a skill they cannot acquire.

But she is teaching them how, if only they'd listen and open their minds. Every case she writes about proves her points through real case evidence, and not just minor cases, but the "big ones" such as the Unabomber and the Oklahoma City Bombing as well as other cases she worked on.

Jeanne Boylan is a groundbreaker, a pioneer, and as they saying goes, "You can always tell a pioneer by the arrows in their back."

Bottom line is that people like Ms. Boylan who endure the wrath of the less competent in their fields, people who have the courage to stand up for what's right no matter the personal cost, (her's is enormous) and those who take their beliefs and generously and openly share them through a format such as a book or teaching, like she has, are the people who I most admire. This woman is a hero and she's making this world (and her field) a much better place.

Andrew Lloyd Wright, the once criticized and now hailed architect said about the intense criticism and wrath of his supposed peers, "If I was right, that meant they were wrong, so why should they have treated me kindly?"

Ms. Boylan shows the same kind of gentle and compassionate understanding over the jealousy she endures from her cohorts. In the end, those critics only show their smallness. Their interest is in not doing what's best, but instead, what is best for them. Ms. Boylan sacrifices what's easiest for her, to do what is best for crime victims. Therein lies the big, big difference.

The book is dedicated to a 12 year old girl, Polly Klaas, whose life could have been saved had investigators had more knowledge about her topic the night the child was stolen. Because of a mistake, (easily preventable) that child is now dead. This book is a gift to the field of investigations and one that when those who participate in this work finally catch up, (which may take a decade or two), will be looked back on and hailed as "cutting edge." But my question is, why wait? Ms. Boylan is showing criminal investigators the way to upgrade their skills RIGHT NOW. The experience, knowledge and insights Boylan offers in these pages can save lives. That's precisely her point and her obvious reason for sharing them. As just a darn good story, as a investigator's guide book OR a true crime documentary, and it is in fact all three, PORTRAITS OF GUILT is an excellent and very worthwhile read.

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Summary: Criminal Sketch Comedy
Review: What do you get when you cross the Unabomber, a small town girl with Playboy good looks, and a stack of number two pencils? Portraits of Guilt, the new autobiography from world-renowned criminal sketch artist Jeanne Boylan. The single most common thread between every major, high profile and publicly recognizable case in this country in the last decade, Boylan has used her revolutionary method of interrogation to unlock eyewitness memories and render the likes of the Unabomber, Richard Allen Davis of Polly Klaas kidnapping/murder fame, and the Oklahoma City terrorists. Boylan is also a contributing correspondent on Fox Television's, America's Most Wanted.

Boylan wrote Portraits in hopes of inspiring positive change within the antiquated field of forensic artistry; a science that, at present amounts to merely "picking noses" out of a book. To this end, Boylan succeeds in teaching an average Joe the basic dynamics of memory, the psychological complexity of eyewitness recall, and the pitfalls of memory contamination. Through a case by case analysis of her interrogation method, Boylan also reveals how she chooses an interview site, decides what to wear, and utilizes voice inflection and eye contact in order to make a connection with her subjects. It's an interesting class in Psych 101 that reveals enough obscure trivia to satisfy any die-hard crime story aficionado.

According to Boylan, the key to accurate information is in what an eyewitness feels not what an eyewitness sees. In a humorous illustration of this idea, we discover that a key eyewitness in the Unabomber case found it easier to remember Ted Kaczynski's face because she and her co-worker thought he had a "cute ass" as he walked away from planting an explosive device.

Unfortunately, as often occurs in autobiographical writing, Portraits of Guilt is merely an exercise in self-promotion. In this case, one neatly packaged within a manufactured roller coaster ride and infused with forced sense of drama that quickly becomes tired and cliché. Recognize this scene? Jeanne and her husband Robert have just mended their relationship for the umpteenth time and have planned a weekend retreat to celebrate new beginnings. You see Jeanne's work as a crime fighter calls her away at all hours of the night, and according to her, when the call comes, "I go. I can't say no." "This was the stuff I was made of, you didn't ask questions, you just did the right thing."

In this Murder She Wrote meets Showgirls, Boylan fuels the comedic fire by generously garnishing each paragraph with superfluous detail. Before long, she has the whole thing resonating like a dime store romance novel. "But there he was, with those damned green eyes, the faint scent of Grey Flannel cologne, and stroking that signature mustache as if he knew his own power." We wait anxiously for a shirtless Fabbio to appear, club Boylan over the head and drag her off into the sunset.

Sorry, no Fabbio. But we do get Mac, the female bail bondsman who "didn't say stomach if guts worked better, and didn't say please if an expletive got faster results!" In one of Portraits' classic moments, Jeanne and Mac are holing up a drug den deep in the underbelly of San Francisco's Haight district. It is there where they finally locate Chicago, the haggard, drug dealing, Vietnam Vet whose memory holds the key to the Justin Jones murder case. After completing a series of grueling twenty-minute interviews (between heroin induced sleeps, no less), Boylan turns to Chicago and says, "I think you are a strikingly beautiful man."

Later, when Hollywood studio executives present Boylan with the re-worked treatments for both the movie AND TV versions of her life story, they mention that a Kim Bassinger type would be too old to portray her character. One can't help but both cringe and then roar with laughter when Boylan goes out of her way to make it clear that she and Bassinger are the same age. "Heather Locklear was more the generation they had in mind."

At one point in Portraits of Guilt, Boylan states that her outstanding cases, which are closing in close succession, seem to be "divinely synchronized." An interesting choice of words, indeed. Boylan's entire life story seems to have been touched by some sort of magic wand. I am sure that most of what she says is accurate but somewhere along the way she loses her credibility. It's all just too good to be true. Much like her photo on the cover of Portraits, Boylan's resume seems to have been airbrushed to the point of being almost unrecognizable.

Rather than concentrating on the age of which celebrity should portray her on the silver screen, Jeanne Boylan should have listened to Hollywood executives who thought it best to rewrite her "life story" because they felt it wouldn't be likeable to the public and would not sell. Maybe then she would have "rewritten" her story to include a weakness or two. (And no, Jeanne, your inability to say no to one more case to save more innocent lives doesn't count.) It's hard to root for someone you can't relate to.

Question: Is Jeanne Boylan for real? Most assuredly so! Over the past decade she has consistently delivered where countless others have failed. Her success rate is unrivaled and speaks for itself. Jeanne Boylan is unquestionably the Michael Jordan of criminal sketch artists. Even so, if you are expecting to be fascinated by her story, you will more than likely be disappointed. If you are just looking for a good laugh, though, I wholeheartedly recommend Portraits of Guilt! It is truly a comedic gem.

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Summary: You MUST read this book!
Review: Every now and then, bad things happen to good people. Jeanne does everything she can to make sure that the victim does not feel more trauma--she has to ease them through the pain of what they have seen--but more importantly--she has to allow them to tell what they have seen so that authorities can get these monsters off the street. God has truly blessed us all to have put Jeanne on this planet with her talented insight. This book will grip you and I promise you you will not be able to put this book down.