Cruel Doubt

My order arrived to me here in Manila, the Philippines, thank you, and it is in good condition. Thank you for a very good service, I will order again. Very satisfied here.

I don't usually comment on others' reviews, but I found a recent one not to be fair, in this case. McGinniss gave his usual, awesome description of this horrible murder, including detailed interviews with the investigators and especially Bonnie Von Stein and Chris Pritchard. A criticism was that it was one-sided. As a true crime author myself, I know that often the "other side" won't talk to the author, and I suspect this was the case here. In Bledsoe's "Blood Games," another excellent depiction of this awful crime, it's obvious Bledsoe had cooperation from the defendants' families -- and it might be looked upon as one-sided since he didn't have too much cooperation, it seems, with Bonnie. The two books together, both dramatically and frighteningly written, give readers a full picture of what went on in that case. I give both books 5 stars. This case has intrigued me since I saw the movie Cruel Doubt, and I was ecstatic that Bledsoe, another great true crime author, also wrote a book on the subject!One main reason that makes me think McGinniss wasn't able to get interviews with the defendants is the fact that his book doesn't mention "Bart" as the nickname for James Bartlett Upchurch III. How would anyone know that unless they'd interviewed the family? Sometimes it looks like, when people won't talk to us, that we just didn't bother to try to talk to them, but that's absolutely not true. I'm sure Mr. McGinniss tried and tried to get the defendants' and families' interviews.McGinniss is just one of the forefathers, it seems, of terrific true crime with awesome imagery -- which makes the reader picture the crime and people in their heads without a movie being necessary! Mr. Bledsoe also is a top true crime writer. Neither book detracts from the other. Both are sublime depictions of one of the most bloody crimes police have seen.My hat's off to both authors!

This is one of the best true crime books that I have ever read. I liked it even better than Fatal Vision (McGuiness as well). Mcguiness makes the characters come alive for the reader. It makes you want to go a meet and speak with them all personally. The story is sad and will break your heart, and mcguiness definitely does not try to diminish these feelings. There is no warm fuzzy ending, just the hope that Bonnie Von Stein's life is getting better.

I read Joe McGinniss' Fatal Vision on Jan 5, 1985, and found it a well-done account. This book is just as good, and I found that I kept wanting to get back to reading it. It is very well-done, and a lawyer can read it without cringing, since the author handles the legal issues--fascinating ones so far as attorny-client relations go--intelligently. Anyone reading the book will want to read the opinion of the North Carolina Supreme Court which is State v. Upchurch, 421 S.E. 2d 577 (N.C. 1992). The book does not cover the retrial and I have found out how the retrial came out, but to tell you might be in the nature of a spoiler, so I won't.

This book thrilled me and annoyed me at the same time. I was blown away by the family dynamics that led to the murder of the main character's husband. And the insane world of drugs and Dungeons and Dragons that her son (who the reader suspects is involved from the beginning) inhabits is a glimpse into a real person's dark side. But don't expect the story to end like a fictional murder mystery. You'll be left with many unanswered questions, unexplainable evidence, and a sinking suspicion that there's more to the story than what was revealed. But it's just this ambiguity that makes this such a compelling read.

After Lieth Von Stein was murdered and his wife Bonnie was attacked in their bedroom by knife and club wielding bandits on a hot summer evening in July 1988, the ensuing police investigation and courtroom drama would reveal that it was the bloody climax of a fantasy game which had begun several weeks earlier in the hallways of North Carolina State University. To the young men who partcipated in this game, it was not merely fiction or fantasy, but reality, as real as the three million dollars that they would have gained if both the Von Steins had perished in the attack. It was this game, along with the lure of that easy money, that was the catalyst behind Lieth Von Stein's brutal murder, turning what appeared to be a "routine" family murder into one of the most frightening and bizarre cases ever to appear before the American judicial system. Author Joe McGinniss draws us into this story with his precise, succinct narrative in much the same way as the participants were drawn into the deadly "Dungeons and Dragons" scenarios. This is a superb read and I highly recommend this book to anyone who doesn't mind a few sleepless nights!