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To Die For : The Shocking True Story of Serial Killer Dana Sue Gray

To Die For : The Shocking True Story of Serial Killer Dana Sue Gray

List Price: $6.99
Your Price: $6.29
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Highly recommended--with qualification
Review: Only 36 documented cases of female serial killers exist. Ordinarily they target their partners, children, or people under their care. They usually choose poison or guns for their weapon. Dana Sue Gray stands alone, targeting elderly women and choosing a violent means to effect murder. Dana sought excitement, much as she sought the thrills of windsurfing or skydiving, and then celebrated her kills with spending sprees. Kathy Braidhill's chilling account of Dana's behavior and possible motive leaves the reader stunned and appalled.

An unemployed nurse, Dana Sue Gray murdered old women and then celebrated with their credit cards. Living with her partner Jim and his son Jason, Dan filled their home with clothing, toys, perfume and the like. I find it amazing that her partner didn't question where her money was coming from when he was the only one earning an income. In addition, I find it chilling that Dana would kill with a child waiting in the car parked in front of her victim's residence. Indeed, Dana's celebrations including not only shopping sprees, but a visit to a spa for a massage, manicure and pedicure, as well as expensive restaurant meals where she order more than she could possibly eat.

TO DIE FOR doesn't read so much as a thriller as an explanation for this aberration. And perhaps one the most frustrating things about a book like this is that there are many questions left unanswered. One question the author didn't thoroughly address is how Dana Sue Gray makes the transition in her plea to guilty. While the author mentions the plea bargain, it would have been interesting to have more information, especially from an author that is so meticulous elsewhere. The remaining questions, however, are not so much the fault of the author as the nature of the book. Indeed, the author's meticulous details, explanations, and information provide fascinating reading. The author's writing style is commendable, compacting massive amounts of information into very approachable text. Very well written--I couldn't put this novel down! Highly recommended.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Good Job Kathy!
Review: The book is very accurate and well written. Kathy, I want to thank you for being a professional journalist and uncovering the facts. You did good. Joe G.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fascinating
Review: The first time in a long time that I read a true crime story where I had to remind myself that it wasn't fiction. Astonishing to read about a woman commiting murder in ways that violent men have. Strangling strangers for their credit cards...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Compulsively Readable True Crime Story
Review: This is an excellent book, which literally kept me up all night reading it. Female serial killers are vanishingly rare, and this book does a remarkable job of getting inside Dana Sue Gray's mind. It reads like a top-flight mystery novel. The best true crime book that I have read this year so far. Highly recommended!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good up until the very last
Review: This is an extremely readable book and well crafted. The subject, Dana Sue Gray, is unfathomable, most likely a true sociopath. I suppose no one will ever be able to explain how she became this ego maniac with such an odd combination of traits which led to her murdering three people. What appalled me most about her was not the three murders of strangers/semi-strangers but her callousness toward her own husband of less than a year to the point where she was prepared to let him die while swimming off Maui. That gave me the real creeps. But I must agree with "Sumner, CA"'s Customer Review that Braidhill left a giant hole in her story by not explaining the transition from Dana's denial of guilt to her sudden admission of guilt. Not one word helped us understand the potentially most interesting aspect of this story as to what caused the murderer to change her position. Did the author think it was obvious that after so many years, Gray either just got tired of resisting or was convinced by her lawyers that she had to do this to avoid the death penalty? I would rather have been told explicitly what happened--if the author even knows. I would still recommend this book because it describes the kind of a person that I would guess few of us have ever met, making it an intriguing story.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Fairly written
Review: This new true crime thriller fails to deliver right at the end, when it is neded most. the transition of plea of the accused from not guilty to guilty was entirely skipped over. I also felt the epilogue was very brief. after reading this book over a course of a few days, i certainly would like to know more about the main character at the close of the book. it was an inteesting read though

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: not what i had expected.
Review: thought this book was going to be a real thriller, but the end was a disappointment. it left me hanging with a lot of unsettled issues. i also would like to know when and how it was when she changed her mind from being guilty to innocent. would not recommend this book.


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