Written in Blood by Diane Fanning Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Written in Blood
Book Review: Not Impressed
Summary: 1 Stars
(Reviewed by Rebecca)
I bought this book after watching the extraordinary and riveting documentary, The Staircase, with the hopes that it would contain some of the evidence and testimony not included in the documentary. What I found was an unnecessarily biased, sensationally written account of events leading up to and including the trial.
Instead of focussing on more compelling evidence like red neurons found in the victim's brain suggesting a much earlier time of death, and broken cartillage in the throat that might suggest an attempted strangulation, the book casts such a jaundiced eye on Peterson that the author would like you to believe he was not only responsible for the death of Kathleen Peterson and Liz Ratliff (which I think is entirely possible), but was responsible for drowning the family dog, probably had something to do with George Ratliff's death, and was indirectly responsible for the death of one of Liz Ratliff's students who later committed suicide.
What's worse is the overly sentimental account of events having little to do with the evidence. For example, Fanning dedicates a chapter to the wind chimes placed by Kathleen's family members in a tree nearby her grave being struck by a sudden and unexplained wind whenever Kathleen's sister visited her grave as if she was trying to tell her something "from beyond". The author writes she too visited Kathleen's grave, "As I reached the foot of her grave, a breeze danced through the air and the sweetest sound I ever heard tinkled through the air. It was almost as if the gracious hostess was welcoming me to her new home."
The book would have been much more interesting and effective if it was less biased and sensationalistic, and presented some of the reasons Peterson may not be guilty, of which there are many. What keeps me thinking about this story is that it is such a complex case. Fanning took out all of the complexity to write her exaggerated account of events, and that's a shame.
Book Review: Not exactly "In Cold Blood"
Summary: 2 Stars
As an avid true crime reader and someone with advanced degrees in both law and criminal justice, I have found that nonfiction books on murder cases generally fall into one of two categories: investigative journalism or trash novel. It is my humble but educated opinion that this book falls into the latter category. The book is a tabloid-style expose of the minutia of the Peterson's lives, rather than a chronicle of the hard facts of the case. As with many other true crime books today, the author's agenda seems to be to prove that the accused individual is in fact guilty, as opposed to delving into the complexities of the case that make it interesting in the first place. In my experience, murder cases are rarely black-and-white and there is always room for debate. However, given the popularity of networks like "Court TV" and the number of favorable reviews that this book and other like it have gotten from Amazon's readers, apparently the public would rather be told what to think than think for themselves.Book Review: Pure-T Perfect!
Summary: 5 Stars
Diane has taken us into the core of this story with FACTS, researched and presented in a chronological order, letting the actions of Michael Peterson speak for themselves. The scientific facts of this case ARE the voices of Kathleen and Liz from the grave, voices heard by the jury.Book Review: Results on found condom
Summary: 4 Stars
Just finished the book. It was good although Aphrodite Jones' book was more interesting. To answer the question about the found condom. I read that his son admitted that it belonged to a friend of his. Apparently his friend and a girl had sex on Michael and Kathleen's bed!Book Review: So-so
Summary: 2 Stars
Even though I think Peterson killed the two women, the author let her bias show throughout the book. She also introduced information and then didn't follow up on it, like the used condom in the bedroom, the rape kit performed on Kathleen Peterson, etc. What were the results of those tests? I got the feeling that she just watched the trial on TV, read some articles, and then wrote the book. I lot of typos, too.