A Perfect Husband

Rating:
Summary: Not exactly perfect
Review: Incredible! Outrageous! Unbelievable! It boggles my mind to know that a kind, wonderful person like Michael Peterson can so easily be railroaded into prison. The only "true crime" in this book is an innocent man being punished for a murder that never happened. I find it interesting that the only people Ms. Jones interviewed for her book were people who didn't really know Mr. Peterson well or who had much to gain from his conviction. Truly one-sided yellow journalism at its best.

Rating:
Summary: Badly written account of a terrible murder
Review: .
Aphrodite Jones's book is a badly written account of what is a complicated case of 2 (not 1) deaths.

2 different women were found bloodied and beaten at the bottom staircases twenty years apart. Michael Peterson doesn't even deny that he was the last person to see both women alive.

Peterson was tried for his wife's 2001 murder and found guilty. All 12 members of the jury rejected the theory that his wife fell down stairs and got as beaten and bloodied as she was. No convincing evidence was put on by the defense that a fall could've caused the injuries received.

Note about the other amazon review, and to other readers: Because Peterson's defense attorney insisted that Peterson loved his wife too much to kill her (not a great defense tactic, but was all they had) and further insisted Peterson & his wife were "soul-mates," the Prosecution was allowed to refute this allegation by showing that Peterson pursued sexual escapades outside the marriage with men, and that Peterson was bisexual, and had an obsession with computer porn.

Had Peterson's own defense attorney not chosen to make Peterson out to be oh-so-in-love with his wife as a defense, his bisexuality and pursuit of other men may've been excluded altogether from the trial.

The book is a fascinating read, but more in-depth research would've helped tremendously.

Rating:
Summary: Poorly researched, unreliable, and marred by author's agend
Review: Having watched the documentary "Death of the Staircase" with great interest, I turned to this book to get more background information on the case, and the individuals involved. More specifically, I was hoping that it would perhaps clarify the reasons why there was a conviction, as the documentary clearly showed that there was reasonable doubt that Michael Peterson murdered his wife, and that Peterson's sexual preferences as well as local politics had a part to play in his conviction. Unfortunately, it soon became evident that this book is flawed on many levels. One example is the total lack of objectivity. Aphrodite Jones is clearly convinced that Michael Peterson is the murderer, and as a result, she spends a great deal of effort trying to prove that he's a sociopath. She finally rests her case lamely in chapter 54 in which she simply lists the characteristics of a sociopath. I guess that she figured that after all of her "evidence" that we would all have an "ah ha!" moment and be convinced of his guilt. But much of her "evidence" is gossipy trifles gleaned from interviews with people who had come to believe that Michael Peterson was the murder--most notably the Atwater family. But not only was this book poorly researched, the writing is quite poor as well. Aphrodite Jones is just not a good writer, and leaves me wondering how she became one in the first place, and who would have entrusted her with covering such an important and controversial case. Well, whatever the case, it would seem to me that in the end there is reasonable doubt that Michael Peterson was responsible for his wife's death, and so I guess that this is yet another instance where the American justice system has failed.

Rating:
Summary: Author doesn't research all her "facts."
Review: I didn't finish reading this book. I stopped when she began referencing another crime (Rae Carruth's murder trial) and got most of the "facts" of that case incorrect. She jumps from one time period to another and back again. I noticed this in another book of hers that I read. I'll never waste another dime on anything she writes.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting
Review: I followed a lot of the story during the trial. The book gives a lot of interesting background on the Peterson family. I thought the book did a great job of portraying each member of the family, the closeness of the family and their almost storybook happiness. The book did a good job of gradually showing how the events of Kathleen's murder and the trial shattered what was once a family on top of the world. While extremely sad, this story is fascinating.

Rating:
Summary: You Can't Make This Stuff Up
Review: I suggest that the dictionary should have a new phrase entitled "You Can't Make This Stuff Up". And I further suggest that Aphrodite' Jones' book A Perfect Husband be used to describe that phrase.

I could not get over the circumstances that surrounded the people in this story - before, during, and after that fateful weekend of December 8-9, 2001. Ms. Jones chronicles some pretty heavy stuff regarding very intense subjects like divorce, domestic violence, sexuality, and murder. She also covers a spectrum of emotions ranging from love to hate, from courage to fear, from honesty to deceit, all in a story that winds and unfolds across both time and geography.

I had to remind myself sometimes that I was reading about actual places and events, and not a fictional story created in the mind of an author sitting at a keyboard. So I couldn't help but turn the pages to see how the people described in the story behaved and reacted to the events that transpired.

You'll read this book and see for yourself that you can't make this stuff up.


Rating:
Summary: Fairly interesting
Review: I would like to say that this is my first time reading a book by this author. I have to agree with another reader who stated that Jones' writing was amateurish. In fact at times I believe that she was adding a great deal of filler, as she could not possibly know everything that was going through the minds of those who were at the heart of the story. Now, having said that, I would like to add that I don't think this site is appropriate for a discussion of whether or not Peterson is innocent. At any rate, I would only recommend that someone buy this at a discount price or check it out of the library. I am generally not a fan of people who try to capitalize off tragedies and after reading this I stand by that even more firmly. The book was interesting, but don't expect to find a classic. You won't.

Rating:
Summary: Look elsewhere for an objective, balanced account
Review: I'm a friend of Michael Peterson and believe him innocent, so I know my biases. Before reading this work, you should know Aphrodite Jones's.

Jones begins with sympathetic portraits of Michael and Kathleen Peterson, but she shifts and eventually labels Michael a sociopath, but not directly. She waits until chapter 54 to drop in a second-hand checklist of sociopathic traits. It's the culmination of her strategy of setting up a straw man to tear down.

Jones disingenuously uses her checklist to filter descriptions of Mike, and slyly loads her language against him. When he surrenders, he looks "very dapper," implying he takes the situation lightly. In court he looks like a "peacock" in his "designer loafers"--egotism being on her list. Time and again Mike "charms" people, subtly suggesting the use of magic or trickery. Guess what? "Superficial charm" is on her checklist. (I like and respect Mike, but I've never been charmed by him. He's good company because he's intelligent, knowledgeable, humorous, and shows a good-hearted interest in others and their stories.)

Jones shows her bias for the prosecution in her unbalanced treatment of the evidence. She ignores the defense's extensive fall analysis and modeling, medical testimony, and broad research of auopsies that challenged the medical examiner. She also ignores that a prosecution witness was totally discredited. While describing the ADA as "beautiful" and prosecution witnesses as having "hearts of gold," she counters defense arguments but not the prosecution's completely circumstantial evidence.

Jones relies on witnesses friendly to the prosecution for much of her background information, but she doesn't question their reliability. Did Kathleen's sisters know her as well as they think? The main source of Jones's information about events in Germany 18 years prior claimed in court that her memories came in "flashbacks." What's that about?

In her overblown prose, Jones concludes that Mike was an evil lurking in his home. Mike wasn't a perfect husband, and he's given his detractors plenty of ammunition. But many of us who know him and knew him and Kathleen together believe that the evil in this case has been committed against Michael Peterson.

Rating:
Summary: If you followed the trial...you will enjoy the book
Review: If you followed the trial...you will enjoy the book but you might not learn a lot of new information. I found the writing style to be amateurish and felt that the author over-dramatized a lot of the content simply for effect but it is a one stop shop to get the story from start to finish.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent true-crime read.
Review: This is a compellingly written story of the trial & conviction of Michael Peterson for the murder of his wife Kathleen. I have to admit to reading with amusement the comments submitted to Amazon by Michael Peterson's fans & friends regarding this book. So, what are the odds of 2 women dying in exactly the same way, (with similar pitchfork-like injuries to the skull, as well as numerous other injuries from "falling down a stairway")? Though I cannot give the odds, I would have to believe it woud be close to impossible. And, Oh gee, look what they both have in common: an intimate relationship with Micheal Peterson, and oh yes, he was also the last to see both of them alive. The only thing I didn't get about this book was: Why the death of the mother of Martha & Margaret? Though Michael Peterson took control of the two orphaned girl's lives through his guardianship of them, I did not get the idea that there was a financial gain in it for him. Maybe the death of Elizabeth was a crime of passion (2nd degree murder), but it seemed to have worked so well the first time, that he thought he could get away with it again. This is the first time I have read the books of Aphrodite Jones and her style is different from others I have read: (I couldn't help but be amused at the concept that it was Kathleen's fault that the romance had "slipped away" from her marriage, especially given the fact that her husband was both homosexual & homicidal!) but I wholeheartedly recommend this book to true-crime fans. It is a page-turner.