The Unicorn's Secret: Murder in the Age of Aquarius

Rating:
Summary: Gripping, Informative, a Real Page-Turner
Review: Hard to believe that I was about 5 years old in a suburb of Philadelphia when Holly Maddux's body was found in a trunk in Ira Einhorn's apartment . . . even harder to believe is that he managed to escape and has been living in France for all these years. This book is fabulous . . . I was totally engrossed in it from page 1. Being from the Philadelphia area, I was somewhat familiar with the case, but reading this book opened up so much more to me about Holly, her family, and this monster, Ira Einhorn. He was a small-town nobody, the founder of Earth Day who thought the world revolved around him. What a shame that Holly got involved with him and could have been so naive and easily fooled. The pictures are disturbing -- she was such a beautiful girl, and Ira such a fat, disgusting, ragged-looking oaf. It does not seem to make sense. Then again, it shows how manipulative and sneaky Ira really was.

Even though I knew how the book was going to end, I actually found myself applauding Holly as she began to discover her strengths and pull away from Ira and resolutely decide to remove herself from his life. What if she had been able to do that? How wonderful (for everyone) if that had happened . . . but Ira would not let anyone leave him. He considered Holly to be his possession, and was not about to let anyone get away from him so easily. It amazes me that he was able to escape detection for so long, and that his friends and acquaintances actually trusted and believed his stories . . . even after Holly's body was found. How does one explain that? A body is found in your apartment and you expect everyone to believe you had nothing to do with it? That there was a conspiracy against Ira Einhorn? Get real! Ira was a nobody -- no one would waste their time conspiring against him. The book was fascinating and frightening at the same time. Much better than the TV movie about the case (which, I admit, sparked my interest and convinced me to buy this book). I recommend it to anyone who is at all intrigued by the case, or anyone who is a fan of the true-crime genre. It is a page-turner, a tale that will sicken and sadden you all at once. Unfortunately, it is a story without a resolution, since Einhorn is still in France and has not been brought to justice -- and that will make you seethe with anger.

Rating:
Summary: THE UNICORN'S SECRET: MURDER IN THE AGE OF AQUARIUS
Review: I have no doubt that the material contained in this book is as factual as the writer portrays. I did find it difficult to keep up with the changes in time, setting and circumstances of the characters. Perhaps the writer feels that this is a way of sustaining the suspense, but I found it distracting. Overall, I was interested in this man who was recently brought back to the US to stand trial for the murder of his girlfriend. I did learn a lot about him and that is good background for what will inevitably be Court TV material soon. It might have been helpful to the reader to have a psychiatrist's view of Holly and why she did not leave Ira when she was obviouly drawn to another man. I almost gave up on this book before reading the "secret" revealed in the last chapters. Good account of Ira Einhorn who was evil before he killed Holly.

Rating:
Summary: THE UNICORN'S SECRET: MURDER IN THE AGE OF AQUARIUS
Review: I have no doubt that the material contained in this book is as factual as the writer portrays. I did find it difficult to keep up with the changes in time, setting and circumstances of the characters. Perhaps the writer feels that this is a way of sustaining the suspense, but I found it distracting. Overall, I was interested in this man who was recently brought back to the US to stand trial for the murder of his girlfriend. I did learn a lot about him and that is good background for what will inevitably be Court TV material soon. It might have been helpful to the reader to have a psychiatrist's view of Holly and why she did not leave Ira when she was obviouly drawn to another man. I almost gave up on this book before reading the "secret" revealed in the last chapters. Good account of Ira Einhorn who was evil before he killed Holly.

Rating:
Summary: Intersting Subject Badly Written
Review: I watched the miniseries to this story and was fascinated so I went out and bought the book. However I was extremly dissapointed in the book. It takes the author foreve to put Maddux and Enihorn together, and when he finally does he only leaves them together for a hundred pages or so.

What the author seems to focus on is Enihorn's philosphies and promiscuity. This gets extremly tedious and boring.

I give the book three stars because it did give some intresting insight into who Holly was. The miniseries made her seem so sweet and inconnent and the book really described her. That was interesting.

Rating:
Summary: The seductiveness of Social Movements
Review: Ira Einhorn was a child of the Age of Aquarius. He was not only a child, though, he was an instigator, planner, creator of that weird era. He became leader of a social movement and no story better illustrates the power of such media-driven movements. First of all, they have the ability to make ordinary people interpret the world in terms that differ from reality. Thus, we are subjected to daily litanies of the awful environment while the US (again) tops the UN list of nations with the cleanest water and safest food.

The other power of social movements is the manner in which all sorts of crimes are permitted for the "good of the movement". Ira was a showman who not only caught the leading fads and trends but created them. Thus he joined New Age idiocy (UFO's, ESP, conspiracies at every corner) with ecology where he was the instigator of the preposterous "Earth Day", a celebration that has now become a financially successful cottage industry. Add to that radical politics, drugs and sex and one has the recipe for a disaster. Repeatedly he outwitted politicians who attempted to cash in on the latest craze. Through sheer showmanship and continual media self-promotion he established himself as the man around town.

Around this time enter one Holly Madux, former high school cheerleader from Texas and susceptible to his many charms. Five years later she "disappears". Skip forward and her body is found in Ira's apt, he is arrested and with the help of Arlen Specter (R-PA) he is released on a $40,000 bond and skips the country. He resurfaces in Ireland only to disappear again. Finally, in 1997 he was caught in France, still proclaiming his innnocence.

Friends felt he had deserted "the Cause" though he is fondly remembered for his power as an organizer, facilitator and power broker - perhaps his true calling. His private life was, of course, much different from his public persona and apparently involved cruelty toward his lovers. In his latest interviews one almost gets the sense of entitlement for commission of a crime due to his past actions. A sad, touching, horrifying, eye-opener of a book.

Rating:
Summary: The seductiveness of Social Movements
Review: Ira Einhorn was a child of the Age of Aquarius. He was not only a child, though, he was an instigator, planner, creator of that weird era. He became leader of a social movement and no story better illustrates the power of such media-driven movements. First of all, they have the ability to make ordinary people interpret the world in terms that differ from reality. Thus, we are subjected to daily litanies of the awful environment while the US (again) tops the UN list of nations with the cleanest water and safest food.

The other power of social movements is the manner in which all sorts of crimes are permitted for the "good of the movement". Ira was a showman who not only caught the leading fads and trends but created them. Thus he joined New Age idiocy (UFO's, ESP, conspiracies at every corner) with ecology where he was the instigator of the preposterous "Earth Day", a celebration that has now become a financially successful cottage industry. Add to that radical politics, drugs and sex and one has the recipe for a disaster. Repeatedly he outwitted politicians who attempted to cash in on the latest craze. Through sheer showmanship and continual media self-promotion he established himself as the man around town.

Around this time enter one Holly Madux, former high school cheerleader from Texas and susceptible to his many charms. Five years later she "disappears". Skip forward and her body is found in Ira's apt, he is arrested and with the help of Arlen Specter (R-PA) he is released on a $40,000 bond and skips the country. He resurfaces in Ireland only to disappear again. Finally, in 1997 he was caught in France, still proclaiming his innnocence.

Friends felt he had deserted "the Cause" though he is fondly remembered for his power as an organizer, facilitator and power broker - perhaps his true calling. His private life was, of course, much different from his public persona and apparently involved cruelty toward his lovers. In his latest interviews one almost gets the sense of entitlement for commission of a crime due to his past actions. A sad, touching, horrifying, eye-opener of a book.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating story
Review: Ira Einhorn's e-mail address is [e-mail] (for the time being while he skulks in France). Let him know what you think of him....before I take him in my fingers....

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Reviewers below think UNICORN'S SECRET was too tedious and didn't get to the point quickly enough. I disagree. The book is as much about the 60's as it is about Einhorn and Maddux. You need this background to understand the characters, especially Einhorn. You learn Einhorn's will to power actually played a more substantial role in his politics than any altruistic or ideological motivations.

Einhorn was addicted to the leadership role, and let politics define who he was in a way that truly twisted his personality. We see this over and over again, even today, in such movements as the Christian Coalition, and Leonora Fulani's "social therapy."

UNICORN'S SECRET, along with David Harris' DREAMS DIE HARD (about another tragic murder of a 60's radical) help more fully define the decade for history.

Rating:
Summary: Gripping, Informative, a Real Page-Turner
Review: This book is far more than a whodunit. It is a wonderful history of the politics and pop-culture of the 1960s and 1970s and it provides in-depth character analyses of all of the central players. This one really puts "The Age of Aquarius" in perspective! Was the Unicorn a murderer or framed by secret operatives? The revelations in the last chapters provided an unequivocal answer for me.