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Rating: 
Summary: must read
Review: A great book into understanding the mind of Lyle Menendez. Like another reviewer said, you really should be up on the case, otherwise you won't understand it. The problem with the book, the author puts too much of her opinion in it. She makes it obvious she does not believe Lyle from the beginning. If you're interested in the case, and are up on all of your information on the trial, you'll love it. If you know nothing, you won't understand a word.
Rating: 
Summary: No New Information In This Book. Definitely Not Worth It.
Review: The back cover of this book advertises that the reader will be enabled to "peek into the mind of a fascinating criminal," but after having read this book, there's very little that is fascinating about this man or this crime. In fact, there's nothing in here that I hadn't already heard on the news plenty of times before. The book consists of a series of conversations between Lyle Menendez and Norma Novelli, the publisher of some newsletter that no one's ever heard of. The conversations give you a narrative of the Menendez trial through the eyes of Lyle Menendez. In them, you'll find Lyle to be extremely arrogant, but also fairly educated and mild-mannered. I grew up in a city close to Beverly Hills, and I'd have to say that Lyle Menendez is no different from most people who live there. He was raised in wealth and comfort and he knows no other way of life, and that explains his pompous attitude. Lyle Menendez isn't the "brilliant criminal mind" that they build him up to be. The only difference between Lyle and normal people is that he and his brother killed their parents. The prosecution in his trial argued that the brothers killed their parents in order to receive their inheritance and collect from their parents' life insurance policies. The brothers claim that the murders resulted from years of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse by their father. After reading this book, I'm inclined to believe that it was probably a combination of both reasons. Aside from the fact that this book offers very little new information, I also didn't like the way in which Norma Novelli claimed to have been manipulated by Lyle Menendez. Menendez does about 99% of the talking in these conversations. He tells Novelli almost everything, and all she does is sit there listening and recording the conversations. She clearly knew that she could profit from this line of communication she had with Lyle, and that's exactly what she did by writing this book. In fact, she's the real manipulator for taking advantage of the trust and confidence that Lyle had in her. She isn't a victim at all, and it seems absurd for her to make such a claim. There are plenty of other more useful books and websites that one can look to for information on the Menendez case. This book isn't worth it.
Rating: 
Summary: No Style With Lyle
Review: This book consists of transcripts of some phone conversations between Lyle Menendez and the author before and during the brothers' first trial. You really need to be up on the case to know what's being said. If you know who everyone was in the trial (Dr. Oziel, Judalon Smyth, etc.) then the book can be of some use to you. Don't look here for a compelling description of the crime, the planning, or even life at home with the Menendez'. What you will get is an insight into the character we know as Lyle - confirming the intelligent, cunning, cold hearted manipulator we knew gratis Court TV. The book is historically important as a trial supplement and reading is recommended to those familiar with the case.
Rating:
Summary: No Style With Lyle
Review: This book consists of transcripts of some phone conversations between Lyle Menendez and the author before and during the brothers' first trial. You really need to be up on the case to know what's being said. If you know who everyone was in the trial (Dr. Oziel, Judalon Smyth, etc.) then the book can be of some use to you. Don't look here for a compelling description of the crime, the planning, or even life at home with the Menendez'. What you will get is an insight into the character we know as Lyle - confirming the intelligent, cunning, cold hearted manipulator we knew gratis Court TV. The book is historically important as a trial supplement and reading is recommended to those familiar with the case.
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