Everything She Ever Wanted

Rating:
Summary: Amazing Story of Family Loyalty
Review: This book is outstanding. Well written, and very suspenseful. If ever there was a story of family loyalty gone wrong, this is it. Reading the exploits of Pat Taylor, and the lengths she goes to to get what she wants/feels that she deserves are scary. Furhtermore, her impact on the lives of those around her will make you want to find her and give her a swift kick...!

Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable
Review: This book was completely shocking. I can't believe that so many people stood by and let Pat Taylor ruin their lives.
She is the perfect example of a wacko. Ann Rule does a great job of showing what a fake this woman is. Her oldest daughter should be thankful she has nothing more to do with her family that has so obviously lost touch with reality. Too bad her son doesn't support her and instead chooses to side with his pathetic excuse for a grandmother. The worst thing about this crime is that Pat Taylor isn't in jail for the rest of her sad life. Not Ann's best book, but still a good read.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, Spellbound
Review: This book was the best true crime book I have ever read! As a women, I was both horrified and haunted by it for a long time. The first Ann Rule book I read was the Ted Bundy story and than moved on to this one. I was absolutely addicted to her work after reading this book. If you want to get totally engrossed in someones psychopathic mind and read a storybook life that turns trajic you will not be able to put this down-read this book. Anne Rule is the best!

Rating:
Summary: Long book about an evil and selfish woman...
Review: This is definitely not A. Rule's best book - it dragged for pages and pages and pages... beginning and end were pretty good, but the long chapters in-between I almost fell asleep to. Besides this book, I also read "The Stranger Beside Me" and "Small Sacrifices" - I highly recommend both.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, excellent, excellent!
Review: This is probably the 5th or 6th book of Ann Rule's books that I've read, and I'm glad I did. I enjoy reading books that chronicle human behavior, and this book does just that. I find it amazing that people like Patricia (whatever her last name is now)exist! She's definitely one of a kind, and I just wish I'd had the opportunity to run into her so I could give her a piece of my mind. Very well written and a page turner!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, excellent, excellent!
Review: This is probably the 5th or 6th book of Ann Rule's books that I've read, and I'm glad I did. I enjoy reading books that chronicle human behavior, and this book does just that. I find it amazing that people like Patricia (whatever her last name is now)exist! She's definitely one of a kind, and I just wish I'd had the opportunity to run into her so I could give her a piece of my mind. Very well written and a page turner!

Rating:
Summary: I was stunned by the shocking end to a fairy tale life.
Review: This story revolves around Pat, the beloved daughter of well-to-do Colonel and Mrs. Radcliffe and the cherished wife of handsome, devoted, hard working Tom Allanson. Pat lives the fairy tale life of Scarlet O'hara near Atlanta, Georgia complete with plantation estate, horses and her caring family near-by. However, all this was not enough for Pat. She feigned fainting spells to get attention, used her charms to manipulate Tom and others to do her bidding and pretended to be a lady when in fact she was a cold-hearted, coniving demon. It all reads like a Harlequin novel, until the reader comes to the centerfold and views the photographs of Pat and Tom's real-life families, and the prison photos of Pat and Tom taken at the Fulton County jail and Jackson Prison, respectively. The richly detailed account of what brought Tom to commit murder, and Pat to commit aggravated assault with intent to murder gives this novel a high rating. Talented Anne Rule deftly describes the true life drama of Pat and Tom, their deceptive and nerotic co-dependancy, and desperation for approval and control. This is a story of how a potentially good life went terribly wrong. The full explanation of Pat and Tom's behaviors are not revealed until the final pages of the book. In the "Afterward" Pat's psychological condition of "Munchausen Syndrome" is explained. In the "Update" an episode of Tom's boyhood relationship with his dominating and demeaning father is revealed. It is not until all the pieces of this tragedy are told, that the full story of damaged lives caused by Pat's psychological illness is understood. Learning about this form of destructive psychological behavior makes "Everything She Ever Wanted" an important read.

Rating:
Summary: Family's dysfunction culminates in disaster for all involved
Review: This was also my least favorite of Ann Rule's writings. (I usually recommend "The Stranger Beside Me" and "Dead by Sunset" to new readers, and "Bitter Harvest" if they want to read about female killers.) Perhaps the problem with this book is that it's much more about sick family dynamics than about the crimes themselves. The crime story gets lost in a landscape of emotional victims and perpetrators. The relatively minor prison sentences do not give me a sense of justice being served; the real crimes and punishments are what these people continue to do to each other every day. Perhaps, if this book were read with that awareness, it may be more powerful and satisfying.

Rating:
Summary: a very good book
Review: This was my first ann rule book and i could not put it down. It was more fascinating with every page. But it could be because the more i read, the more i realized my sister was just like Pat. Only she hasn't gone as far as murder that we know of.But our family has nothing to do with her nevertheless. It is a good book anyway. I plan to read more Ann Rule in the future .

Rating:
Summary: I live in Zebulon and know!
Review: Yes, folks, it's true. I was born and raised where this nonfiction book took place. It started the year I was born and Ann Rule got it all right.