Darkness Descending - The Murder of Meredith Kercher

True Crime? NO absolutely not! I made the unfortunate choice of believing this was an actual true crime novel.Boy was I wrong. Please don't waste your money on this garbage. The authors are HACKS,have absolutely no clue as to what they are talking about and like Barbie Nadeau in her fictional tale called Angel Face they are completely vexed by prosecutor Mignini and his dribble. They forget that Mignini was found guilty of prosecutorial misconduct and suspended for six that's right six months. They make a big deal over Amanda being concieved out of wedlockThey talk of Americans as if we are all sex crazy serial killers. They boast tons of evidence which of course is not at all the case. They talk of the forensic tech like she is the salt of the earth,again bogus. They claim that everyone wore protective gear so as not to contaminate the scene. Pure fiction. There is absolutely nothing to tie Rafaele Sellecito or Amanda Knox to the murder of Meredith Kercher. Rudy Guede is the only guilty party in the case. As for the great Mignini(what a laugh) according to the HACKS um authors he is the best investigator there is to be had.LMAO! If you are unfortunate enough to waste money on this Fictional tale you will be treated to a load of laughs,because every single word in it is absolutely laughable. If you do decide to purchase this putrid fictional comedy please be aware that none of it is based on one shred of truth. I like fiction as well as anyone,but when it is presented as fact(which this is not),then I have a problem with it. The authors take great liberty with thier words and make up things as they go along. I started reading this vomit last night and I am only now starting chapter nine,which of course I am sure will only increase in laughable fiction,so there is at least the humor to look forward to. If you want the actual truth about what happened and what went on and the actual facts then buy "Murder in Italy" by Candace Dempsey. This is the true story of the tragic death of Meredith Kercher. It has all of the facts,and all of the evidence or lack thereof. It tells the true story of those involved and exsposes Mignini for what he really is,an incompetent, egotistical,publicity hound bent on being a star to the Italian public. You will notice I gave it 5 stars anyway The reason for this is simple.It provided me with a lot of laughs.

Not knowing much about this case other than what I have seen in some headlines, I went into the book with an open mind. I do feel the authors presented a reasonably balanced recount of the facts and evidence, both for and against the defendents. At times, the authors did write in a "novelistic" form, slipping in descriptions, and emotions I doubt they would have known about. But, if you filter that out, they do present a puzzling case indeed. Some of the evidence appears against the defendents, but other evidence seems to indicate they are innocent. I do believe, based on the authors' descriptions of the police investigations, that much bungling occurred and evidence may have been lost, mishandled, contaminated, or entirely missed. I was amazed at the number of officers/investigators who appeared at the crime scene shortly after it was reported and no record seems to have been kept of who was where, both inside and outside the house. I am truely puzzled by the conflicting statements made by both Knox and Sollecito, and, unlike some, can not attribute it to police pressure or brutal tactics/abuse. I was left with the feeling that whatever happened that night, both Knox and Sollecito knew or were involved, even if in a peripheral way - perhaps they came upon the murder and panicked, fearing they would be blamed or caught up in it in some way. I do think Knox knew Guede and perhaps she saw him that night, and knew what happened. There are relationships between all these people, including the other two female roommates that I do not think have been brought to proper light, as it seems as if, after the fact, everyone was covering his/her own butt. Based on some of the comments written about other reviews of this book, it appears that emotion rules the day in judging this book. However, I don't have a dog in this fight - just an interested reader looking for information. I will also be reading the several other books about this case and may come away with a clearer idea of what did, indeed, happen that night.

..was the most interesting part of this book. As I've followed the Meredith Kercher murder case intensively, most of the facts were known to me prior to reading this book. There could have been more about the court sessions. But in any case, a good,through book on the murder case. I didn't notice any errors or mistakes in the facts or evidence discussed in this book. The Sane Scientist who earlier reviewed this book, seems to be commenting the book's facts solely from the defence lawyers's standpoint. I would recommend everybody in the United States to consider whether you usually only take the defence lawyer's opinion into account when trying cases in the courts of law. And if there are suspicions about the reliability of the DNA evidence, then it's better to claim that all of it's contaminated (even the DNA evidence pointing to Rudi Guédé) and not that just the DNA evidence pointing to the American girl Amanda Knox and her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito is somehow contaminated. The latter claim is just not plausible.

Over-all an interesting and quick read. Unlike the previous reviewer I found some of the technical explanations on DNA testing not exactly user friendly. There are some interesting biographies on the background and behaviors of the killers. Interesting to hear the details of their lies to police. I was very confused over the ending of the book. The majority of the book discusses the vast amount of evidence against Amanda Knox- her mixed blood with the victim in the house, her bloody footprints at the crime scene, her DNA on the murder weapon, lies to police, phone records, computer records, eye witnesses, video camera footage proving she lied about her alibi, her accusing an innocent man of the crime, her written confession of being at the house, her incredibly bizarre behavior, etc. etc. etc. Then, the last few pages seem to cast doubt that justice was served... A strange ending, as the case is far beyond reasonable doubt. Still, a welcome relief from the ridiculous BS from the FOA camp. I'm hoping for an even better read from Barbie Nadeau.