Rating: 
Summary: Compelling, but a trifle long
Review: This is a step above the average True Crime novel in that the author is a celebrated attorney and that he knows the accused personally. The minutae of court proceedings is fascinating enough to make this book a perfect gift for any law student. The fact that the main character, Jennifer Jenkins, is so vague makes one wonder if she did get away with murder. It's a credit to the book that her attorney gives all the facts in order to leave that room for doubt in her innocence (but he repeats several times, he doesn't have to prove that she's innocent. He just as to prove that there's a doubt concerning her guilt.)The first third of the book is about Palmyra, the island where Jennifer and her boyfriend Buck wanted to get away from it all. A second couple shows up and there's tension. When the friends of the second couple lose contact, they become worried. When Buck and Jennifer show up in the stolen boat of the second couple, everyone assumes murder. When the skeletal remains of one of the victims are found, the trials begin. The rest of the book details the trial first of Buck Walker, then of Jennifer Jenkins. Bugliosi's defense of Jennifer Jenkins rests in her not knowing that Buck Walker killed the second couple. Unraveling his client's confused often flaky narrative and fighting with an extremely partial judge, Bugliosi takes through the trial point by point with several stops in between. While this makes for a compelling crime novel, the problem with trials is that much of the live trial is deadly dull. The high points make great drama, but there's a lot of discussions of evidence, procedures and such that are only interesting to lawyers, law school students and accused criminals. At certain points I began to wonder if I'd ever finish reading this book. However, the quality of the writing and the interest of the case keep the book going. You are still fascinated with the case at the end even if there are dull parts in between.
Rating: 
Summary: Read in non-stop 2 days
Review: Could not put it down. This books is great several ways: the adventure is fantastic with visions of an island in paradise, the court procedures are so well described, so intense on so... educational! Hopefully I never need a lawyer, but if I am trouble, I know whom to call. I am buying a boat and going to Palmyra, I need to see by myslef!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent true-crime mystery
Review: Two couples alone together on a remote Pacific island, one couple eventually leaves in a stolen boat and the other couple is never seen again. Years later, bones are discovered on the island and identified as one of the missing persons. This is a fictionalized account of their story and the story of the ensuing trials for murder. The first part describes both couples and their trips to the island and part two of this book is the trial with many detailed explanations of legal proceedings. Ultimately the reader is left to decide whether the verdict was the right one. I agree with the other reviewers here that Bugliosi is a bit heavy with the self-praise, however this is still a great book.
Rating:
Summary: Great Start, Slow Finish
Review: This is a fascinating story of murder on a deserted island. The first half of the book is a riveting, well-developed account of two couples seeking paradise and finding disaster. Descriptions are thorough, and character development is excellent. However the latter-half of the book dealing with the trial is long-winded and somewhat annoying. Bugliosi's entire 5-hour closing argument fills page after tedious page, and I found myself simply skimming over the latter 1/4 if the book. Legal buffs and lawyers will enjoy it, the rest of us will be content to indulge in the characters, the island and the crime, and then simply browse through the ending.
Rating:
Summary: Great read, couldn't put it down....
Review: This was by far the best true-crime story I've read in quite some time. I highly recommend it as a great read, but I personally think Mr. Bugliosi was hood-winked by the ever so clever "Jennifer". I think she knew much more that she ever admitted to, but she was much too clever playing the innocent little victim. Bugliosi bought it hook, line, and sinker. Toward the end of the book, he kept wondering why Jennifer never thanked him for getting her off scott-free.(She finally sent him a thank you note long after the trail was over). Could it be that she was really quilty and kinda hated the fact she took full advantage of Bugliosi like she did. One wonders.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good Book
Review: This book was long and in paperback the print is very small, but I stayed glued to the book. I learned a lot about sailing and the sea. Extremely interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful sense of place & use of detail
Review: It's going on four years since I read "And The Sea Will Tell" & it's the haunting sense of Palmyra that's stayed with me--the setting is brilliantly evoked. I loved the deliberate slow pacing (appropriate to how things might have felt for the couples staying at Palmyra), rich detail & strong sense of the characters. It's amazing how rich a sense of people & place can be developed by completely immersing yourself in the facts of one case & that's why the best true crime works so well--because you CAN know so much, including details you wouldn't at first expect to know, such as what people likely were thinking, within reasonable doubt--& this is certainly among the very best true crime. If it weren't for another of Bugliosi's books ("Helter Skelter") this would be on my true crime top ten list. Bugliosi's books are ALL a must-read for criminal justice enthusiasts, each outstanding in its own way, despite his ego. This one is everything other positive reviews have said and also a case study in how to convey an excellent sense of place in writing.
Rating: 
Summary: Good first half, poor second half
Review: I found the first half of the book well written and fascinating. The second half is what I would expect from an egotistical defense attorney. Should have had someone like Anne Rule write an objective account. This is my first and last book I will read by Bugliosi.
Rating:
Summary: Two quite different books but fascinating
Review: As other reviewers have noted, this is really two books, the first written by Bruce Henderson and the second, dealing with the trial, written largely by Vincent Bugliosi. Unlike most reviewers, I find Book One harder to swallow: Henderson novelizes, assuming a God-like familiarity with the characters that he cannot possibly have ("As she got up, it occurred to her that it must be Jennifer and Roy's friends arriving with their supplies." Excuse me Bruce, she never got off the island alive. How do you know what she was thinking?) Given that the actions and thoughts of the characters are instrumental to the question of the accused's guilt, and that these actions and thoughts could only be determined at trial by conflicting, often unreliable testimony, Henderson's putting them into narrative form -- thereby establishing his view as revealed truth -- is impermissible. I also suspect that Henderson needs to take more cold showers ("Sharon, a fitness buff with a slim, taut body to show for it, walked barefoot . . . often going entirely without clothes in the moist heat. Her tanned nimble figure, coal-black hair, and dark-brown eyes gave her the appearance of a Polynesian princess exploring her tropical domain." Bet that observation was important at trial.) Book Two hits its stride as Bugliosi prepares his defense. True, he has an ego second only to Alan Dershowitz -- I don't know which I find funnier: his palpable false modesty ("I felt forced to use [it], though it was embarassing to me . . . . I handed [the judge] an issue of [a legal newspaper in which the editor wrote] 'Mr. Bugliosi's performance today was the finest I have ever seen, and I have been a court watcher in Chicago for twnety-one years'") or the fact that he makes not one but two utterly irrelevant references to the BBC mock trial wherein he defeated Gerry Spence -- but only a fool would expect modesty from the best trial attorney in America. Bugliosi's final summation is nothing short of awesome in its encyclopedic breadth and command of the facts; as an attorney I can only marvel. If you agree with Einstein that God is in the details, then you will find this book riveting.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating story, couldn't put the book down, but...
Review: This book just riveted my attention like none have in awhile. The story is just so romantic (in the romanticism sense) yet unreal, reading just like an adventure/mystery novel. And it is an engrossing introduction to sailing, survival in the pacific, and U.S. trial law. Mac is like a guy after my own heart...his sailing & exploring seems so exhilarating I find myself wanting to take sailing classes, buy a yacht, sail around the world... The book bogs down a little in the trial portion...I spent 3 days reading the first 250 pages and 3 weeks on the latter 400. But I couldn't stop reading. The story mesmerizes me in a strange way...two couples from opposing cultures flee the rat race only to clash on an exotic tropical paradise...suspense...mystery... and all of it really happened. Truth is truly stranger than fiction
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